zaterdag 16 juli 2011

Dear U.K.:

Actually I intended to blog about "The exorcism of Emily Rose". Because I saw this movie mentioned a few times I thought I was one of the (many) black holes in my knowledge of culture. It was a disappointment to spent not too much attention at furthermore...

Something else:
tomorrow I am leaving to spent two weeks holiday in the U.K.

Yay!
This means after five years of English education, I will finally hear it spoken by natives.
I have to confess I am not fully prepared for our trip...
So I will read a guide while travelling.

London:
Camden won't be on our visiting list, unfortunately.
Tussauds or the London Eye either, but I don't really care about it.
I really want to go to the British Museum and hope to convince my family. ^^
Bookstores! Ow yeah! I am a reading addict on a strict diet, but I hope to buy at least some English books since I own not a single one.
The London Dungeon seemed possibly interesting, but for a family with four "adult" members is the price too high.
And like every holiday we couldn't miss the traditional zoo trip, well I could actually.
Last time I visited the U.K. I was only six years old, but I remember the visit to a "haunted" castle as one of the most fun parts. I hope we might visit it again. ^^

We will spent the second week at the countryside.
Which doesn't sounds that interesting...
but I will make the best of it and have lots of reading material with me. (a)
It contains a wonderful bookseries about which I will tell you after my return.

All that is left to me is to fill my mp3 with some good music and to wish you goodbye.
See you within two weeks! ^^

zondag 10 juli 2011

Nineteenness

I got a
baby's brain and an old man's heart

Took eighteen years to get this far
Don't always know what I'm talkin' about
Feels like I'm livin in the middle of doubt

Cause I'm
Eighteen
I get confused every day
Alice Cooper - Eighteen


Because we adore freaks! ^^
And I have only a few remaining eighteen-year-old hours to go.

donderdag 7 juli 2011

Ghost bubbles

Today I will post about another artist: Toon Hertz.

I like to support people for all forms of art, but especially for those of my own little country. He is Belgian and lives in Liège. Toon was born in 1967, but for my feeling he could be like twenty years old. His works emanate youth so pervasive. He works with photo manipulation and digital painting.

Typical for his artwork are:
a dark blue/grayish background (there are a few exceptions)
ghostly pale faces
rather large heads in comparison with the bodies
bats
dead trees and branches
crows
cages

They often express eternity, loneliness and emptiness. Though his personages display also emotions other than sadness.

Because this author asks explicitly not to publish his artwork at (among others) blogs, I will post links to his Deviantart account. :)

Dead heart:
http://thz.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d2ymx7c

Ghost bubbles:
http://thz.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d1pi521

Imossible love:
http://thz.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d1pz2ff

Mad scientist ^^:
http://thz.deviantart.com/gallery/?offset=24#/d1ottzs

Playing with friends:
http://thz.deviantart.com/gallery/?offset=0#/d1f83ea
(I like the facial expression of this girl, she looks like she hides a secret)

Information and image sources:
http://toonhertz.blogspot.com/
http://thz.deviantart.com/

Btw I failed for my driving licence exam, which isn't the end of the world but I hope to succeed next time.

maandag 4 juli 2011

Gathered by mices

Because last week's have been so busy, I barely found the time to blog.

I had my last secondary education exams and presented my GIP.
Afterwards I went to Graspop.
I slept only few hours every night (and couldn't catch up the sleep I missed during the exams), got wet two days, survived on cookies and bad tasting noodles, even tanned Sunday because I couldn't find my suncream at home, ... but funny enough everyone told me after my return I looked so much healthier than before. XD
Then I graduated as a pharmacy assistant and attended the prom of my school where I saw almost all my classmates getting drunk (very comic since I don't drink alcohol by myself).

This is the third year I will be a monitor for two weeks at the local playground and I had my first gathering with the two other girls of my group. This year I will take care for one week about four to five year olds and another week for nine to ten year old's. Actually I didn't intend to return to the playground, but to find a decent holiday-task this year. It's quite hard at the time itself and the preparations ask much time, but afterwards I always look back at those weeks with joy. I hope badly I can recruit some other people to go too because for now it seems like the second week I will have to try to keep more than twenty kids under control by my own!

I live near (one of) Belgium's largest mainstream festivals: Rock Werchter. Tickets are way too expensive and they drive up prices every year. But... as locals me and my sister know where we can enjoy acts at a distance for free. : p So when there's a performance we like to see, we take our bicycle and pay a visit to Werchter city. I accompanied my sister to Linkin Park as a goodbye for ten days.
The next day I brought my sister to Brussels for the bus to the amusements park trip in Spain.

Afterwards I had the great idea not to return straight home, but to stop first at Leuven for some sales. ^^
Because my sister kidnapped the crappy camera to Spain, pictures come within a week.
I found some great stuff! (but no clothing actually)
Yesterday I saw Iron Maiden. ^^ (not that I am a Maiden know it all, but when such a known band comes so near your house it would be a shame not to check it out) Too bad the sound wasn't loud enough sometimes, but further it was nice.

Tomorrow I will have my practical driving licence exam so currently I am preparing for that.
Afterwards I should do little preparations for our family holiday in the United Kingdom. (things we really should visit in London?), more playground preparations, some city trips and make my final decision which school courses I will follow the next years.

zaterdag 2 juli 2011

Satisfaction

Finally some blogging time! As told before I went to Graspop past Friday and weekend. Before I left I had my doubts because I am not really the kind of person to put in a crowd of a few ten thousand humans. Even tough I went last year a day, I knew barely anyone... I pushed myself to do it because I really, really, REALLY have to get out of my house more often and became even more introverted than ever the past four years. Also, some of the bands which performed were on my wish-list since the beginning I became aware of something called "alternative music" and I didn't want to let this opportunity pass because I fear strangers.

Which acts have I seen?
(I saw more acts, then I will describe here, but I only mention the most important ones for me. Also, I have difficulties with uploading pictures, I will probably add more photographs later.)
For me Graspop began with Arkona. This is a Russian folk metal band and they were quite good. ^^
Korn couldn't convince me, but I have to admit I barely knew their music.
The first "WOW-effect" came with Epica! They are one of the most important reasons why I hád to attend this years edition. I was very impressed by their singer Simone Simons.

the lead vocalist of Epica: Simone
I heard Volbeat only at the background, but enjoyed their performance.
The day finished with the Scorpions, which were okay.

The next day, Saturday the twenty-fifth of July, I celebrated my five years "alternative culture". ^^
(I think it's quite funny I still remember that, actually I heard only one person ever mention something as a date) I didn't do anything special, but it's just a fun-fact.
The first performance was Diablo Boulevard, the band of Alex Agnew, which is a very known comedian in Belgium. It drizzled tough the attendance was large. The act was nice but not too exiting.
Next act was the Italian Lacuna Coil. I adored their performance!

Lacuna Coil


Another peak was the concert by Arch Enemy. For my feeling their singer made a tiger-like appearance. They really "sucked" me into their performance.

FOTO

A rather extreme appearance was made by Cradle of Filth. I approved their act very much.
The images which played at the background, the clothing of the band members and the mutated microphones accomplished their performance.

FOTO

I missed Pain...!!! :( It's my own fault because I lost track of the time schedule, but I regret it a lot.
Ozzy Osbourne was scheduled as headliner that evening, but cancelled.
Instead we got more Judas Priest... -.-

I almost couldn't realise it when it was already Sunday!
We started with Steak Number Eight which was okay.
Next was Amorphis. I had expected more, but they satisfied. It surprised me I some band members passed later the day at the Festival Fair. : p
Avenged Sevenfold followed, but couldn't make me that enthusiast.
One of the best performances was made by a band never listened before: Legion of the Damned.
The performance was so catching!
My parents insisted on picking me up Sunday evening, so I left at nine o'clock in the evening.
The last act I saw at was Opeth. They weren't bad, but some other bands I saw could have blown them straight away.

That was the end of Graspop 2011 for me. I was insecure about going, but I am glad I did. Next year I should find more people to go with because this year I mainly accompanied two people and I didn't feel comfortable for them. Tough the only one making an issue about this seems to be me.

Thank you guys!

(I don't know if they will ever read this, but I intend to publish the link to my blog somewhere in the future)

Sometimes I found it hard to be surrounded by humans all the time. Tough I have met many people, even just briefly, and learned much about (let us call it:) a different culture than mine. XD

I believe it is true what an acquaintance said to me when I told him I felt awkward for knowing so little others: every year you go you will recognise more people of last year...! ^^