***
Small stuff that found its basis in the Kendo training of the last few days.
From the weekend:
And from Monday's training:
(Uh, I should stop mixing languages in pictures...)
Showing posts with label random. Show all posts
Showing posts with label random. Show all posts
Thursday, April 03, 2008
Impressions
I love how life repeatedly shows me that it is to a great degree fate-based. Things you do show their after-effects almost a decade later (e.g. if I hadn't played a certain MMORPG in 2001, I wouldn't be doing Kendo now). Sometimes it seems that most of the good stuff in life is based on coincidences. Maybe karma has its part, too. Whatever it is, I like it.
***
Small stuff that found its basis in the Kendo training of the last few days.
From the weekend:
And from Monday's training:
(Uh, I should stop mixing languages in pictures...)
***
Small stuff that found its basis in the Kendo training of the last few days.
From the weekend:
And from Monday's training:
(Uh, I should stop mixing languages in pictures...)
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Greenspace
I came across some photos of New York's Park Avenue through the years. The first one looks awesome - very exotic compared to today's city areas. It reminds me of those dystopia stories in which nature has overcome mankind and the cities are all overgrown with plants and inhabited by wildlife. Having such places in cities would be quite nice.
(I've heard one of the squares in Linz is to be turned into something similar, much to the dismay of car drivers. Let's hope it will see the light of day.)
***
Continued working on one of the WIPs:
(I've heard one of the squares in Linz is to be turned into something similar, much to the dismay of car drivers. Let's hope it will see the light of day.)
***
Continued working on one of the WIPs:
Saturday, March 01, 2008
Thoughts
I enjoy reading lots of artbooks right now. Firstly, on J. W. Waterhosue (my favourite Pre-Raphaelite painter) and secondly Origins: The Art of John Jude Palencar (Palencar won the Grand Master Award of this year's Spectrum). Both very recommendable books. I particularly loved the analyses and connections the the book on Waterhouse drew between the art and the artist. It gets you to think about the paintings in depth and is quite inspiring.
***
There are strange tendencies in today's consumer culture. Years and years ago, it used to be cheaper to buy raw materials and make the finished product yourself. When I started sewing, I thought it great, because by this I would get clothes that I liked and wanted and it would be cheaper (the latter proved to be untrue) - preconceptions from former times.
(Nowadays, I appreciate paying a bit more for the fabric and knowing the clothes are made by me and not by Chinses children, which is something I didn't care about much when I got into sewing.)
Same for food. You tend to pay almost more for basic foodstuff that you prepare into finished meals than for instant food or cheap take-away meals. It's easily justifyable by arguing for the quality of the finished product, but it's still something that's developed in years and hasn't been here all the time. An effect of globalisation?
***
Another cultural oddity: We seem to be more tolerant towards people who we don't know or don't care for much. Simply knowing that we have to, intend to, or want to spend a significant time of our future lives with certain people lets us judge them by harsher standards than people who we know will not be part of our lives for more than a fleeting moment. Awful, isn't it?
Maybe it is because we want to eliminate possible conflicts as soon as possible before they can turn into big issues. Maybe it's a sign that we second-guess our decisions of wanting to share our lives with the person/people. Maybe it's a gender thing (as my brother suggest).
Ideally, we should show more tolerance and understanding towards the people who we care for (especially understanding, because we are more familiar with their way of thinking, so it should be easier). So why doesn't it work? Why can't we care less about minor issues with people who are more important to us?
***
Uh. I have no idea where this picture is going. I'm trying out new stuff with it every time I open the file.
(Dammit, why did I have to start incorporating photos, against my better judgement? This will turn into a major pain.)
***
There are strange tendencies in today's consumer culture. Years and years ago, it used to be cheaper to buy raw materials and make the finished product yourself. When I started sewing, I thought it great, because by this I would get clothes that I liked and wanted and it would be cheaper (the latter proved to be untrue) - preconceptions from former times.
(Nowadays, I appreciate paying a bit more for the fabric and knowing the clothes are made by me and not by Chinses children, which is something I didn't care about much when I got into sewing.)
Same for food. You tend to pay almost more for basic foodstuff that you prepare into finished meals than for instant food or cheap take-away meals. It's easily justifyable by arguing for the quality of the finished product, but it's still something that's developed in years and hasn't been here all the time. An effect of globalisation?
***
Another cultural oddity: We seem to be more tolerant towards people who we don't know or don't care for much. Simply knowing that we have to, intend to, or want to spend a significant time of our future lives with certain people lets us judge them by harsher standards than people who we know will not be part of our lives for more than a fleeting moment. Awful, isn't it?
Maybe it is because we want to eliminate possible conflicts as soon as possible before they can turn into big issues. Maybe it's a sign that we second-guess our decisions of wanting to share our lives with the person/people. Maybe it's a gender thing (as my brother suggest).
Ideally, we should show more tolerance and understanding towards the people who we care for (especially understanding, because we are more familiar with their way of thinking, so it should be easier). So why doesn't it work? Why can't we care less about minor issues with people who are more important to us?
***
Uh. I have no idea where this picture is going. I'm trying out new stuff with it every time I open the file.
(Dammit, why did I have to start incorporating photos, against my better judgement? This will turn into a major pain.)
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Globalisation
Some interesting stuff I came across:
- Cranberries are good against infections. That effect seems to only take place with women, though.
- We laugh 3-4 times less than people did 40 years ago. Today, an adult laughs about 15 times a day. Seems like much?
- Potatoes have their origin in the Andes (where they were grown by the Inkas) and only came to us about 500 years ago. Considering that they are pretty essential to Austrian food now, that makes me wonder which food will be "domestic" here in 500 years' time (with the climate change and all). Ginger? Mangoes? Bananas?
Also, looking at where potatoes have been produced in the last years, you notice the typical trend: Production in the Western world has remained constant or been reduced, while it has almost doubled in today's "production countries" China and India.
- New Scientist writes that Probiotic bacteria could keep us slim. My first thought was "Great, more food additives", then "Right, give the population a reason to think even less about what they eat". Then I went and read parts of the original research paper, understood about 17% of it, but at least it explains stuff a bit more thoroughly than the article. And you get some insight into what is necessary to come to such findings, animal testing and all.
***
I watched some of the DVD features of Children of Men. One of the extras, "The Possibility of Hope" really caught me. It shows statements of activists, ecologists, scientists, etc. about the current state of the world and outlooks on the future, reality and utopias and social economy. Naomi Klein is one of them, and so is James Lovelock, who says:
"I look on the earth as an elderly patient. She is a someone, who would be - if she were human - in her 80s. In other words, strong, vigorous full of her 80s, but not as young as she once was. [...] Because she is quite old, any stress she receives, like it's the same with one of us -- I'm at about her age in my 80s, and if I get influenza it will be a lot more serious than if you get it. Well, our patient Earth has the problem of humans. There are, I'm afraid, too many of them and they are doing too much damage to her capacity to regulate her temperature and composition."
Which is an analogy that I really, really like.
And Fabrizio Eva talks about globalisation, culture and identity, reminding me strongly of John Storey's work and what I learned in that context.
"This globalisation process does not extinguish other cultures, because it takes a long time for other cultures to disappear. Yet, it has repercussions between young and old people. Young people are willing to move, so they already have a preexisting conviction that they don't have to accept their culture the way it is. When they realize that life somewhere else might be better, they move to find their own, new identities."
Identity creation is a fascinating topic. We redefine ourselves continually through the different surroundings we put ourselves in - put on different masks, or show different aspects of our personality when we're online, among friends, among strangers, in our jobs, etc. Theoretically, this gives us so many opportunities for different identities that there's no need to move far away. You'd probably only move (based on the reason of identity) if you can't get to grips with any aspect of your living environment at all.
But, what this actually reminded me of: We used to be part of a single living environment decades or centuries ago (one village). Now that it is far easier to travel greater distances, we are part of multiple living environments, multiple cultures.
I wish more DVDs had great extras like that.
***
Continueing on the WIP. Not much progress - still trying to incorporate more brands, which proves a bit tricky.
- Cranberries are good against infections. That effect seems to only take place with women, though.
- We laugh 3-4 times less than people did 40 years ago. Today, an adult laughs about 15 times a day. Seems like much?
- Potatoes have their origin in the Andes (where they were grown by the Inkas) and only came to us about 500 years ago. Considering that they are pretty essential to Austrian food now, that makes me wonder which food will be "domestic" here in 500 years' time (with the climate change and all). Ginger? Mangoes? Bananas?
Also, looking at where potatoes have been produced in the last years, you notice the typical trend: Production in the Western world has remained constant or been reduced, while it has almost doubled in today's "production countries" China and India.
- New Scientist writes that Probiotic bacteria could keep us slim. My first thought was "Great, more food additives", then "Right, give the population a reason to think even less about what they eat". Then I went and read parts of the original research paper, understood about 17% of it, but at least it explains stuff a bit more thoroughly than the article. And you get some insight into what is necessary to come to such findings, animal testing and all.
***
I watched some of the DVD features of Children of Men. One of the extras, "The Possibility of Hope" really caught me. It shows statements of activists, ecologists, scientists, etc. about the current state of the world and outlooks on the future, reality and utopias and social economy. Naomi Klein is one of them, and so is James Lovelock, who says:
"I look on the earth as an elderly patient. She is a someone, who would be - if she were human - in her 80s. In other words, strong, vigorous full of her 80s, but not as young as she once was. [...] Because she is quite old, any stress she receives, like it's the same with one of us -- I'm at about her age in my 80s, and if I get influenza it will be a lot more serious than if you get it. Well, our patient Earth has the problem of humans. There are, I'm afraid, too many of them and they are doing too much damage to her capacity to regulate her temperature and composition."
Which is an analogy that I really, really like.
And Fabrizio Eva talks about globalisation, culture and identity, reminding me strongly of John Storey's work and what I learned in that context.
"This globalisation process does not extinguish other cultures, because it takes a long time for other cultures to disappear. Yet, it has repercussions between young and old people. Young people are willing to move, so they already have a preexisting conviction that they don't have to accept their culture the way it is. When they realize that life somewhere else might be better, they move to find their own, new identities."
Identity creation is a fascinating topic. We redefine ourselves continually through the different surroundings we put ourselves in - put on different masks, or show different aspects of our personality when we're online, among friends, among strangers, in our jobs, etc. Theoretically, this gives us so many opportunities for different identities that there's no need to move far away. You'd probably only move (based on the reason of identity) if you can't get to grips with any aspect of your living environment at all.
But, what this actually reminded me of: We used to be part of a single living environment decades or centuries ago (one village). Now that it is far easier to travel greater distances, we are part of multiple living environments, multiple cultures.
I wish more DVDs had great extras like that.
***
Continueing on the WIP. Not much progress - still trying to incorporate more brands, which proves a bit tricky.
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
Everything you want is not everything you need
I rediscovered Vertical Horizon's Everything You Want again after looking up some word concepts. I like the music video. Such combinations of visuals and text are always very appealing to me. They remind me of Serial Experiments Lain (although Lain's texts are of course much less straightforward).
Also came across a nice quote:
"Man muss noch Chaos in sich haben, um einen tanzenden Stern gebären zu können."
- Friedrich Nietzsche
("You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star.")
***
Something from my thesis got me thinking...
Fairies might come from the Persian peris (it's a minority theory, as most researcher believe the Grimms' theory). That made me read up a bit on Persia. I've always had troubles with grasping that Persia and Iran are the same countries. I connect Persia with a rich culture, traditions and exotic tales; something out of a book rather than reality, and fully positive. Iran, on the other hand, is to me related to war, rural and poor areas and nuclear weapons. It's interesting how two words can refer to the same thing, but create completely different concepts in one's head. I bet the advertisement industry works a lot with that, just in reversal. Take something negative, give it a new name and image and turn it into something positive.
(I don't see the point in renaming geography, though. Persia turned into Iran, Edo became Tokyo, Lentos was renamed first Lentia and then Linz, etc. I mean, alright, I can understand the reasoning behind the renaming of Edo, but for the most part, there are no reasons given for renaming geographic points, and it's just immensely confusing when you find out after years that two names that you always treated as being separate from each other are actually one and the same thing).
***
I used the ending of last year and beginning of the new one for another cooking feast (because when there are so many people in the house who will possibly eat what you cook without running away in panic, you need to seize the opportunity). Unlike the Paella cooking in February, though, it was not one big thing but many little ones - sauces, desserts, etc. After not having been able to try out some new recipes in the last weeks, I had lots of fun with this.
Grapefruit-shrimps-salad:
Attempting to make sushi for the first time. I need to try this more often. Haven't quite figured out how to roll it in a nice way. I still have two other types of sushi to try out anyway. Here, Nigiri-sushi and Maki-sushi:
Finally, Dim Sum and Onigiri:
At some point I managed to leave the kitchen and joined the group. We spent a fun game evening playing Uno and Kragmortha (cool game - not quite as good as real roleplaying, but it really got me into the mood again) and following some superstitions and rites. Then the new year began with snowfall, and everything was perfect. I really like this year so far.
Also came across a nice quote:
"Man muss noch Chaos in sich haben, um einen tanzenden Stern gebären zu können."
- Friedrich Nietzsche
("You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star.")
***
Something from my thesis got me thinking...
Fairies might come from the Persian peris (it's a minority theory, as most researcher believe the Grimms' theory). That made me read up a bit on Persia. I've always had troubles with grasping that Persia and Iran are the same countries. I connect Persia with a rich culture, traditions and exotic tales; something out of a book rather than reality, and fully positive. Iran, on the other hand, is to me related to war, rural and poor areas and nuclear weapons. It's interesting how two words can refer to the same thing, but create completely different concepts in one's head. I bet the advertisement industry works a lot with that, just in reversal. Take something negative, give it a new name and image and turn it into something positive.
(I don't see the point in renaming geography, though. Persia turned into Iran, Edo became Tokyo, Lentos was renamed first Lentia and then Linz, etc. I mean, alright, I can understand the reasoning behind the renaming of Edo, but for the most part, there are no reasons given for renaming geographic points, and it's just immensely confusing when you find out after years that two names that you always treated as being separate from each other are actually one and the same thing).
***
I used the ending of last year and beginning of the new one for another cooking feast (because when there are so many people in the house who will possibly eat what you cook without running away in panic, you need to seize the opportunity). Unlike the Paella cooking in February, though, it was not one big thing but many little ones - sauces, desserts, etc. After not having been able to try out some new recipes in the last weeks, I had lots of fun with this.
Grapefruit-shrimps-salad:
Attempting to make sushi for the first time. I need to try this more often. Haven't quite figured out how to roll it in a nice way. I still have two other types of sushi to try out anyway. Here, Nigiri-sushi and Maki-sushi:
Finally, Dim Sum and Onigiri:
At some point I managed to leave the kitchen and joined the group. We spent a fun game evening playing Uno and Kragmortha (cool game - not quite as good as real roleplaying, but it really got me into the mood again) and following some superstitions and rites. Then the new year began with snowfall, and everything was perfect. I really like this year so far.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Looking Back
Yesterday was the end of a 9-successive-days-of-Kendo-period, thanks to the seminar we had this week (and it really should have been 10 days). The seminar went pretty well, considering that I had to hop through the flat on one leg last Wednesday because the other hurt just a little too for me to bother with walking properly. Interesting experience.
It was fun (just too short), and I learned loads - more than on the last one, I think. Made me realize again how much I still have to learn about the very basic techniques. It's great to have so many people who give you helpful criticism.
And good that you only feel how tired you are when everything's over.
***
Less than two weeks till new year, so I think it's time to reflect a bit on 2007. Chronologically:
January: First discussions with my supervisor concerning my thesis topic. Broke up all contact with my ex. Turned out to be an excellent decision, letting me move on with my life without draging old baggage behind.
February: The DAF community project Zoomquilt II, to which I contributed, was released.
March: Did some radical food experiments in my first week of the new semester, which caused my immune system to break down and left me first "only" ill, then with high fever and finally with an infection of my middle ear for two weeks. Wrote a short story containing talking food (Fairtrade milk and organic milk argued with each other about which is better) during that fever at 2am (I submitted that story to a writer's contest. Surprisingly, it didn't win). Decided to not ever repeat that food experiment. Found a second roleplaying group to DM. Started Kendo in Salzburg.
May: Went to Graz to for the Schandmaul concert, visited the Riegersburg and Zotter chocolate factory. Lots of fun. Also went to two medieval fairs on my birthday weekend, which was the best present Markus and Christine could have given me.
June: Determined my thesis topic after lots of reading during the semester.
July: Got to know an almost completely different kind of Kendo in Linz. Sticked with it. Began my daily holiday schedule of staying in the garden during the day, swimming 1-2h per day and reading books for my thesis the rest of the time. Figured that combining physical with mental work is really the most enjoyable way to get work done.
August: Went to my first Kendo seminar. Also went to several medieval fairs and visited the Turba Ferox in Vienna.
September: One week Lesereise of the Germanistik. Ate the best organic apples I've ever tasted there. The lack of a computer for a week and the sense of quietude, increased time and heightened achievement made me rething my computer habits (but, alas, still nothing has changed).
October: New semester of uni started. Found out my timetable is even less crowded than I thought. Consequently decided to move out of my flat in Salzburg. Got bogu. Got stressed because a friend who had started working on her thesis at the same time as I did had already begun writing hers.
November: Got even more stressed because said friend reached page 70 of her thesis, while I still wasn't writing. Had a 2-weekend communication workshop at uni, learning a lot about voice and breathing. Started fighting in bogu. Spent a weekend training Kendo in Innsbruck. Went to the Gesundheitsmesse in Wels, catching the wrong train for the first time in my life (resulting in me finding creative ways to spend an hour at a pitch-black, open train station in the cold). Started sculpting. Went to the first research conference in my life.
December: Said friend finished her thesis. Started writing mine. Had my second Kendo seminar.
So, none of my decisions backfired on me, which is great. All in all, it was a really, really good year. Better than 2006, I think. Actually, thinking back, it was probably the best after 2004/05 (simply because it takes a lot to top the year I spent in Oxford). I'll only reluctantly say goodbye.
Plans for 2008: Finish uni, find a job, move into my own flat. Paint more and improve my technique. Continue Kendo. Spend less money (or rather, spend money only when it's really necessary, and more specifically, buy books only when I'm through with the pile of unread books next to my bed).
***
As written above, I started sculpting about a month ago. I always wanted to get into it, but couldn't get Super Sculpey anywhere. When I ran out of patience (or was at a point of too much motivation) I looked a bit around online and found that a few sculptors use Fimo Soft and Green Stuff and have good end results. Since Fimo is much more easily to get, I just tried it. Here, then, are the first two (fairly average) sculptures of my life (and more to follow after Christmas).
The first one's not in it's finished stage, because I painted over some of the stuff on his clothes after having taken the pictures; but it's still 94% finished.
It was fun (just too short), and I learned loads - more than on the last one, I think. Made me realize again how much I still have to learn about the very basic techniques. It's great to have so many people who give you helpful criticism.
And good that you only feel how tired you are when everything's over.
***
Less than two weeks till new year, so I think it's time to reflect a bit on 2007. Chronologically:
January: First discussions with my supervisor concerning my thesis topic. Broke up all contact with my ex. Turned out to be an excellent decision, letting me move on with my life without draging old baggage behind.
February: The DAF community project Zoomquilt II, to which I contributed, was released.
March: Did some radical food experiments in my first week of the new semester, which caused my immune system to break down and left me first "only" ill, then with high fever and finally with an infection of my middle ear for two weeks. Wrote a short story containing talking food (Fairtrade milk and organic milk argued with each other about which is better) during that fever at 2am (I submitted that story to a writer's contest. Surprisingly, it didn't win). Decided to not ever repeat that food experiment. Found a second roleplaying group to DM. Started Kendo in Salzburg.
May: Went to Graz to for the Schandmaul concert, visited the Riegersburg and Zotter chocolate factory. Lots of fun. Also went to two medieval fairs on my birthday weekend, which was the best present Markus and Christine could have given me.
June: Determined my thesis topic after lots of reading during the semester.
July: Got to know an almost completely different kind of Kendo in Linz. Sticked with it. Began my daily holiday schedule of staying in the garden during the day, swimming 1-2h per day and reading books for my thesis the rest of the time. Figured that combining physical with mental work is really the most enjoyable way to get work done.
August: Went to my first Kendo seminar. Also went to several medieval fairs and visited the Turba Ferox in Vienna.
September: One week Lesereise of the Germanistik. Ate the best organic apples I've ever tasted there. The lack of a computer for a week and the sense of quietude, increased time and heightened achievement made me rething my computer habits (but, alas, still nothing has changed).
October: New semester of uni started. Found out my timetable is even less crowded than I thought. Consequently decided to move out of my flat in Salzburg. Got bogu. Got stressed because a friend who had started working on her thesis at the same time as I did had already begun writing hers.
November: Got even more stressed because said friend reached page 70 of her thesis, while I still wasn't writing. Had a 2-weekend communication workshop at uni, learning a lot about voice and breathing. Started fighting in bogu. Spent a weekend training Kendo in Innsbruck. Went to the Gesundheitsmesse in Wels, catching the wrong train for the first time in my life (resulting in me finding creative ways to spend an hour at a pitch-black, open train station in the cold). Started sculpting. Went to the first research conference in my life.
December: Said friend finished her thesis. Started writing mine. Had my second Kendo seminar.
So, none of my decisions backfired on me, which is great. All in all, it was a really, really good year. Better than 2006, I think. Actually, thinking back, it was probably the best after 2004/05 (simply because it takes a lot to top the year I spent in Oxford). I'll only reluctantly say goodbye.
Plans for 2008: Finish uni, find a job, move into my own flat. Paint more and improve my technique. Continue Kendo. Spend less money (or rather, spend money only when it's really necessary, and more specifically, buy books only when I'm through with the pile of unread books next to my bed).
***
As written above, I started sculpting about a month ago. I always wanted to get into it, but couldn't get Super Sculpey anywhere. When I ran out of patience (or was at a point of too much motivation) I looked a bit around online and found that a few sculptors use Fimo Soft and Green Stuff and have good end results. Since Fimo is much more easily to get, I just tried it. Here, then, are the first two (fairly average) sculptures of my life (and more to follow after Christmas).
The first one's not in it's finished stage, because I painted over some of the stuff on his clothes after having taken the pictures; but it's still 94% finished.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Many Meetings
Had a nicely busy last week. I'm starting to like these weekends when I'm up and about every day. Time seems to move slower then, and you experience much more.
But first, books I finished and liked.
Humphrey Carpenter - J. R. R. Tolkien, A Biography
Biographies usually don't appeal to me too much. Recently I've been enjoying them, though. You learn a lot about other people's dreams and ideas. Carpenter moves chronologically through the stages of Tolkien's life, from South Africa through the war to Oxford and Tolkien's last years in South England. If you've read the Lord of the Rings, Tolkien's biography is a small treasure chest. It made me realize that all of Tolkien's life echoes in his works (especially in LotR). Every inch of the way the Fellowship travels is an inch on the way of Tolkien's life. I find this quite amazing.
Reading about all the experiences Tolkien had in his early life was also very interesting. It's a bit intimidating to know about all the languages he taught himself even before going to University and the depth of his love for language. Then his experiences in the World War - a very short chapter, but nevertheless very shocking, especially since the book contains letters from Tolkien and his friends which reflect their feelings more authentically than a simple report could. You get a tiny sense of how crushed he must have been when he lost almost all of his close friends to the war. We probably can't even begin to imagine the full extent of what people felt during the wars. Lucky us.
Tolkien must have been a brilliant man. He had his failings (incidentally, they are sometimes described as his strengths ... shows you how subjective certain things are) and made mistakes, but it seems he usually acted with the best intent and purely out of love for his passions - an attitude that is quite inspirational. Maybe that's what biographies are for; to inspire you and give you an idea of how much can be achieved in a lifetime.
Peter S. Beagle - Tamsin
My sentiments towards Peter S. Beagle are a bit split. Watching the Last Unicorn has become a personal Christmas tradition through the years (even now that I have it on DVD and don't have to wait for December 24th to see it on TV). I probably love the film more than any other animation, simply for its underlying concepts that are hinted at, but not told, and for the ideas these concepts gave me in my childhood. And Christopher Lee's voice as King Haggard is simply wonderful.
The book, however, and other books I'd read so far by Peter S. Beagle, is a different matter. I could never fully take to the writing style. The thing I liked most about it was that it explained some of the concepts the film had hinted at further. But my heart was always with the film, not with the book. Beagle got a second chance when I read The Innkeeper's Song, which was even worse (stylistically). Good story, ideas and concepts, but the style made it very tedious for me. Then I tried his short story collection, The Line Between, of which I remember absolutely nothing.
Still, I didn't give up at that point. I just loved the film too much, and this made me want to love the author and his other books, too. So I let some months pass and gave it a fourth try. Fourth time's the charm, eh?
Tamsin tells the story of a girl, Jenny, who is forced to move from America to England upon her mother's second marriage. The family moves to a rural area into a farm house. Here Jenny begins to see the ghost of a girl, Tamsin, who she befriends. And slowly the story on the history of the farm, Tamsin's life and death and Jenny's coping with her new surroundings and family unravel.
It's the strong voice of the protagonist that made this book so appealing. From the beginning her teenage emotions draw you in and carry you through the story - from the sulkiness due to the unfairness of life up to the utter and overwhelming curiosity she displays at everything and everyone in the world, so you begin to share her interest in the farm and its history. I guess this shows you again how important appealing protagonists are (at least for me). They can kill the story or bring it to life.
Fourth chances are good. You just need to search for long enough and at some point it will click. I only needed to go through four average books to get to a sweet one ("sweet" is probably the right category. I assume the target group are children and teenagers, but I can easily enjoy it even though I'm slightly older ;)
***
That's it concerning books for now. On to last week's business. There was a conference on Popular Culture vs. High Culture in Salzburg from Thursday to Saturday, which I attended on Thursday afternoon and Friday morning. Special guest was John Storey, professor of cultural studies. He specialises, among other things, in popular culture, identity, consumption and globalisation. In my Pop Culture lecture in Oxford three years ago we read one of his books (I still remember most of what he wrote in it, which tells you how accessible he can make his research topics).
It was my first conference and I enjoyed it thoroughly. The topics were great. John Storey talked about the concepts of pop and high culture; another talk was on Doctor Who and its intertextuality and relation to British Culture (comparisions with Buffy, the Vampire Slayer were thrown in occasionally), and my favourite talk was on TV Judges and the Law. The talk analysed the success of courtroom shows. In one of my lecture we had discussed talkshows and their aims the week before, so I constantly compared the talkshows with the court shows. Basically, it was said that talkshows aim at establishing borders and boundaries for social behaviour. They are manufacture for consensus (Konsensmanufakturen), shown by the fact that according to surveys most of the audience (in the studio and in front of the TV) is under the impression that the show host "always agrees with me". People don't primarily watch talkshows to make fun of people's behaviour, but to be told which behaviour is acceptable and which isn't. The host is the one who established these boundaries - if one of the guests breaks through the boundaries that the show aims at building, s/he gets sent off the stage (sometimes even without applause, which tells the audience that his behaviour was utterly inacceptable and out of the norm).
In court shows, not the host but the law sets the boundaries. So in the end court shows aim at reassuring the audience that the country's law system works and is reliable. Unlike talkshows, court shows don't work in all countries, because the court system is very different in some parts. British audience never took a liking to the court shows, so they are virtually unknown in Britain. Allegedly the reason for this is that the law is always portrayed negatively on regular TV (in films, series, etc.), so the British audience rejects a TV format that is affirmative towards the law. Quite fascinating. I wonder what this tells you about the countries that broadcast court shows successfully. It seems we need (or are pressured to find) reassurance in everything - social behavour through talkshows, the law through court shows. What's next? People used to live by trial and error and the experiences of their elders for centuries, but now we need how-to's, workshops and TV shows for everything.
***
Friday afternoon/evening and Saturday was spent in Innsbruck, practicing Kendo, meeting many new people, learning lots and having tons of fun. Warm-ups with 18 people are just great. There's so much more energy present right from the beginning.
Sunday went by with moving stuff from Salzburg to Linz ... not fun. You realize how much stuff you've accumulated when you need to move. And the next time I move there'll be even more stuff to take care of (e.g. all the stuff that's towering up left and right of me and that I have to step over at the moment when I want to walk through my room).
And now it's snowtime! By far not as beautiful as the awesome view we had in Innsbruck on Saturday morning from our sleepingplace (somewhere between mountains, mountains and rocks), but nevertheless I love the sight of the first significant snow on Linz.
But first, books I finished and liked.
Humphrey Carpenter - J. R. R. Tolkien, A Biography
Biographies usually don't appeal to me too much. Recently I've been enjoying them, though. You learn a lot about other people's dreams and ideas. Carpenter moves chronologically through the stages of Tolkien's life, from South Africa through the war to Oxford and Tolkien's last years in South England. If you've read the Lord of the Rings, Tolkien's biography is a small treasure chest. It made me realize that all of Tolkien's life echoes in his works (especially in LotR). Every inch of the way the Fellowship travels is an inch on the way of Tolkien's life. I find this quite amazing.
Reading about all the experiences Tolkien had in his early life was also very interesting. It's a bit intimidating to know about all the languages he taught himself even before going to University and the depth of his love for language. Then his experiences in the World War - a very short chapter, but nevertheless very shocking, especially since the book contains letters from Tolkien and his friends which reflect their feelings more authentically than a simple report could. You get a tiny sense of how crushed he must have been when he lost almost all of his close friends to the war. We probably can't even begin to imagine the full extent of what people felt during the wars. Lucky us.
Tolkien must have been a brilliant man. He had his failings (incidentally, they are sometimes described as his strengths ... shows you how subjective certain things are) and made mistakes, but it seems he usually acted with the best intent and purely out of love for his passions - an attitude that is quite inspirational. Maybe that's what biographies are for; to inspire you and give you an idea of how much can be achieved in a lifetime.
Peter S. Beagle - Tamsin
My sentiments towards Peter S. Beagle are a bit split. Watching the Last Unicorn has become a personal Christmas tradition through the years (even now that I have it on DVD and don't have to wait for December 24th to see it on TV). I probably love the film more than any other animation, simply for its underlying concepts that are hinted at, but not told, and for the ideas these concepts gave me in my childhood. And Christopher Lee's voice as King Haggard is simply wonderful.
The book, however, and other books I'd read so far by Peter S. Beagle, is a different matter. I could never fully take to the writing style. The thing I liked most about it was that it explained some of the concepts the film had hinted at further. But my heart was always with the film, not with the book. Beagle got a second chance when I read The Innkeeper's Song, which was even worse (stylistically). Good story, ideas and concepts, but the style made it very tedious for me. Then I tried his short story collection, The Line Between, of which I remember absolutely nothing.
Still, I didn't give up at that point. I just loved the film too much, and this made me want to love the author and his other books, too. So I let some months pass and gave it a fourth try. Fourth time's the charm, eh?
Tamsin tells the story of a girl, Jenny, who is forced to move from America to England upon her mother's second marriage. The family moves to a rural area into a farm house. Here Jenny begins to see the ghost of a girl, Tamsin, who she befriends. And slowly the story on the history of the farm, Tamsin's life and death and Jenny's coping with her new surroundings and family unravel.
It's the strong voice of the protagonist that made this book so appealing. From the beginning her teenage emotions draw you in and carry you through the story - from the sulkiness due to the unfairness of life up to the utter and overwhelming curiosity she displays at everything and everyone in the world, so you begin to share her interest in the farm and its history. I guess this shows you again how important appealing protagonists are (at least for me). They can kill the story or bring it to life.
Fourth chances are good. You just need to search for long enough and at some point it will click. I only needed to go through four average books to get to a sweet one ("sweet" is probably the right category. I assume the target group are children and teenagers, but I can easily enjoy it even though I'm slightly older ;)
***
That's it concerning books for now. On to last week's business. There was a conference on Popular Culture vs. High Culture in Salzburg from Thursday to Saturday, which I attended on Thursday afternoon and Friday morning. Special guest was John Storey, professor of cultural studies. He specialises, among other things, in popular culture, identity, consumption and globalisation. In my Pop Culture lecture in Oxford three years ago we read one of his books (I still remember most of what he wrote in it, which tells you how accessible he can make his research topics).
It was my first conference and I enjoyed it thoroughly. The topics were great. John Storey talked about the concepts of pop and high culture; another talk was on Doctor Who and its intertextuality and relation to British Culture (comparisions with Buffy, the Vampire Slayer were thrown in occasionally), and my favourite talk was on TV Judges and the Law. The talk analysed the success of courtroom shows. In one of my lecture we had discussed talkshows and their aims the week before, so I constantly compared the talkshows with the court shows. Basically, it was said that talkshows aim at establishing borders and boundaries for social behaviour. They are manufacture for consensus (Konsensmanufakturen), shown by the fact that according to surveys most of the audience (in the studio and in front of the TV) is under the impression that the show host "always agrees with me". People don't primarily watch talkshows to make fun of people's behaviour, but to be told which behaviour is acceptable and which isn't. The host is the one who established these boundaries - if one of the guests breaks through the boundaries that the show aims at building, s/he gets sent off the stage (sometimes even without applause, which tells the audience that his behaviour was utterly inacceptable and out of the norm).
In court shows, not the host but the law sets the boundaries. So in the end court shows aim at reassuring the audience that the country's law system works and is reliable. Unlike talkshows, court shows don't work in all countries, because the court system is very different in some parts. British audience never took a liking to the court shows, so they are virtually unknown in Britain. Allegedly the reason for this is that the law is always portrayed negatively on regular TV (in films, series, etc.), so the British audience rejects a TV format that is affirmative towards the law. Quite fascinating. I wonder what this tells you about the countries that broadcast court shows successfully. It seems we need (or are pressured to find) reassurance in everything - social behavour through talkshows, the law through court shows. What's next? People used to live by trial and error and the experiences of their elders for centuries, but now we need how-to's, workshops and TV shows for everything.
***
Friday afternoon/evening and Saturday was spent in Innsbruck, practicing Kendo, meeting many new people, learning lots and having tons of fun. Warm-ups with 18 people are just great. There's so much more energy present right from the beginning.
Sunday went by with moving stuff from Salzburg to Linz ... not fun. You realize how much stuff you've accumulated when you need to move. And the next time I move there'll be even more stuff to take care of (e.g. all the stuff that's towering up left and right of me and that I have to step over at the moment when I want to walk through my room).
And now it's snowtime! By far not as beautiful as the awesome view we had in Innsbruck on Saturday morning from our sleepingplace (somewhere between mountains, mountains and rocks), but nevertheless I love the sight of the first significant snow on Linz.
Monday, November 05, 2007
The Last Lecture
Here is the video of a lecture by Randy Pausch, in which he talks about achieving his dreams and helping others to achieve theirs. It's a bit long, but definitely worth watching. The lecture is funny and insightful, and above all inspiring.
(I love listening to people talk about something they're passionate about. Working all the time just isn't worth anything if you don't have a dream you can work towards to. "If you aim for nothing you will hit every time, but if you aim for the stars at the very least you'll touch the sky.")
***
Some more late night scribbling:
(I love listening to people talk about something they're passionate about. Working all the time just isn't worth anything if you don't have a dream you can work towards to. "If you aim for nothing you will hit every time, but if you aim for the stars at the very least you'll touch the sky.")
***
Some more late night scribbling:
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Do one thing every day that scares you
Click here to view an absolutely wonderful video that simply fills me with a warm, happy feeling and contains a lot of truth.
(Although I disagree about the sunscreen to a degree. Sunscreen has INCIs which are partly bad for you. But I'll admit that sunscreen is still preferable to skin cancer.)
(And: Heh, how apt. My current worries never crossed my worried mind, until it blindsided me at 3pm on this idle Wednesday. Nice...)
***
Sketches for a painting I might do. Might, because my day just hasn't enough hours at the moment (well, maybe I can squeeze something into that additional hour on Sunday ;).
(Although I disagree about the sunscreen to a degree. Sunscreen has INCIs which are partly bad for you. But I'll admit that sunscreen is still preferable to skin cancer.)
(And: Heh, how apt. My current worries never crossed my worried mind, until it blindsided me at 3pm on this idle Wednesday. Nice...)
***
Sketches for a painting I might do. Might, because my day just hasn't enough hours at the moment (well, maybe I can squeeze something into that additional hour on Sunday ;).
Friday, March 09, 2007
Run from typcial blog stuff. Shut down your computer.
Participate in Shutdown Day. (Easy for me, since that's a point of my 101 list anyway and I don't care which day I actually do it.)
I still think only one day without a computer is pathetic. A week would be alright. Sadly, I find that I wouldn't be able to go through with that unless I'm on holidays.
***
(If you dislike typical annoying blog stuff and finding out more stuff about my personal me, skip the following up to the sketch.)
***
I normally don't do memes, but this one was for a friend over at LJ, so I might as well repost it here.
1. Can you cook? Yes, and I love it. I try to cook something new every week.
2. What was your dream growing up? Being a princess (how typically girly of me ;). Then I wanted to be a teacher, then a fashion designer. I think at some point I even went back to wanting to be a princess.
3. What talent do you wish you had? Hm. I'm actually quite happy with the skills I have. Most talents are only learned skills anyway, and if I wanted to have them I could just learn them.
Hmmmm. Maybe a talent for discourse and diplomacy, so people don't get offended when I tried to compliment them.
4. Favorite place? In the woods.
5. Favorite vegetable? Ginger is probably considered a spice and not a vegetable, so I'll say onions.
6. What was the last book you read? Last book I finished: Kate Fox - Watching the English. Book I'm reading right now: George R. R. Martin - A Feast for Crows
7. What zodiac sign are u ? Gemini
8. Any Tattoos and/or Piercings? Apart from my ears, no.
9. Worst Habit? Procrastinating online when there's nothing interesting to find online.
10. Do we know each other outside of lj? Only in some former art communities, I think.
11. What is your favorite sport? I don't like and don't do sports. I sometimes go swimming in summer, and I've taken up Kendo this semester to try it out. Maybe I'll like it.
12. Negative or Optimistic attitude? Optimist who scolds people for their pessimistic attitude.
13. What would you do if you were stuck in an elevator with me? Paint on the walls, maybe.
14. Worst thing to ever happen to you? I tend to see the positive side of bad things, and "worst thing" sounds as if I wanted that it never happened. So I could say "Having been bullied at school", but that probably caused me to read Fantasy, get into art and find true, long-term friends, who I love to bits.
15. Tell me one weird fact about you: I lived the first two years of university mostly on crispbread, because I was afraid the 25 people who I had to share kitchen with would laugh at my newbie cooking skills (and because the kitchen was never clean and there was never space to cook properly).
16. Do u have any pets? Sadly, no.
17. Do u know how to do the macerana? Not anymore.
18. What time is it where u are now? 11.22
19. Do you think clowns are cute or scary? I go for annoying. If you talk about proper, medieval court jesters from medieval fairs, though, who entertain the children, they are both cute and awesome and funny.
20. If you could change one thing about how you look, what would it be? My bum, I guess. Working on it.
21. Would you be my crime partner or my conscience? Conscience. I'm as optimistic conscience as optimistic conscience can be.
22. What color eyes do you have? grey-blue
23. Ever been arrested? No.
24. Bottle or Draft? Draft (just to pretend that I fully know what the question is about).
25. If you won $10,000 dollars today, what would you do with it? Get a new desktop computer, go on holidays to Ireland with my brother and Christine, buy all stuff from my Amazon wishlist, donate some to a good cause, and save the rest.
26. What kind of bubble gum do you prefer to chew? None at all.
27. What 's your favorite bar to hang at? I don't like bars, but I'll take any pub any time.
28. Do you believe in ghosts? No, but in Shadows.
29. Favorite thing to do in your spare time? Read and paint and hang out with friends.
30. Do you swear a lot? Not really.
31. Biggest pet peeve? Ignorant people (now that's a good category - I can put all the stuff in it that I dislike - people who talk in the cinema or who talk to me during lectures, people who act all high and mighty when they're not and even told that they're not, etc.).
32. In one word, how would you describe yourself? Windy.
33. Will you repost this so I can fill it out and do the same for you? Probably not, since I don't use LJ.
***
This was sort of fun, even if inaccurate:
Traditionally, online tests would ask certain questions about your musical tastes or clothing for a stereotype, your experiences for a purity test, or deep questions for a personality test.We're turning that upside down - all the questions affect all the results, and we've got some innovative results too! Enjoy :-)
TAKE THE TEST
brought to you by thatsurveysite
I still think only one day without a computer is pathetic. A week would be alright. Sadly, I find that I wouldn't be able to go through with that unless I'm on holidays.
***
(If you dislike typical annoying blog stuff and finding out more stuff about my personal me, skip the following up to the sketch.)
***
I normally don't do memes, but this one was for a friend over at LJ, so I might as well repost it here.
1. Can you cook? Yes, and I love it. I try to cook something new every week.
2. What was your dream growing up? Being a princess (how typically girly of me ;). Then I wanted to be a teacher, then a fashion designer. I think at some point I even went back to wanting to be a princess.
3. What talent do you wish you had? Hm. I'm actually quite happy with the skills I have. Most talents are only learned skills anyway, and if I wanted to have them I could just learn them.
Hmmmm. Maybe a talent for discourse and diplomacy, so people don't get offended when I tried to compliment them.
4. Favorite place? In the woods.
5. Favorite vegetable? Ginger is probably considered a spice and not a vegetable, so I'll say onions.
6. What was the last book you read? Last book I finished: Kate Fox - Watching the English. Book I'm reading right now: George R. R. Martin - A Feast for Crows
7. What zodiac sign are u ? Gemini
8. Any Tattoos and/or Piercings? Apart from my ears, no.
9. Worst Habit? Procrastinating online when there's nothing interesting to find online.
10. Do we know each other outside of lj? Only in some former art communities, I think.
11. What is your favorite sport? I don't like and don't do sports. I sometimes go swimming in summer, and I've taken up Kendo this semester to try it out. Maybe I'll like it.
12. Negative or Optimistic attitude? Optimist who scolds people for their pessimistic attitude.
13. What would you do if you were stuck in an elevator with me? Paint on the walls, maybe.
14. Worst thing to ever happen to you? I tend to see the positive side of bad things, and "worst thing" sounds as if I wanted that it never happened. So I could say "Having been bullied at school", but that probably caused me to read Fantasy, get into art and find true, long-term friends, who I love to bits.
15. Tell me one weird fact about you: I lived the first two years of university mostly on crispbread, because I was afraid the 25 people who I had to share kitchen with would laugh at my newbie cooking skills (and because the kitchen was never clean and there was never space to cook properly).
16. Do u have any pets? Sadly, no.
17. Do u know how to do the macerana? Not anymore.
18. What time is it where u are now? 11.22
19. Do you think clowns are cute or scary? I go for annoying. If you talk about proper, medieval court jesters from medieval fairs, though, who entertain the children, they are both cute and awesome and funny.
20. If you could change one thing about how you look, what would it be? My bum, I guess. Working on it.
21. Would you be my crime partner or my conscience? Conscience. I'm as optimistic conscience as optimistic conscience can be.
22. What color eyes do you have? grey-blue
23. Ever been arrested? No.
24. Bottle or Draft? Draft (just to pretend that I fully know what the question is about).
25. If you won $10,000 dollars today, what would you do with it? Get a new desktop computer, go on holidays to Ireland with my brother and Christine, buy all stuff from my Amazon wishlist, donate some to a good cause, and save the rest.
26. What kind of bubble gum do you prefer to chew? None at all.
27. What 's your favorite bar to hang at? I don't like bars, but I'll take any pub any time.
28. Do you believe in ghosts? No, but in Shadows.
29. Favorite thing to do in your spare time? Read and paint and hang out with friends.
30. Do you swear a lot? Not really.
31. Biggest pet peeve? Ignorant people (now that's a good category - I can put all the stuff in it that I dislike - people who talk in the cinema or who talk to me during lectures, people who act all high and mighty when they're not and even told that they're not, etc.).
32. In one word, how would you describe yourself? Windy.
33. Will you repost this so I can fill it out and do the same for you? Probably not, since I don't use LJ.
***
This was sort of fun, even if inaccurate:
The Everything Test
There are many different types of tests on the internet today. Personality tests, purity tests, stereotype tests, political tests. But now, there is one test to rule them all.Traditionally, online tests would ask certain questions about your musical tastes or clothing for a stereotype, your experiences for a purity test, or deep questions for a personality test.We're turning that upside down - all the questions affect all the results, and we've got some innovative results too! Enjoy :-)
|
|
| |||||||||||||||||
| Politics Your political views would best be described as Liberal, whom you agree with around 73% of the time. | Socioeconomic Your attitude toward life best associates you with Lower Middle Class. You make more than 0% of those who have taken this test, and 82% less than the U.S. average. |
| If your life was a movie, it would be rated PG. By the way, your hottness rank is 57%, hotter than 82% of other test takers. |
TAKE THE TEST
brought to you by thatsurveysite
Sunday, March 04, 2007
Alcohol Anthropologics
Still reading Kate Fox's Watching the English. Right now I'm finishing the part on drinking and rules of drunkenness. It says this:
In some societies (such as the UK, the US, Australia and parts of Scandinavia), drinking is associated with aggression, violence and anti-social behaviour, while in others (such as Latin/Mediterranean cultures) drinking behaviour is largely peaceful and harmonious. This variation cannot be attributed to different levels of consumption or genetic differences, but is clearly related to different cultural beliefs about alcohol, different expectations regarding the effects of alcohol and different social norms regarding drunken comportment. [...] The experiments show that when people think they are drinking alcohol, they behave according to their cultural beliefs about the behavioural effects of alcohol. The English believe that alcohol is a disinhibitor, and specifically that it makes people amorous or aggressive, so when they are given what they think are alcoholic drinks - but are in fact non-alcoholic 'placebos' - they shed their inhibitions: they become flirtatious, and males (young males in particular) often become aggressive.
This is a very interesting insight, both about the different cultural expectations concerning drunkenness and also about the effect of placebo drinks. From my limited knowledge it seems plausible.
So, I'd say in Austria the general expectation concerning the effect of alcohol is to be more outgoing (and louder), more talkative and - especially among the younger people - to make more of a fool of yourself, which is what I also observe at parties.
Basically, this means the way you think about the effects of alcohol influences your actual behaviour when drunk majorly. Isn't that interesting? You can't blame the alcohol any longer, because it's not in the alcohol, it's in your head. Boy, this opens up so many wonderful opportunities to look into people's minds.
This knowledge is also quite abusable, I think, since you could give people placebo drinks in order to make them behave in a certain way, without them being able to blame it on the alcohol in the end.
I can only repeat what an awesome book this is.
***
Here is some info on the next Pixar film. It sounds exciting. I admit I'm a sucker for moving and interacting gadgets (like that mini-sequence of a Win and a Mac computer getting close to each other). There's something intriguing about the idea of "cold" machines with human emotions, if it's not overdone and the specific characteristics of the machines are retained (this doesn't include cars walking on two wheels).
***
And lastly, Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sleep. Because how you spend those 4-12 hours has major consequences on how you spend the rest of the day.
***
The whole family went to the Energiesparmesse in Wels today. It was mostly about stuff that I didn't have much of a clue about anyway, so I was basically walking through the dark all the time, not knowing what the thing in front of me was actually used for. But I made good use of my time there by taking lots of photos for textures and references.
Seriously, if you need textures, go there; there's wood, stone, grass, marble, clay and loads of other stuff that I partly don't even know what it is (because it's stuff that is hidden somewhere in the building of your house behind all the stone and tapestries). I was overwhelmed by the thousands of different textures.
At the entrance. Ah, Wels. Lots of good memories from the two medieval fairs that we visited there years ago.
(photo courtesy of Christine)
Right after the entrance. Too many people. I do prefer medieval fairs, not just because there aren't by far as many people there.
There was a small section in one of the halls on gardening. I liked that, since it emphasized the decorative aspect (unlike most of the stuff there, which was more about the vital aspects of house building). I also liked the fences.
I'm still not quite sure what it is. A fountain? A bird pond? Some capitalists mad fancy?
Who'd put that into his yard?
(photo courtesy of Christine)
In some societies (such as the UK, the US, Australia and parts of Scandinavia), drinking is associated with aggression, violence and anti-social behaviour, while in others (such as Latin/Mediterranean cultures) drinking behaviour is largely peaceful and harmonious. This variation cannot be attributed to different levels of consumption or genetic differences, but is clearly related to different cultural beliefs about alcohol, different expectations regarding the effects of alcohol and different social norms regarding drunken comportment. [...] The experiments show that when people think they are drinking alcohol, they behave according to their cultural beliefs about the behavioural effects of alcohol. The English believe that alcohol is a disinhibitor, and specifically that it makes people amorous or aggressive, so when they are given what they think are alcoholic drinks - but are in fact non-alcoholic 'placebos' - they shed their inhibitions: they become flirtatious, and males (young males in particular) often become aggressive.
This is a very interesting insight, both about the different cultural expectations concerning drunkenness and also about the effect of placebo drinks. From my limited knowledge it seems plausible.
So, I'd say in Austria the general expectation concerning the effect of alcohol is to be more outgoing (and louder), more talkative and - especially among the younger people - to make more of a fool of yourself, which is what I also observe at parties.
Basically, this means the way you think about the effects of alcohol influences your actual behaviour when drunk majorly. Isn't that interesting? You can't blame the alcohol any longer, because it's not in the alcohol, it's in your head. Boy, this opens up so many wonderful opportunities to look into people's minds.
This knowledge is also quite abusable, I think, since you could give people placebo drinks in order to make them behave in a certain way, without them being able to blame it on the alcohol in the end.
I can only repeat what an awesome book this is.
***
Here is some info on the next Pixar film. It sounds exciting. I admit I'm a sucker for moving and interacting gadgets (like that mini-sequence of a Win and a Mac computer getting close to each other). There's something intriguing about the idea of "cold" machines with human emotions, if it's not overdone and the specific characteristics of the machines are retained (this doesn't include cars walking on two wheels).
***
And lastly, Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sleep. Because how you spend those 4-12 hours has major consequences on how you spend the rest of the day.
***
The whole family went to the Energiesparmesse in Wels today. It was mostly about stuff that I didn't have much of a clue about anyway, so I was basically walking through the dark all the time, not knowing what the thing in front of me was actually used for. But I made good use of my time there by taking lots of photos for textures and references.
Seriously, if you need textures, go there; there's wood, stone, grass, marble, clay and loads of other stuff that I partly don't even know what it is (because it's stuff that is hidden somewhere in the building of your house behind all the stone and tapestries). I was overwhelmed by the thousands of different textures.
At the entrance. Ah, Wels. Lots of good memories from the two medieval fairs that we visited there years ago.
(photo courtesy of Christine)
Right after the entrance. Too many people. I do prefer medieval fairs, not just because there aren't by far as many people there.
There was a small section in one of the halls on gardening. I liked that, since it emphasized the decorative aspect (unlike most of the stuff there, which was more about the vital aspects of house building). I also liked the fences.
I'm still not quite sure what it is. A fountain? A bird pond? Some capitalists mad fancy?
Who'd put that into his yard?
(photo courtesy of Christine)
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Cooking Goodness
It is somewhat comforting to know that the headlines in Austrian newspapers also reach the news in other countries. At school you always have some lessons in which you take newspaper articles of different newspapers and compare them. I never found much interest in it, but I (occasionally) like comparing articles from different countries. It shows how facts change when crossing borders and how different facts get highlighted.
I never read in any of the Austrian articles that they lived in an upper-middleclass suburb. Maybe the newspapers just assume that, as a local, I know what social class people living in that part of town belong to (I don't. I'm also fairly sure people living further away don't.). I wouldn't even know how to translate "upper middleclass" - not in the context in which English people use it. Funny thing.
In relation to that, I'm currently reading "Watching the English" by Kate Fox, an anthropology book on English behaviour. I've only read the first few chapters so far, but I can already tell that the book is awesome. It's intelligent, funny, cleverly written and insightful. It's also very helpful when looking back in retrospect on experiences in England and helps explain stuff that seemed strange in my time in Oxford, i.e. when you meet your boyfriend's friends and offer them your hand as a greeting, and they look at you as if you're barking mad; after reading the chapter on greetings you know that you are not the one who is mad.
It's such a shame that you can't study anthropology in Austria. I first got in contact with anthropology in Oxford, where I took a lecture on pop culture and a seminar on Japanese art. Loved it. It seems like a wonderful thing to delve into.
***
Last weekend I made Paella for the whole family (without the mussels). Christine used the opportunity to try out her new camera (which is way superior to mine, as it can do videos with sound, as opposed to mine, which is restricted to videos without sound).
Fun!
A small part of the ingredients. Not visible are peas, chicken wings and all the liquid parts.
Prawns in the pan (after getting some colour). I was glad that I didn't have to behead them and rid them of their intestines. That sounded a bit gross and violent.
After some time Markus decided to take over the pan and pretend to be important, so he could get all the fame, while I was left with spicing the chicken wings. After some evil glares I took over the pan again.
Yummy!
Here we again fought over who was allowed to put the finishing touches on everything (and also who got to eat some of the sausage while decorating the rice stuff). We managed a more or less peaceful solution after neither of us had won another glaring contest.
Here is the almost finished meal, before it was shoved into the oven and forgotten.
Check out this awesome natural lighting. The blue comes from the window (no artificial lightsource responsible for that). Who'd have thought midday could produce such a saturated metallic blue?
Aaaand here's the result of the 2h cooking marathon as presented on Christine's dish.
I never read in any of the Austrian articles that they lived in an upper-middleclass suburb. Maybe the newspapers just assume that, as a local, I know what social class people living in that part of town belong to (I don't. I'm also fairly sure people living further away don't.). I wouldn't even know how to translate "upper middleclass" - not in the context in which English people use it. Funny thing.
In relation to that, I'm currently reading "Watching the English" by Kate Fox, an anthropology book on English behaviour. I've only read the first few chapters so far, but I can already tell that the book is awesome. It's intelligent, funny, cleverly written and insightful. It's also very helpful when looking back in retrospect on experiences in England and helps explain stuff that seemed strange in my time in Oxford, i.e. when you meet your boyfriend's friends and offer them your hand as a greeting, and they look at you as if you're barking mad; after reading the chapter on greetings you know that you are not the one who is mad.
It's such a shame that you can't study anthropology in Austria. I first got in contact with anthropology in Oxford, where I took a lecture on pop culture and a seminar on Japanese art. Loved it. It seems like a wonderful thing to delve into.
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Last weekend I made Paella for the whole family (without the mussels). Christine used the opportunity to try out her new camera (which is way superior to mine, as it can do videos with sound, as opposed to mine, which is restricted to videos without sound).
Fun!
A small part of the ingredients. Not visible are peas, chicken wings and all the liquid parts.
Prawns in the pan (after getting some colour). I was glad that I didn't have to behead them and rid them of their intestines. That sounded a bit gross and violent.
After some time Markus decided to take over the pan and pretend to be important, so he could get all the fame, while I was left with spicing the chicken wings. After some evil glares I took over the pan again.
Yummy!
Here we again fought over who was allowed to put the finishing touches on everything (and also who got to eat some of the sausage while decorating the rice stuff). We managed a more or less peaceful solution after neither of us had won another glaring contest.
Here is the almost finished meal, before it was shoved into the oven and forgotten.
Check out this awesome natural lighting. The blue comes from the window (no artificial lightsource responsible for that). Who'd have thought midday could produce such a saturated metallic blue?
Aaaand here's the result of the 2h cooking marathon as presented on Christine's dish.
Saturday, December 02, 2006
Meet me on the sunny road
After having learned that I'm going to have a baby from the Pope on December 25th (it's a girl!), I also found out that I'm a bubble.
Now I'm going to bed to dream of rainbows and shiny knights before waking up and seeing them for real.
Now I'm going to bed to dream of rainbows and shiny knights before waking up and seeing them for real.
Friday, December 01, 2006
Chant d'automne
Nature is beautiful at this time of the year. Three times a week I'm going to Hallein by train (as I'm teaching at a secondary school there) , which is a 20 minute journey. Here's where the Alps start. On the train from Linz to Salzburg I see mostly flat land (and a lake), with the mountains looming far behind in the distance. To Hallein, I'm going past the mountains. They are to the left and to the right of the train and change every day. One day the sun is shining, and I see the crisp edges between the sun-lit side and the shadow-side, with white patches of snow crossing the sides at the top. On other days it's misty. Then the lower part of the mountains is hidden in fog. Only the peak shows, peeking out of the fog. It never ceases to amaze me.
The mountains are even more beautiful when you go from Linz to Graz. Then you literally go over the mountains, with steep cliffs at one side of the train occasionally. This must be the sublime nature that the Romantics adored.
Tomorrow I'm going to a medieval market in Amerang (between Salzburg and Munich, in Germany). The last market for this year. I'll miss them during winter.
The mountains are even more beautiful when you go from Linz to Graz. Then you literally go over the mountains, with steep cliffs at one side of the train occasionally. This must be the sublime nature that the Romantics adored.
Tomorrow I'm going to a medieval market in Amerang (between Salzburg and Munich, in Germany). The last market for this year. I'll miss them during winter.
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Fictional Letter by a 13-year-old boy/girl
Dear parents,
Since I am seven years old I have been getting a weekly pocket money of 10€. With that money I can buy a healthy school lunch three times a week at most; I am starving the other days. I can never go to the cinema, or indulge in other offers of the entertainment industry, without begging you for money, which is quite humiliating. I'm not even mentioning that I'm being bullied at school because I cannot afford to buy brand clothes. Therefore I ask you, my highly esteemed parents, to think of the psychological well-being of your child and grant me a weekly increase in pocket money of at least 200%.
Sincerely,
Your poor and neglected (not to say unkempt) child, who loves you nevertheless
Since I am seven years old I have been getting a weekly pocket money of 10€. With that money I can buy a healthy school lunch three times a week at most; I am starving the other days. I can never go to the cinema, or indulge in other offers of the entertainment industry, without begging you for money, which is quite humiliating. I'm not even mentioning that I'm being bullied at school because I cannot afford to buy brand clothes. Therefore I ask you, my highly esteemed parents, to think of the psychological well-being of your child and grant me a weekly increase in pocket money of at least 200%.
Sincerely,
Your poor and neglected (not to say unkempt) child, who loves you nevertheless
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
If you love enough you lie a lot
A recent look on my Amazon wishlist revealed that it contains 94 items. I could have sworn it was around 70-80 only shortly ago. Where are these books coming from?
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And this is another good reason why you shouldn't use Paypal: Blogposting by George R. R. Martin
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And this is another good reason why you shouldn't use Paypal: Blogposting by George R. R. Martin
Saturday, November 04, 2006
First snow and bombs
It started snowing yesterday. Makes me excited like a little girl. Today it was already snowing heavily and you can't see the grass anymore. If I had a cat I'd probably throw it out into the snow and make a video of its reaction, out of curiosity.
In Salzburg there was a bomb from World War II blown up near my flat (German newspaper article). Now I wish I had been there this evening to hear the detonation and maybe to feel the floor shake (wheee), and besides that to check if anything in my flat got damaged. I guess I'll have to hope for the next bomb.
Tomorrow my sweatshop experiment continues and I'll ravage the shops in Linz for the labes. Let's see if I still like the snow tomorrow evening.
In Salzburg there was a bomb from World War II blown up near my flat (German newspaper article). Now I wish I had been there this evening to hear the detonation and maybe to feel the floor shake (wheee), and besides that to check if anything in my flat got damaged. I guess I'll have to hope for the next bomb.
Tomorrow my sweatshop experiment continues and I'll ravage the shops in Linz for the labes. Let's see if I still like the snow tomorrow evening.
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