Tutankhamun exhibition

Last week I visited the exhibition of Tutankhamun in Brussels. It was impressive, tough I was a bit disappointed when turned out that from the first to the last object everything was a replica.

Treasure room



This coffin contained a few other similar coffins.
Check its height! Reference: I am like 1.73 m tall.



Statue of goddess Sekhmet

Location and ticketprice can be found here (Dutch):

http://www.brussel.be/artdet.cfm?agendaid=2374&id=4843

Note: who remembers the cartoon series Papyrus?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAgke_fzUeE

When I was eight years old he was my hero! XD

Stories to read before bedtime: Chris Priestley

Who here likes scary tales? *counts hands*

Today you are at the right address, this post is about Chris Priestley.
Never heard from? Shame on you...

Born on 25 August 1958, this British author decided already at a young age he wanted to become a writer.
His scary tales are actually meant for children from ten years old, but believe me if I say they are very enjoyable too if you are older! I have only read the Dutch versions of following books, but I can say the use of words isn't too childish and the letter size isn't annoyingly big.

I especially recommend:
Tales of terror from the black ship (De verschrikkelijke verhalen van het zwarte schip)
Uncle Montagues tales of terror (De verschrikkelijke verhalen van oom M.)
Tales of terror from the tunnels mouth (De verschrikkelijke verhalen van de vrouw in het wit)

My favourite: Uncle Montagues tales of terror.

Edgar is an only child with rather unpleasant parents. This is why he likes to visit his "great-uncle" Montague, which lives next to his house. (actually Edgar shortens how many times it has to be "great") Montague is an eccentric man who lives with his, never seen, butler Franz at a decreasing villa. They meet always at the same room of Montague's house, which is filled with curiosities Montague collected during his travels. Each of this objects seems to be connected to an obscure tale. Of course those tales aren't suited for little children, but couldn't a brave boy like Edgar stand more than an average kid?

All of these frame stories are wonderfully spooky illustrated by David Roberts.

Check out this website for more: http://www.talesofterror.co.uk/

Any other sinners here which read children's books too?



Sources:
http://www.cartoons.ac.uk/artists/chrispriestley/biography
"De verschrikkelijke verhalen van oom M." by Chris Priestley

After all: dear U.K. II...

My holiday at the UK:
I was very surprised, in the good way, about the people in London!
Everyone was so unbelievable kind and polite!
In Belgium I am often considered being (sometimes to much) polite, but I felt rude compared to the people over there. Also I saw a few lovely gothcouples at London, but not as much as I had expected.

We visited in London: the Palace of Westminster, the Towerbridge, Harrods, the London zoo and the British museum.
Especially the British museum is worth a visit, it is free and HUGE...!
They have a pretty Egyptian collection and, as turned out when we arrived, the two headed snake. The snake seems not to have an "official name", but it's a known piece of Aztec art of which I am fond since I was about ten years old. I am so happy I have seen it!


At the Towerbridge, with typical English weather. ;)

The second week we stayed at a small village and visited the coast, some churches with lovely graveyards (some headstones were almost 200 years old!), some Victorian houses (I adored this part of our holiday ^^) and many, many, many ... sheep! XD

We took a break during our travel back to Belgium to visit Stonehenge, and then our holiday was over...
This was our best holiday in years and I hope to return within a while, because there is so much left to see and I definitely want to pay a visit to those famous Camden shops.

After my holiday I had back my old spirit which had left me the past weeks. :)

So, it has been a while

My title says pretty much. Past weeks were busy and I kept on reading blogs, but writing...
I was a playground moni, went to Marktrock to see Zornik (Marktrock is a free festival in Leuven, Belgium), have been sewing, tidying up and go on.
Because I already wrote a post about my trip to the UK and just waited for the pictures I will post it anyway.
Probably I will resume blogging for now.

Btw someone taught me how to play chess yesterday. I suck, harshly, but it is something which is on the loooong list of "Things I want to learn someday". :p

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! ^^

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.

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.