Spring snow arrived today.

The domain so far: outlook for 2008.

Wed, 16 Jan 2008 22:51:59 GMT

The grand "THINGS TO DO for 2008" -list:

Running Projects
1. Eden calls (the Soubi shrine):
- finish reading the remaining manga chapters
- continue writing after the reading is done
- come up with a new layout, because the current one appears rather.. huge (it's the header I guess)

2. blue cologne (Aoe Reiji fanlisting):
- start by renaming the damned thing. It will include the word rain. Something along the lines of 'my rain' or 'lluvia' or 'lluvia de estrellas'
- actually changing that layout after.. what? 2 years?

3. *Blade Driven (Bleach fanlisting):
- spare enough time to finally sit down and do a proper splitting of the information section and media section. Spiritual Candy is going to merge with Blade Driven. After talking it over with ruayla and some more thinking, it basically means that fanlisting and fansite (=info + media from Spiritual Candy) are to seperate.
- The new name for the humble Bleach fansite to-be: Code Orange.

Future projects
1. Velvet 18. What's that? The long planned George Koizumi shrine!! I have all this written material stuffed in a folder on my laptop.. it needs to get out in the public. I think 2008 will be the year when it does so. I mean, how long has Paradise Kiss been around now?.. Exactly. Well at least I already have the name out (if that counts for something at all).

2. *Mainframe.
- Oh my god. I just recently installed Wordpress on glassforte.com, and the amount of comment spam is already proportional. But, the mainframe is going to be in log/journal format eventually. In which I can write stuff about aspects of today's (or yesterday's) media.
- get a decent layout and domain section up.

*= most time-consuming

Well, that is quite a lot, even if it spans the whole of 2008. Talking about media; nice songs!

1. Romance - House Rulez (feat. Yujin)
The better electronica/lounge-sounds: you have the melody, the beats, the voice. If you like Clazziquai Project, you might like this as well (which isn't to imply they sound the same).

2. Forbidden City - 12 Girls Band
Their band name doesn't really improve persuasion power to get newbies to listen to them (it is rather cheesy, no?). But it's nice, and for anyone who wants to live up to the pretension of listening to so-called 'classical Chinese music', it's also a good choice.

Now to wrap this post up with an update on real life and my internship: busy.

Done.

Shrine recced

Fri, 16 Nov 2007 00:25:48 GMT

On a quick mention: thanks arainymonday, missdeep, for reccing Eden calls. I know it is extremely late and I should be in bed. But an extremely tiresome day turned out well in the end because of your rec. You don't know how much of a boost this is for people to continue working on their sites; it's quite huge. Because really, inspiration moves worlds.

Corinne Bailey Rae fanlisting

Sun, 30 Sep 2007 13:27:39 GMT

The Corinne Bailey Rae fanlisting has a new layout, tweaked content, improved coding and a new little music video section.

The plan was to finish the main domain layout as well, but that will have to wait until another Sunday, one which has enough free time for me to tweak around and come up with a nice design. (I have this Drew Barrymore photo that I probably will use in the layout, but it is so hard to come up with a fitting colour scheme; so I need a little more time on that.)

I can't believe my birthday is already in less than a month. Time goes fast!

Last.fm

Sun, 09 Sep 2007 14:51:46 GMT

Yay, I got myself a Last.fm account. (Care to friend, anyone? :D) Can't believe a music freak like me didn't get one of these sooner. It's really nice how they even keep you up to date with a list of gigs and performances on the agenda in your own country. And I'm kind of happy to see how the Red Hot Chili Peppers get the most play on Last.fm over here, seconded by Muse. They are after all, two very awesome bands(!). *bounces*

Fri, 24 Aug 2007 14:20:38 GMT

loud music makes glasses crack is now 6% more navigable than it previously was. This is all of the changes I can make to the domain for now. I need more inspiration gathering before I can get myself to make a new layout. Boo's.

LJ new layout

Wed, 15 Aug 2007 13:28:46 GMT

After tweaking it on and off for the past weeks, arionwing finally receives a definitive new cover. I will settle with this for the coming time.

It now features the Versailles crew from Sofia Coppola's 2006 movie Marie Antoinette! I love that movie, period. The image comes from a Vogue photoshoot on location in Versailles (found at kirsten-dunst.org). I want to make layouts using every single photo that appeared in that Vogue issue, they're so pretty. (Next domain layout, maybe?)

The stylesheet is by refuted, so I really didn't do much to the design other than adding a header. Talk about convenience nowadays - oh lucky days.

The next update will pertain to the domain, and hopefully of more impact than this one. For real.

Soubi shrine, new layout.

Sun, 05 Aug 2007 15:07:23 GMT

Eden calls, the Agatsuma Soubi shrine has a new layout! I hope this layout will entice visitors to read the content more than the last one did. I'm sorry for the previous layout; it was so ...white and naked and, it looked like it was unfinished - quite embrassing. Yes I suck at making a layout. Apparently I just lack the skills for it.

I really need to stop tweaking the Soubi shrine; everytime I look at it I'm not satisfied with it and then I start tweaking again, and again.. The next update at that site will pertain to media-related content (probably).

.. just, BLAH.

Blade Driven updates

Thu, 02 Aug 2007 21:03:27 GMT

The Bleach Fanlisting now has quick links located on each section's seperate pages. The information pages and fanlisting pages for example have been adjusted to make browsing a bit easier. I admit I've probably never paid enough attention to these things. Instead, I think I'm guilty of unjustified over-estimation of visitor's willingness / ability to click away at a site. (XD) The affiliates list has also been updated, sites that didn't have any link directed back at Blade Driven have been removed.

And I've decided to revert to the verdana font again; I've been hesitant about either arial or verdana as the main font. And after arial for a while, I think I'll switch to verdana for the time being. (And if that doesn't look right, there's also tahoma to consider; I just can't make up which font actually looks the best on the entire site.)

I've tweaked my Livejournal profile a bit. Maybe I'll add more text once I've come up with something meaningful to say about myself.

Listen / Download:
Rest my Chemistry by Interpol. (Love this song)
Like a Star by Corinne Bailey Rae - do listen, please? ♥

Link buttons

Sun, 29 Jul 2007 21:45:34 GMT

A quick update. I've managed to make some 88 x 31 link buttons for glassforte.com. They are located on the information page. I've also validated the coding in XHTML transitional for the Bleach FL, George Koizumi FL and Soubi site last week.

Since I was out of town this weekend and had a digital camera with me, I took some photos in an attempt to practice some more in photography. I really want to acquire some skills, so I definitely need practice more often (ie. a LOT). I've uploaded some of the photos on my Vox account: Rococo @Vox. I suppose my Vox is now some sort of music - general media kind of, space, thing.

Because I am hooked, and perhaps for someone who might be interested: the Le Chevalier d'Eon anime ending video on Youtube.

I really love how for each character who was also a real historical figure, they used the 'official court painting' theme to depict them in the ending. Okay, so the real life people looked different from this anime interpretation, still, I like the image they applied - I especially like how Madame de Pompadour & Louis XV look in the paintings ♥ :D). And that song, I know I've already posted about it, but but, it's so freakin' beautiful! xO

Download / Listen:
OVER NIGHT (Le Chevalier d'Eon ED) by AYA.

Le Chevalier d'Eon

Fri, 27 Jul 2007 21:34:41 GMT

Is it true, does Production IG's Le Chevalier d'Eon not have a fanlisting yet? blasphemy! (lol just kidding). I've perused TAFL's approved series list under the L, T and C, but I can't seem to locate it. Either that or my eyes fail on me. This anime was on my to-watch list of already completely aired anime, so I've picked it up during the week. I'm now somewhere at episode 12. As for now, I really LIKE it. I like it to the same degree as I liked Code Geass (and Death Note) after I started watching them.

Okay, so maybe I'm biased in the sense that the historical context of the anime interests me a whole bunch. (Even Robespierre appears in it!) Everything spanning Louis XIV era to pre-French Revolution and the Napoleon aftermath intrigues me. Seeing how that was also the reason why we went to Vienna last summer vacation, and also why one of the main locations in France on my to-visit holiday list is the Versailles Palace (plus another dozen places in Southern France I want to go to XD). Standing in the close to ridiculous grandeur of Schönbrunn's back garden under a scorching sun at a 36 degree celsius climate, viewing that very sight gave me cold chills. And then somebody mentioned one wouldn't have witnessed the ultimate pomposity until they witnessed the sight of Versailles. So yes, I'm curious about it! I don't know, somehow human nature's extravagant insanity interests me.

So I think there was a big chance I would like this series. Even if the whole historical context is spiced up with supernatural alchemy and intrigue. I actually like how some rumored/speculative historical elements have also been taken into the story. Also, watching this series triggered me into a continuation of reading up on French / European history of the 17th - 18th century, so yes, hooked I am for sure.

But, since I pretty much missed the period when Chevalier d'Eon aired, I don't really know how popular the series was at that time (?) I mean, browsing some sites gave me the idea there was a short hype going on about it. But now I get the impression the series didn't hit the general crowd as much as other series did. Nonetheless, I like the series to now! And I can't wait to see the rest. But, no more tempting fanlisting applications please. (Though the apparent lack of fanlistings for this series just asks for it.)

Another element of this anime that is a certain factor of keeping me hooked: the anime ending song. (Anime music can partially make or break a series for me, I guess.) It's been a while since I've had a serious song obsession, but now I think I have one judging from the replays I've done for this piece of music. The melody is mysterious, nostalgic, it just floats so beautifully. I figure it'd be something slightly close to what Massive Attack could bring forth, though at the same time it's also somewhere between Jrock and Jpop? (i'm not sure though). But but, please listen to the song? :3 It's so awesome ♥

Download / Listen:
OVER NIGHT (Le Chevalier d'Eon ED) by AYA.

New site and layout. Soubi !

Sun, 22 Jul 2007 14:00:40 GMT

Yes! It is finally done.

Eden calls, an Agatsuma Soubi shrine.
This is pretty much the first shrine located in this place. I know there's a lot more experienced shrine makers out there - looks at flist. So if you stumble upon something stupid, let me know; I could use pretty much any advise and/or criticism to improve.

Besides that, I've also given Glassforte.com a new layout. It is a first 'real' layout of some sorts. At least there is a little bit more content this time. Still, I think I need to come up with a better one than this, someday. To all the sisters & affiliates of my previous aquarel.org: could you please update your links when you have a moment? At least, that's assuming you still want to be affiliated/sistered :3 I need to make buttons though, I hope I'll get to that sometime soon.

Oh and, is there anyone who'd be willing to donate some Soubi or Loveless icons for the Soubi shrine? :D (Like if you happen to have some icons around or are willing to make some.) I want to expand the media section with something other than music, but my icon skills are, like.. yeah. lol.

cassey004, chequeredfelon, atsumi, machineking, rubyjuls, asaphira_sachi, e_dimension, phenophtalein, missdeep, sixflowers, ruayla: thank you. If people of your sympathy and wisdom were named head of state, the world would be a better place to live in, really! And yes it meant (and means) a damn lot to me, so THANK YOU.

Exciting kyaa

Mon, 11 Jun 2007 19:43:30 GMT

Oh I would want to say I have some sort of wonderful site update. But, well let's just say I'm working on it? And it's progressing slowly, but gradually! I plan on planting some shrines at glassforte.com. The goal is to get them done by the end of summer (aiming at August-ish). I'm not sure yet if I want to say to whom the shrines are going to be dedicated, but let's just throw in words along the lines of Paradise Kiss, ~~glam loving fashion king~~ and Loveless ~~cigarette loving cat ears adoring painter~~.

And even more exciting news: sixflowers will be in Amsterdam this summer for her college exchange project! Yay! And she will be staying right at the University of Amsterdam's facilities. I'll be stuck in this place for the summer due to obliged essay writing, so this will be a good diversion from the routine uni work. Shirley, I know you're busy but if you happen to read this: call me when you've arrived so we can get together, be genki, hang out aaaand, it'll be fun!

As for the music topic, I actually like Taking the Long Way, the Dixie Chicks' 2006 studio album. I could never believe that an avid country music detesting person like me could ever like their music, but I honestly do! (LOL give me any kind of music and I'll listen & enjoy, as long as it's not country music. But I guess there's a first time for everything, ne? *smiles*)

Blade Driven

Sat, 28 Apr 2007 16:42:00 GMT

New layout (best viewed in IE), new content, old codes and last but not least, a new location.

http://glassforte.com/bleach/

I will send members and affiliates e-mails about the link update in the course of next week.

I've also given my lj a new look: arionwing

Finally, there is some movement in the dusty arcades of my domain.

Site updates

Fri, 20 Apr 2007 18:50:37 GMT

There is a new cover here.
I've also made a new layout for George's fanlisting a little while ago. Random thought: Purple/pink tones really suit this guy, no matter how you look at it. Blue hair and purple clothes D: isn't that too flashy.. ?

And also some updates at Soul Star were made about two weeks ago I think, just hadn't really mentioned it yet.

I caught up with the latest Viewfinder chapters and I'm not happy with how the story is evolving. Somehow I think I'll only be totally content when Asami and Fei Long make up with each other for what happened in the past between them. And of course, we all want Asami reunited with Takaba, it's the ultimate-pairing-now-separated-miles-from-each-other-so-they-must-find-their-way-to-struggle-back-to-each-other standard formula. And what will they do once they're back together again, get married? D:~ Why can't Takaba stay with Fei Long?! D<

Code Geass!

Thu, 29 Mar 2007 19:39:27 GMT

Death Note anime owns me..

Code Geass owns me even more...

Is it just me, or do Yagami Light and Lelouch resemble each other in character somewhere? Only, I think Lelouch has got a legitimate reason to be as crazy as he is. Light for using boredom as a reason to kill off people is, psychotic nonsense. Anyway, even though I never got really far with reading the manga, Death Note anime is pretty intense. L has got a really good voice. At first that Misa person was annoying me, because she seemed kinda dumb (is she this dumb in the manga as well, I wonder). Ah in any case, I'm doing Death Note in a totally reverse order; it was after I saw the first DN Live action movie, that I decided to watch the anime. And now, I want to read the manga again.

But as mentioned before, Code Geass totally owns me. I like the overall art & character design (duh, it's CLAMP doing the job). Somehow I like the combination of CLAMP's art and somebody else's story creation, it works really well. I like the anime's music (GREAT 1st opening theme!) and the story setting. Even though at first I thought the anime was a bit too political XD But then the political starts to mingle into situations that affect the characters personally, so then I don't mind as much. Because actually the political setting adds well to the drama in the series. Code Geass has a bit of everything; drama, love, politics, action. I love the Mecha blended into it, kind of reminds me of Gundam Wing. There are so many different characters in the anime though. Up until now there's not really a character that I dislike. Somehow I can sympathize in one way or the other with each character, no matter whose side he/she is on. Okay, the only exception is Lelouch's old man, he's so harsh on his own flesh and blood! I think that man is blinded by his own legacy, lol. But yeah, the point of the post is that I think Code Geass is one of those series that has the potential to mess with my brain for some time to come (like Bleach or Paradise Kiss did back then xDDD). And Karen Stadtfeld is so cool! I'm not really into Code Geass pairings, but if I had to choose one, it'd be Karen x Lelouch!

I've been looking at the number of Code Geass fanlistings emerging and geez, there are pretty much fanlistings already. Soon all possible combinations of Code Geass - related fanlistings will have settled I predict. Seeing how passive I've been lately on fanlistings, I'll stay on the sideline this time when it comes to CG fanlistings, I'd be happy to just join them. Omg I'm so happy to have found an anime again to craze about. After Honey & Clover, I was looking for something good as a successor, and I guess Code Geass is the one now. All hail CLAMP's amazing character design powers!

honey & clover II

Thu, 15 Mar 2007 20:37:40 GMT

Nooooo.... noooo!! *person who has finished watching 11 episodes of honey & clover 2 this last week* Yes, I finally got to watching the series and really, I'm so sad about the fact that Honey & Clover is over. I mean, I wouldn't have mind if there was a Honey & Clover 3 and H&C 4 and so on and so on. And now I've watched eps.11 and waaah, Haguuu, what are you doing?!?! Whyyyy, whyyy, of all the people ;_____;

Because Honey & Clover is just that good to not talk about it

Why of all the guys around her, does Hagu choose Shuuji? I mean, I am familiar with her reasoning. About how Shuu-chan is her 'rain' and how deep their love for each other is. But, is it just me, or do more people think that it's kind of odd in a way? I mean, Shuuji took care of Hagu since she was, quoting him, 'still wetting her bed'. So first of all, there's the age difference. Second of all: AREN'T THEY RELATED??! Wasn't Shuuji Hagu's (far far) cousin of some sort?? I know they can love each other, but, I got the feeling that the series suggested it was that kind of love, such as: couple/relationship love. Or maybe I remembered it wrong about the two of them being related.

And then of course, at some point I understand why Hagu can't choose Morita. After all, Hagu herself is a person that needs a lot of caring and support. And Morita, although he doesn't look like it on the surface, he himself needs someone that can catch him from time to time. He's so free spirited in one way, yet really childishly impulsive still. The fight between Morita and Takemoto was more hilarious than it was serious, I thought. Still, I really felt both their pain just from watching the series... Hagu is really lucky in the sense that she's got THREE men present who all want to be with her XD And now when I think of it, I think out of all three, Shuuji is definitely the guy who I see as someone who can and will be there for the long run. So I guess.. after all my talking, Hagu made a wise decision in choosing Shuuji? Still! I was running for Morita!! I so wanted him to win this! Go Morita-san!! XO It's been a long time since I got so worked up about an anime. Yes, Honey & Clover is definitely one of my favourite anime, ever.

Been also watching D.Gray-Man. The anime is pretty okay, because the manga was all great & cool, only the art work in the manga exceeds that of the anime, quite obviously. All the characters are all pretty okay in the anime, Komui is so hilarious.. And a major plus about D. Gray-Man is the setting in this imaginary 19th century Europe. I recognize a lot of elements, such as the different kinds of European countries the places in the anime resemble and the related historical features.. and somehow that recognition makes the anime really familiar. I looove historical Europe - related stuff, especially if it's 19th century centered. The mix of horror & darkness with humor works really well for this anime. The amount of jokes & funny moments makes the theme less dark and better suited for the general croud. I think even people who don't like the horror theme still could watch it.

Annnd: Bye bye, Kaien!! T____T *waves with handkerchief*

site

Sun, 28 Jan 2007 00:45:52 GMT

Changed aquarel's mainframe and links page... don't ask XD

Killed off some sites, will close two fanlistings, have splitted up my fanlisting collective into a seperate joined page (which is under construction) and to either aquarel or kaien for owned fls. I don't have time to maintain a seperate fanlisting collective anymore, extra site means making extra layout xDDD.

I have yet again, continued reading Viewfinder. WAH.

bleach fanlisting, fanlisting

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 23:32:35 GMT

Updated all of my fanlistings. (Dear Bleach has reached over 2000 last month ago?.. so claps & hoorays for that).

To anyone who has sent affiliation requests for either of my fanlistings or fl collective: yes and another yes; I would love to affiliate! :D It just takes me a while before I've replied to your e-mails. And then it takes me another while to actually add you on the site. I'm so sorry for the replicative delays.. but, you will be added, for sure!

As for my fanlistings: some of them will be closed. Some others I am thinking of getting hosted. Sooner or later I'll make a post in which I will advertise my fls in search of hosts XD;;

Wow I was so bored with my Jay Chou icon :O Will post again once i've decided which fls are to go and whatnot.

Thu, 28 Dec 2006 15:29:31 GMT

Hope everyone had a nice Christmas. I did, with lots of yummy food and fun and warmth and lights etc. Yesterday was fun too, I went to this super Dutch tourist attraction with a bunch of friends. We made pictures in front of windmills and little old-fashioned dutch houses. Yes we're all Dutch but biggest part of the group never has been to that place. And the cliche's are all so true: where there is a typical Dutch tourist site, there are Japanese people walking around with camera's, walking in & out shops buying souvenirs. EVEN when it's freezing, grey & misty weather.

What else? Oh yeah, KaienNU will exist until mid-March 2007 and then it'll go off air. And now I'm still not sure what to do with aquarelORG.. either keep the name, change the name or abondon the idea of domain renewal entirely. For now, I have to remember to update the links page and update some of my FLs.

I've put aside my Oscar Wilde compilation of plays to read this modern day fiction story about a guy who tells the story of his wife having terminal breast cancer. The book was good in that it was realistic and quite shocking at times. But nah, truth said it's not really my type of book to read on frequent terms. So as a result I've started in the Narnia Chronicles.. again. Hope I'll finish every one of the books in the series this time xD. Who knows I'll finish the Oscar Wilde plays?! :O

Anyway, wish everyone a very Happy New Year and a good & healthy 2007!

Tue, 24 Oct 2006 04:51:21 GMT

Happy Birthday to me!~~~ wheeee XDDD *cough*

huh?! XD

Wed, 27 Sep 2006 19:36:17 GMT

whee~ I check in on LiveJournal and I stumble upon a whole new LJ webdesign, "it's kind of enhanced towards a Vox-ish look" was my first impression.

omg how long has it been since I've posted something up here?? XD I've been away pretty much the whole last weekend for my internship; we went on a trip with our department to the most southern part of the country and it was SO much fun. We did fun things; we held a cooking competition, we went biking through the hills and we went to this wine estate to taste exclusive wines and got a tour on how wine production goes in a nutshell. Then on Saturday evening we all partied until 6 in the morning.
And.. on Monday life continued as normal. I still haven't entirely recovered yet from my lack of sleep, but then again: have I ever entirely recovered from any sleep damage??? LOL

On fanlisting affiliate requests: I have received and if I'm right, have replied to your e-mails and I still have to add you as an affiliate; many apologies for the huge delay... I just don't have a lot of time left on the side for extra things online right now *bow bow*

My birthday is coming up in less than a month.. o____o I, I don't want to get older! >__< And, on another totally random note: I think I'm going to want Snow Patrol's latest CD. Have I ever mentioned that Snow Patrol's song Chasing Cars is SOOO good?? you can listen to it HERE please give it a try, the song is pretty brilliant ♥

Another song highly recommended is by ZERO 7, called Destiny. In case you want to listen: ZERO 7 - Destiny. I love that woman's voice. XD well okay, hope to be able to post sooner next time!

movies and movies

Tue, 12 Sep 2006 20:26:24 GMT

Michael Mann doesn't have a fanlisting yet? If he had one, I'd join with no doubt.

After seeing a number of Michael Mann's movies, I'm convinced and now I can say with no doubt that I love his style. I went to see Miami Vice last Friday and the movie story was so-so (almost nearing to 'blah-boring' in the middle of the movie).. but wow did I like the movie's shooting style & colours. If you've seen movies like Collateral, Heat, The Insider or Miami Vice, I think you'll know about Michael Mann's raw, realistic and "scene au naturelle" style of filming :D

Anyway, I think I'll turn this beloved thing into a movie / book log sort of thing so I'll have some seperate space to rant and fangirl about movies, books and the like.

Summer vacation is over, my internship has started and it's really busy blah blah.. the usual. I sooo wish I had more time for website stuff ;____; and I'm missing out on all the music stuff. I haven't even heard Jay's latest album yet, boo~

PS: I hope everyone is doing fine. I haven't been able to check up and read my friends list and visit forums for the longest time ;___; hope all is going well for everyone~

Jaaaaay

Sat, 26 Aug 2006 13:35:39 GMT

OMG Jay Chou !!! I'm listening to his latest single called Qian Li Zhi Wai (Beyond a thousand miles) it's a collab with a 1970s singer and and and....

What is Jay Chou doing?! He is going as far as to collab with an artist whom my mom was a fan of in her younger days T_____T If I let my mom listen to this song, she'll even like it. And Jay's upcoming album is called Still Fantasy?? Where's the originality?? XO (When you consider his 2nd album was called Fantasy).

And, Jay is starring in a Zhang Yimou movie along with Gong Li and Chow Yun Fat?! What did Jay Chou do to be able to surround himself with the topnotch of Chinese/Asian movie industry?? X_______X Don't tell me the next thing he'll do is star along Zhang Ziyi in some blockbluster that will debut world-wide... *dies*

In anyway, there's always loads of critique to come up with when it comes to Jay Chou. His whole style, from music to career moves, is unconventional and loaded with a great deal of Jay-dorkness. Some will think it plain pathetic, others will think it's brilliant.

I love Jay's music in general, though XD; Just as I like his latest single lol.
I'll probably rotate Jay's latest single in Play Aqua!'s next mp3 round XD ... probably

Antiquity and the potato (update)

Wed, 09 Aug 2006 20:41:52 GMT

At last, the Athens fanlisting & Antique Greece site has been revamped; it is as good as finished for the time being. It has been renamed in the process. I've never been quite useful for the multi-coloured, screen filling flashy layouts, so I'd figured to stick to humble ~~and dead simple~~ ones. ;___; ( Ah well, a person can't have everything, now can it? XD )

Antique Sun; Athens & Ancient Greece.

Oh and, I declare that, what used to be the Water Colour Network, will also be called the
Hand over that potato ...or suffer the consequences! Network by me from now on. XDDDDDDD It's time for some change.

Marie Antoinette; how marriage politics are done

Sat, 05 Aug 2006 14:18:39 GMT

Well I got back from Vienna last Friday. Since then I've been catching up on sleep and waiting for my pictures from Vienna to be developed. (Yes I still make my holiday pictures with a 'normal' camera on APS film format, lol) Well Vienna was, in one word beautiful. The city is big, statesque and somehow incredibly tranquil. Austria's imperial past and grandeur is oozing from its historical houses, palaces, monuments and basically everything, omg xD. The central role of art and stylish architecture is also very apparent on the streets.

All the places we've seen were amazing, but the most impressive sight, with no doubt must've been Schönbrunn Palace. This was basically the summer palace of the Habsburg dynasty, which was at its architectural peak in the time of Maria Theresa (late 18th century).
This place was jaw dropping, not so much the palace building itself imo, but because of all the historical figures that have walked there and the palace 'back yard'. During the audio tour through the Palace chambers I went from the one *starry eyed omg* to the other haha. How could I not react like that?! I mean, one salon was the place where Mozart, at age 6, gave his very first piano performance. There were the rooms of Maria Theresa's children. Her youngest daughter was Maria Antonia, or better know as Marie Antoinette. Marie was assigned to marry Louis XIV at age 14, the last King of France. They ended up under the guillotine during the French Revolution.
Then there was another chamber, called 'the Napoleon room' where Napoleon resided with his wife during his occupation of Vienna in 1805 to 1809... and, uh... yeah, I really love all that history crap XD;;

Anyway, here are some pictures I've made in Vienna. there's a lot more and I'm planning to put the rest of them on my photo log/photography site that's in the making; I've already got a collection of pictures from my various trips to places ready to put up on the site, all there's left is a functional layout. So expect something of that sort soon XD Anyway! on to the string of pictures (pics were resized for this post)

Vienna Sights

The Belvedere; built by Prince Eugene of Savoy, the Habsburg general that defeated the Turks during their siege of Vienna. From the money he received as reward, he ordered to build this two-part palace in Baroque style, this is the 'upper Belvedere', the first sight of this beautiful place when you enter the gates from the street. Seeing this gave me cold chills; it was breathtaking under the sunlight of that warm afternoon (oh yeah, did I mention it was really hot in Vienna?? The sun was shining merciless lol)

Look! The ferris wheel! It was indeed located on this cute fan fair ground, where all these little kiddies and young people where playing/screaming/having fun. This place was really cute and happy, yep.

The museum of Fine Arts, opposite of this building on the other side of the square was the Natural History museum. We didn't enter either two though.

The Majolika Haus. It is supposed to be special because of its Art Nouveau style, designed by architect Otto Wagner.

Museum of Modern Art at the Museumsquartier; which was a courtyard surrounded by all different kinds of Modern Art galleries. On the courtyard were these funny red couch-like benches where young people were relaxing and chatting in the shade. I wanted to sit down on one of those benches too (my feet were tired from all the walking hehe, but they were all taken already Xo)

The Austrian parlament and one of the big front gates... Greek inspiration aka the Parthenon in Athens, yes yes? XD

The back yard of the Schönbrunn Palace. This is why I think the back yard is actually more interesting than the building itself (this picture was taken standing on the balcony of the Palace). A stroll from the Palace building towards the viewing top on that hill in the distance takes well over an hour. And that is if you walk straight on, without wandering off in one of the side gardens, which include a Labyrinth garden, orangery, palm house, zoo, fountains etc. We actually spent an entire day at Schönbrunn: 2 hrs inside, the rest of the day was spent outside exploring and strolling in the 'back yard' XD;;

Another shot of the viewing top (Gloriette) from the gardens, this time a bit closer

View from the Gloriette over the main palace backyard, the back of the building and the rest of Vienna.

19th century style palm house in one of the Schönbrunn side gardens.

Palm House and the accompanying garden. I love the construction of the Palm House; it's got this blend of exotic and semi-gothic ♥

View of another small side garden of Schönbrunn's back yard.

On to the Opera House in the middle of a busy Vienna scene. The building was quite big XD The inside was beautiful and very romantic. After it was built, the Austrian emperor said it looked like a railway station. After hearing this one of the architects commited suicide XD;;;

Shot of the ceiling and parts of the audience balconies in the main Opera hall of the Opera House.

The house where Mozart lived for three years and where he supposedly composed some of his big ones such as The Marriage of Figaro. The building was 'lavish' for his times, but still pretty humble and simple in comparison to the pompous palaces & buildings we had seen so far. Lol I was so relieved to come across at least one tourist attraction that didn't knock you off your feet with either its super sized ornaments, mind buggling marble sculpture work or XXXL gardens etc. Plus the house was located in a maze of rather quiet, narrow and cute streets. So yes I definitely liked my visit to the Mozart House a lot.

And lastly, some tickets and tourguids of the various tourist attractions I collected during my stay there. XD

Sofia Coppola's MA
Well that's some of the pictures for now. As on Marie Antoinette, I went to see the movie Sofia Coppola has made about her; from her first meeting with her future husband to the last of her days at the start of the French Revolution. This movie is rather special in that it features modern (aka '80s) background music and some of it was filmed using hand held camera's, which made it realistic in a warped way. Let's just say it's not your typical Hollywood historical costume drama production, it focused more on the characters and spaces in which they experienced things, rather than the big historical perspective/background most of these kind of movies are set in.

Only thing is that after some time, the movie gets a lot of the 'la dee dah, blah blah'-thing going on; the audience gets less interested and the movie isn't that inspiring to watch anymore. On the other hand, I loved how the movie on one side showed the grandeur and incredible wealth royalty lived in those days, at the same time putting their way of life into complete ridicule. It showed how completely insane people get when they've got wealth & power and how they loose sight of themselves. I'd really recommend this movie, just for the awkward-but-fun style it's in :D the movie trailer.

And, I noticed that some people have started a Vox.com account.. how is Vox though? Is it as easy to use as LiveJournal?? :O I kind of want to try it lol. So uhm, is there anyone who's reading this and who's got a Vox invite left and/or would be willing to give away a Vox invite?? *puts up puppy eyes* X//D;;;;