I found this gorgeous animated French film by Michel Ocelot on Youtube. I wanted to see it ever since I watched his Kirikou films.

Princes and Princesses

It´s marvelous, romantic and so smart. The animation is based on sillouettes, but it is never boring - switching from classic fairy tale setting to Egyptian mural art and Japanese art - and they can convey emotions so well.

Just what I needed on the grey autumn day.

I liked the first story - a motif familiar from a Czech fairy tale with a surprising twist
I loved the third story about the sorceress - I want the castle and the bombing dragon
I adored the one about the cruel queen - the futuristic settings and Ocelot really got me there, I thought... yeah, well,... (no need to cry after all :-)
The last one was a bit too long for me, but the ending was completely worth it. Delightful and mischievous - princes and princesses indeed.

Also, Kirikou... is small, but he is very brave.

But not for me, because um... I am not that fluent in Spanish and I am not the resident in the Netherlands. Yep, that´s it.

It sounds lovely though and it was published on regular Dutch job server. Godverdomme, what a country!

sales/customer service employee - fluent Spanish & English

The Green House Seed Company is a dynamic /​ young
organization based in Amsterdam;

We are looking for a sales/​customer service employee.​

Candidates should be familiar with the international cannabis
industry and have a positive attitude towards it.​ 

Some of your responsibilities will include:

• Handling our online sales (back office of our online shop & order packing).​
• Answering our customers emails.​
• After-sales (calling our shops and distributors).​

 Irresistable!

Today I was supposed to meet a friend about our project that consists of attacking an ususpecting country and trying to find a job there. cough Canada cough. At 11 a.m.

11:05 she wasn´t at the meeting place
11:10 it started to drizzle and wind was blowing like crazy
           The wind blew into a nearby fountain and I got an unexpecting shower.
11:12 I am feeling numb
11:15 random TV staff notices my solitary figure on the square and comes over to make an interview with me about the weather tomorrow
11:16 random TV staff buggers off, I am feeling dumb - how am I supposed to divine the velocity of wind anyway?     
           I become the idiotic blond star of today´s news.
           Next time I will pretend I am Finnish or something.     
11:20 my umbrella broke in the wind and scratched my forehead
           - if the TV people had come over now, I would have stuck the ex-umbrella into their nosetrils
11:25 I bugger off to catch the bus - no calls, no SMS form my friend
11:43 the bus leaves in front of my nose

I hid in a book shop and bought a book about history of ex-Yugoslavs in order to prove myself that my miseries are really nothing.

Where is this sarcastic bastard who is writing my life stories? I want to beat him/her/whatever into a bloody pulp.

Czech Republic - bringing chaos to the CNN maps

Does it happen to other countries too? Because this cannot be a coincidence after seeing pictures like this:

First Iraq and Germany play house switch



Then Slovakia mysteriously disappears (Hungary whistles way too innocently) and the Czech rule is imposed upon Poland


Fortunately Slovakia returns and moves her capital into surprising places. Meanwhile Hungary annexes Austria. The sneaky country changes her flag design just for the heck of it.



Have I mentioned denial and disguise? This time we pretend to be rich and aloof and that we have the Alps.



And Wikipedia joins in to clear up Shakespeare´s notion of the "coast of Bohemia".
I did not make this one up.


Central Europe has always been one weird neighbourhood, but come on! Is it some conspiracy?

I have an urge to mention Hetalia, but I can´t blame it this time.

Brontës, Pushkin, they are nothing to my rl.

He spotted me in the middle of the crowd on the street and headed directly to me.
He told me his name and asked mine and said I was the most gorgeous girl he had seen in the town.
He embraced me and held me tight and told me that I smell nice.
Really nice, so nice it drives him crazy.
Then he invited me to come over to the town where he will be selling animal figures for charity on weekend.



Why am I praised like this only by handicapped boys (or random drunks on the train)?
It was cute though.

I wonder whom I will charm next time.

On Monday I got back from Vienna the Beautiful and Tropical, even when Rainy.

I have a thing for German speaking countries lately. I bought a language guide that includes phrases:

Du hast wunderschöne Augen. - You have beautiful eyes.

Gehen wir zu dir oder zu mir? - Shall we go to your place or mine?

Aber nur mit Kondom! - But only with a condom!

Is it beacuse it is German-Spanish phrasebook? Because these phrases are just between the "introduction" topic and saying "gooodbye" which is oddly fitting. Spain as the country of passion. Now I am curious what they had in Czech-German phrasebook then:

Shall we go for a beer? Our beer is better than yours! No, it isn´t! Yes, it is!...

Philosophical intermezzo

Berlin looks incredibly spacey, friendly and sunny. I suspect that Berliners had been informed of my visit and tried to make an impression, because it was perfect. We were running around the places where history walked and occasionally made for other countries to beat crap out of them.

And because panache makes one philosophical, one evening my friend pointed out:

“It is so weird. We have great culture, philosophy and stuff and still this nation could get totally insane… And some people are still saying that Hitler wasn´t that bad, because he had roads built. Yeah, nice one.“

Me: “And that Germany didn´t lose the WWI.”

Her: “Of course not! We got the dagger in the back!”

Me: “And then you didn´t start the WWII!”

Her: “Right, Poland attacked us! We had to defend ourselves by attacking France!”

Me: “And Czechoslovakia had to be pacified, we were even planning a counter-attack back in 1938!”

Her: “And now look. Some sixty years without war, so how all this gore came to be?”

Me: “Well, you know, shit happens…”

(Pause so pregnant it might have twins.)

Me: “But the thing is it happened twice in a twenty years span…”

Her: “Yeah… More panache…” More deep thinking.    

Random Berlin features included:

- name “Berlin” maybe comes from Western Slavic “berl” for “bog” or “swamp” and here I thougt it had something to do with the bear that is the symbol of the city

- bathing on the Spree + changing into swimsuit on the public, Germans, you Bohemians! I would normally hide on the WC and change there, but there I thought “oh, sod this!” and threw my maiden honour away

- nice, big marihuana in a flower pot in the middle of the sidewalk

- walking into an Ancient Greek gate and emerging out through the ( Ishtar Gate ) in the Pergamon Museum

- ( Brandenburg Gate ) blocked off by mysterious railings which made us wonder, wander and get lost in the park – facepalm moment: when I came home I realized that the Athletic World Championship is taking place there

- the Berlin Wall – gone for 20 years, yet omnipresent – there were so many amazing exhibitions commemorating the fall of the Berlin Wall as well as Polish Solidarność that got cool posters

- starting to think about learning some German and definitely more about German history

- being taken for local, much to my instant panic whenever people asked for help

- in some pubs they ask you if you prefer Czech or German beer – Krušovice beer is all over the place - and so are Škoda cars – I am astonished.

- ( Currywurst Museum ) – I didn´t visit, but I stared and laughed

- at Checkpoint Charlie I got almost knocked down by a “Soviet soldier” who was packing away American flag

 

I loved all of the six days I spent in Germany, but it is kind of obvious, right? All the better to have a fellow explorer with whom I can shared bouts of nerdiness.

Vienna, you are next! On Friday.

or my checking up on neighbours trip.

(Internet hates me and disappears whenever I try to upload my traveloque. So I give it one last shot.)

I returned from Germany on Saturday converted into a Germanophile. Potsdam and Berlin might do that to people, so beware! ( Untimate proof! )

The journey was nice. Long, but relaxed. I found my way from Berlin to Potsdam without a problem, only when we stopped in Berlin-Wannsee I got a moment of “Wannsee, Wannseee… there was some history going on… “ And a few minutes after intense wondering I came to realization: “Oh shit!”

And they have got these really old signs on the train station. Kind of worrying.

I met my friend in Potsdam and we had a good time. Usually, when I am in a foreign country I watch out and I pay more attention to everything, but maybe since I had my friend around it made me feel different – everything just clicked and I felt as if at home.

Potsdam has some historical wonders and weirdnesses...

( Dutch Quarter )which was built on the order of the Prussian king for Dutch emigrants… who never came. The Dutch tourists make up for it now.

( Alexandrowka ), Russian Colony – built by the same Prussian king for Russian immigrants… who actually came. All twelve of them and they formed a choir for the king! By that time it became obvious to me that Prussian kings were very special.

I came to like Frederick the Great though, the guy featuring on epic paintings while supervising planting of potatoes. And builds ( Sanssouci Palace ).

The Sanssouci park is enormous. We were walking around and still there were gorgeous sights jumping on us, including the Neues Palais that was so huge that it didn´t seem to follow the rules of perspective when we walking away from it. It just stayed as big as it was when we were up close.

( Wherever you go it follows you. And it is huge. )

It´s great that my friend is also a history nerd, because I could drag here over to Cecilienhof where the Potsdam Conference took place. Random point of no consequence: The delegations of Soviet Union, USA and GB were not only using separate entrances into the palace, but the town itself was divided into zones.
( Where the three met )

I am going to Berlin  on Monday! I am excited, like I haven´t been for a long time.

I will stay with my German friend in Potsdam and we will attack the capital together. This is going to be so cool. We haven´t seen each other for six months since traineeship in Luxembourg where we did all kinds of funny trips and usually got lost somewhere in the middle of corn fields.

Berlin: History goodness. Opportunity to practice my random German words. 
Pergamon Museum with all those (stolen) ancient artifacts, for sure.
                
In Potsdam - Sanssouci.

Darn, I have to make list what to see.



Considering I plan to go to Austria or Poland next, yeah, this trip really has a Hetalia feel. I must stiffle the mad cackle.

I am sorry. I must be the lamest person ever to roam around LJ.

Also, I have problems with uploading into photobucket. No idea what´s wrong. I posted the picture on DA gallery instead.

Dream Huntershave not been published in Czech Rep, so it is probably not a typical Sandman. It is set in ancient China.
Anyway, Dream makes appearance in the form of enormous black fox when he grants a wish to a kitsune who wants to trick a young monk.

I loved the story and the illustrations inspired by Chinese art.

There.

I tried to practice with ink.

Forgive me, oh deities, for I took part in a kink meme and wrote a fan fic on the topic "The world reacts to the Spanish publication of pictures from the Italian PM's naked party in Sardinia".

Have personified EU states fight, blush and shout a lot at each other. Most of characters belong to Hidekaz Himaruya, plus OC Portugal, Luxembourg, Slovakia, Netherlands and Czech Republic.

It is not as cheesy as the title would suggest. Rating maybe PG-13ish.

( United in Perversity )

 

 

 

Hereby I profess my love the promotional spots for the National Museum exhibition in Prague.

Pure historical crack!

Sarajevo 1914 like you don´t know it.

Munich agreement - this is so Czech :-D

The fandom of Axis Powers Hetalia gave my brain some images I could not get rid of, so this is the form of excorcism.

1. Arthur Kirkland (personification of England) ( Industrial revolution, baby! )( Original sketch )
A cynical intellectual who lives in "splendid isolation" from the rest of Europe in company of his scary eyebrows. He loves literature, fighting with France and believes in fairies and unicorns. He is self-proclaimed gentleman - until he gets drunk and rowdy. (I guess that´s right. In CR we have a special airplane link for drunk Englishmen that takes them back home after weekend raids in wine cellars and pubs.)

I drew him also because I spent great two weeks in equally Great Britain - London, Brighton and York. It was surprisingly warm and sunny there, so for some time I  almost suspected the stereotypes about bad weather to be just nasty rumours... Eventually, they proved to be true, but as we have rains and floods now in CR, who am I to judge?


2. Ivan Braginski, personification of Russia, with his empress Catherine II. I was inspired by this fic by moonsheen .

Ivan has cute, child-like face with friendly smile, but his bloody history left him rather unbalanced. He is convinced that one day everyone will become one with him. He is the largest country in the world, he likes vodka and sunflowers, carries a lead pipe and loves to partition Poland and scare the hell out of the Baltic states.


( We understand each other )

Catherine likes to take care of her boys.

Arthur and Ivan belong to Hidekaz Himaruya

Congratulations, fireworks and overall gayness! And my apologies for lateness which should be my trademark or something.

Would you like a picture or a fic-like creation?

I have not posted in a while. Partly because that Hetalia inevitably ate my brain and I got so nerdy that I go to lectures about Prussian siege of my hometown during Seven Years´ War where I grin at random facts such as
- the coalition against Friedrich the Great was called by Fritz himself "the alliance of three petticoats/three whores" since it was formed by Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, Empress Elisabeth of Russia and mistress Madame de Pompadour who in fact ruled France.

And all the time I picture the characters from the comic fighting for the vital regions.

After the brief historical introduction I finally get to the totally unrelated point:


I go to London for over fourteen days!!!


Since 21th May till 8th of June I will roam around the city. I have never been there, so if you, my f-list, have any suggestions what to see there or in Britain I would like to hear them!

I am thinking about visiting York (vikings!), Coventry (historical nerdism strikes again) or Edinbourgh (Scotsmen on the horse!)

For some reason I am convinced that London is an amazing place while several people have told me that it is a place where I can get killed easily - hm, I will find out soon. Still I go there as a kind of Britophile who has a soft spot for Monty Pythons, dr. Who, Richard II - because he married our princess which makes him automatically cool :-), and who goes for a bookstore raid - I need more D.W. Jones´ books!

See, I am ridiculously excited about it as well as nervous since I go on my own.

Would you like a gift of a dubious artistic/literary character?

Just prompt me and I will try to do it (this year if possible - it is no "nudge nudge wink wink". I still owe some people pictures. Gah!)

I am torn between worries about my mental health, disbelief and amusement - maybe that sums up the first meeting with the manga turned anime Axis Powers Hetalia.

I was actually thinking about writing a story of Europe with each state represented by single character, but I was afraid it will be too stupid and stereotypical - and now I discover a manga that uses the same concept and overdoes it, absurdly, madly, cheekily.

Oh my, it is the history of WWI and WWII and other conflicts played out by bishonen characters - cowardly Italy that is interested in pasta, cute girls, (Germany) and everything else than warfare, rules-freak Germany that gets somehow to be his friend, pansexual pervert France that hates Britain who hates him back, just as cordially, America who wants to be The Hero and stuffs himself with hamburgers and coke all the time,... and psychotic Russia with his innocent look, a steel pipe in his hand and love for scaring the Baltic states out of their minds.

Including general madness and omnipresent underlaying gayness.

Should I be disappointed that Czechoslovakia did not make it into series, or gratefull?

I must have a very twisted mind. Nothing more to say.

I heart Poland and Lithuania (as a manga novice at the beginning I thought they were girls).

Obama is in Prague. Nice!

And one even nicer thing - I won a literature prize in fantasy/horror/sci-fi competition. I managed to mix all three in the short story.
Maybe I will get published in a magazine or something.
I should write more, but I am lazy twerp. Whenever I have my head full of ideas and I have time to write I come up with excuses like I am too tired, I need to browse this useless information now, there is this film I wanted to watch,...
And this is the reason why I won´t win Nobel prize.

OK, I stop whining and go to do something now.

Chceš k narozeninám nějaký obrázek nebo povídku? Stačí, když mi dáš námět a inspiruješ mě :-)

I nicked the link from copperbadge.

The result is really oddly fitting.

Stanislav Lem

This pessimistic Pole has spent a whole career telling ironic stories of futility and frustration.  Yet he is also a master of wordplay so witty that it sparkles even when translated into English.

Which author are you then?