SHIPPING

No not as in shipping products overseas.
As in "These two are totally in love I shut the f up they are meant to be"
As in 'liking the idea of two people together even though they are not and maybe will never be'. Applying to both fictional and non-fictional people. Not necesarily a straight pairing. Or even human.
I chose this topic because
1) It is everywhere. Everyone does that. Yeah, everyone. You try to get your best friend together with her crush abecause they would be perfect? You're shipping them. You watched that TV series and you totally want those two people together? Totally shipping.
2) I am guilty of shipping all kinds of people myself (Though I try to keep my imagination away from the poor real-life people. At least I have that decency)

The internet is dangerous terrain. And ships are weeds of death that are uncontrollably growing, just waiting to devour you. Once you glance at a ship and you don't find it extremely appalling, you're lost.

There's nothing wrong with walking around the city and picking two persons that could look cute together. I think it's cute to see love everywhere even though it's not officially there ;)
BUT once you get on the wrong side of the internet, it's not cute anymore. At least not always.
You don't even have to be into the series or movies people are taking the ships from. Hell you don't even have to know them! Once you read a fancomic or a fanfiction and you like it, it's over. Believe me, I've been there. And then you watch the actual series and you can't help but wanting them to end up together. No matter if it's incest, twincest, bestiality, gay, furry or whatever.
Beware of the fanart corner of deviantArt, tumblr and other websites.

I'm warning everyone xD

Not posting pictures here, just imagine the worst :')

Big Hero 6 Movie!!!

Okay I just came back from the cinema and...just lemme collect my thoughts before I begin because I still cannot wrap my head around what I just saw!
It was...just....WHOAHH!

Before I left my father was constantly teasing me because I was about to see a children's Disney movie ("Awww I haf' a wittle child a' hooomeeee") and I admit I wasn't expecting THIS. I thought it would be a sweet movie with lots of friendship and humor. But DAMN I wasn't expecting this load of action!

Before I get into details of my review, just a little plot summary: (spoiler alert...)

Sometime in the future. The setting is San Frantokio (mix of San Francisco and Tokyo).Hiro Hamada is a 14-year-old genius who finished school just a year ago. Now he pursuits a Robo-fight career and refuses to go to a university where "they're just gonna teach him things he already knows". But one day his brother Tadashi drags him along to his university where Hiro meets his crazy friends and their inventions. He also shows Hiro the project he'd been working on - a first-aid-robot called Baymax. Then he also meets a famous scientist that teaches at this university and is enthusiastic to enroll (his age doesn't matter). For the entrance exams the candidates have to prepare a really good project in order to be selected. Inspired from his mini- robot Hiro invents thousands and thousands of microbots that one can control with a special neurotransmitter. These microbots can form anything the controller wants, they can move things, build things, etc. He is accepted but the same day a horrible fire burns down the university. Tadashi runs into the building in order to save the professor but dies. A few days later Hiro sees a suspicious figure that uses the microbots he intvented. He begins to think that the fire wasn't an accident and with supersuits for him, Baymax and his friends he sets out to catch the bad guy ;)

Animation, special effects, 3D effects
It was amazing! With today's technology the animation is perfect! A few years ago I would have not believed that people would be able to make the movements so fluent and the textures so real. The city looked so beautiful und wonderfully futuristic. The colours of - for example - the sea or the sunset were dazzling. The action scenes were not irritating like others. Every movement was clear, the constant changing of view was finely elaborated so noone missed what was going on. I can't imagine a better animation but I'm sure the future will prove otherwise!

Plot and characters
When I watched the trailer I thought that it would be a movie full of chaos, gags and awkward scenes. But no, it was a wonderful movie with both action and comedy, as well as lots of heart-warming scenes that almost moved me to tears! I thought Baymax was just a dorky robot that did nothing but nonsense. But he turned out to be such a lovable character that did everything to protect Hiro, to help him in every way and also that gave him lots of advice to bear the loss of Tadashi. He also caused most of the laugh-attacks I had ;) Hiro also seemed really clumsy and I didn't expect him to be such a little genius. I think the trailer mostly concentrated on showing how funny the movie is and gave the viewer a rather comical impression. But in reality it was a wonderful movie with lots of feels and an actual deeper meaning!

Tadashi's - and later also Hiro's - friends were a truly crazy lot. One of them - Fred - gave the others nicknames like Honey Lemon, Wasabi and GoGo. Fred (weird Dragon suit)is like some hyperactive airhead hipster that read too many superhero comics - and the fact that he's really rich helps the quite a lot! Honey Lemon (pink suit) is hyperactive character #2 but in a really cute bubbly way! She loves chemical reactions and loads of colours. GoGo (yellow) is the "cool girl" constantly chewing gum and an adrenaline junkie. She loves fast things. Wasabi (green) loves order, he always has to be organized, and even while on the run he pays attention to red lights and road rules. xD

Comedy + Music
Like mentioned, most of the fun stuff was Baymax' doing. He's quite the clumsy one and looks like an oversized marshmallow and when his battery's too low he totally begins to act like some drunkard. Even though Hiro upgrades him to a super-robot he stays a real dork xD But the friends also contribute quite a lot, especially Wasabi! (they gave him some german accent that made him even funnier) Through the whole film the animators plotted so many wonderful puns and funny scenes.
I had to mention the music! It's probably not everyone's cup of tea but since I heard Fall Out Boy's "Immortals" I couldn't get it out of my head! The beat and the melody makes me go crazy everytime and I feel the urge to learn the lyrics as soon as possible so I can sing it non-stop xD

Big Hero 6 Trailer:

Xerxes Opera

Last saturday I went to an opera called Xerxes with my family. I admit I expected some boring, irritating and unintellegible chaos going on on the stage since a lot of operas are like this because of their non-stop singing.
BUT OH I HAVE NEVER BEEN MORE WRONG

I loved it. I absolutely loved it!
This opera was a collaboration of the opera Graz and the Komische Oper of Berlin. Because of that Xerxes is only presented twice a month.
It was sold out. Really, we were right to reserve our tickets because otherwise we wouldn't have had a chance.

The arias were mixed. A few were in italian but most of them as well as the recitative parts were german. The lyrics and the translations were shown on a display above the stage.

Many critics said that it was difficult to follow the story and that it was a little disturbing. But I was able to follow quite well!

I'll try to summarize the plot:

Xerxes was a persian king that lived about 500 BC. But this opera was written in the baroque period so the costumes and the stage are from this era.
The brother of Xerxes, Arsamenes, is in love with the beautiful Romilda and she returns the feelings. But one day, Xerxes meets her and is smitten, so he wants to marry her no matter what. Both Arsamenes and Romilda protest, but the king doesn't take a no.
Romilda has a sister, Atlanta, who is very jealous about her popularity and wishes to take Arsamenes from her just to have her revenge. So when one day Arsamenes' servant Elviro is sent to deliver a letter to Romilda, she snatches the letter away and assures him that she'll give it to her sister. Of course she does not, and when suddenly Xerxes appears she tells him that the letter from Arsamenes is for HER and that Romilda loves only the king. Then follows a loooong series of confusions, mistakes an misinterpretations but surprisingly it is one of these misunderstandings that finally brings Arsamenes and Romilda together! Xerxes promises the father of Romilda a husband for her from his noble blood and because he doesn't specify it is himself, the father thinks it is Arsamenes. When Arsamenes appears, the father weds them immediately. Of course a lot more happens before the happy end, but I can't summarize it all- it would be too long!

Now to the criteria:

THE STAGE
The stage consisted mostly of a big rotating platform. The circle is divided into different settings by artificial columns. Everytime there was a change of settings, it rotated back or forward. I thought it was awesome and a really good idea!! The design was - as mentioned before - baroque: Lots of artificial roman columns, paintings of baroque houses, a lot of gold and ornamentation. The garden of Xerxes with his precious tree ( he comes home from a journey and sings an aria to the delightful shadow the tree gives. You might have heard from the aria "Ombra mai fú") is painted in a rich green, the interior design rather look a bit shady...as if the characters weren't rich and could only afford the most simple way of living.

THE COSTUMES
Ohhhhh the costumes!!! They were perfect! They looked like original baroque gowns, the men in their wide frocks, pompous hats and white wigs and the ladies in long, heavy and frilly dresses.

Sometimes they had a roman touch, for example the military uniforms with golden breastplates, feather helmets and wide skirts. (Yes skirts, even for the men) Or the wedding gowns Xerxes prepared for his and Romilda's wedding! There were scenes where cupids were hopping around or where merpeople popped out of the water. The cupids were waring only baroque undergarments with golden wings, curly, White wigs and bow ans arrows. The mer had richly decorated masks and had their faced painted.





THE ACTORS AND ARIAS
The original opera back then was written for castrates so most of the actory were women. Xerxes was, Arsamenes was. There were only a few men that had arias such as the father of Romilda or Elviro. Then again, Elviro seemes to be a Counter Tenor since he was able to sing normally and when he had to dress as a woman in order to deliver Arsamenes' letter he also could sing rather high-pitched. The arias were quite the typical lng ones that actually consisted of only maybe two or four lines which were consantly repeated. Nonetheless they were beautiful, the actors could sing wonderfully (except maybe Romildas's father, didn't like his voice a lot)
But the acting was flawless!! The whole opera was so funny because of their acting. Xerxes totally reminded me of Johnny Depp in his role as Jack Sparrow. The king has this snooty character: he is full of himself, thinks he is perfect and can get everything he wants. So the actress moved exactly like him, used really funny expressions and was in gerneral absolutely wonderful. I had to laugh so much whenever she was in Action! Atlanta was the typically jealous, deceitful wench. She was always walking around with a false or assertive grin, ready to maker her sister suffer. Nonetheless it was simply funny watching her plan her revenge! Elviro, my favourite, was the perfect, funny sidekick of Arsamenes! A loyal servant to his master but with an own, strong will. His impressions as a woman made my sides hurt, even more because he was constantly changing between bariton and soprano or he directed his word at the orchestra telling them to shut up with a Berlin Accent.
          


Elviro as woman and Xerxes' fianceé Oh yeah I completely forgot he had one...and Xerxes obviously forgot he had one, too. So she gets mad at him and helps Arsamenes and Romilda get back together.








Dancing sheep and fighting men. Actually, this summarizes the opera perfectly.









THE HUMOR
As I already secribed above, the whole opera was really funny. Most of the Humor was rather crude and sexual, but there were wonderful puns inbetween! For example, during an aria Xerxes sings, telling Romilda that he wished he could hate her, Atlanta was strolling between him, Romilda and backstage, bringing Xerxes a new weapon each time he repeated his lines and hoping he would kill Romilda. First, it was a knive, when he didn't kill her with that she brought a pistol, at the next repetitio she gave him a crossbow and got even more frustrated when he didn't use it and then finally brought him a mini-canon!


OHHH this is one of my favourite things!!!

OH PLEASE IF THIS ISN'T A PERFECT PUN???!!

A Good Blog

I've seen quite a lot of blogs in my life.
Some were really interesting and well written, others not that much.

But the definition of a good blog is different for every person.

In our English class we had the task to look through some example blogs from the previous winter semester class. Then we have to point out the things we found interesting and why exactly we thought they were good.

Formatting
I admit I'm a total sucker for creatively formatted blogs. I was interested in webdesign for a long time now. A blog looks more interesting if it is designed in an interesting way and I think first impressions are quite important. If your blog catches attention right away, people will continue to like looking at it. Now, "creatively" doesn't mean that your blog should look like it fell into a pool of rainbow-and-glitter -unicorn barf. That would just hurt the eyes after a while. Some of the example blogs were really well formatted! Some were colourful in a really lovely way, others were more simple but still were pleasant to look at.

I will also try to change my blog's design...if I finally figure out how. Some people know how from just following the guidelines or from trying on their own but...I guess I'm too stupid for that xD

Topics
A great variety of topics is important, in my opinion! Of course it is interesting to read about cultural or political topics, but it's not bad at all if you bring in some personal stories or something else.
What I liked most about some of the example blogs is, that each post was completely different - in a good way! I was positively surprised to read about some cultural topic and the next post is a baking recipe!

Language
I am...a bit of a gramar nazi. If I notice some typo or a wrong phrase I get the urge to correct it. I probably have no right because my English is not so perfect either and I'm sure I make a lot of errors.

But then I remind myself not to be that harsh because everyone makes mistakes and it's not like the blogs were full of them - rather the opposite! I really enjoyed reading them because they were written in a really educated manner but without sounding too stuck up. It was like listening to a story they were telling, the language was casual, but still well formulated. This is the style I really like and that I'm trying to aim for...though I think I'm too stuck with that talk-writing style.

Pictures - Videos
I'm a really visually inclined person so pictures and videos on the blogs make me want to look at them more. They help the reader to understand the topic, they give examples or information or are used to emphasize the topic. Sometimes, pictures describe what you wanted to say better than words!I'm not saying the more the better. But if you - for example - talk about a trip to an interesting country or city, you could share some pictures you made. Or if the Topic is about some music video, an example would be nice!

Writing Stories

I realize that this is the first post that will NOT contain any complaining....wow I guess I like to complain xD
Okay, serious topic!

Again, it will be quite personal, since it's easiest for me to write about something I have a personal relation to.

I have mentioned in my post about The Struggles Of An Amateur Artist that I really enjoy to draw.
For as long as I can remember, I wanted to publish my own story. Ideas came and went over maybe five - six years. I was getting excited about every idea I had, I spent days planning, developing characters and settings, names, creatures and so on. But I was young and I was steadily growing up, realizing that all these stories were not mature, too childish. I had spent too much time on drawing all the characters rather than writing and finding ideas and new scenes.
About two years ago I decided to completely throw away all these half-assed wanna-be fantasy ideas and change to the real world - more or less. I did keep some of the characters but made everything else differently.

I can't really say I matured a lot over the years, I consider myself very childish and naive for my age. But I did realize that, with my style of writing, stories about elves, dragons and magicians would seem rather..."silly". Besides, it's not like you can't write fantasy stories that take place in the real world.

So, like I said, I got rid of the fluffy girly stuff and changed to darker themed topics.

I still tried not to use a lot of fantasy...I guess I didn't quite manage that. I can't seem to get away from fantasy completely so I won't struggle anymore.

Over the years I also realized that writing wasn't a strong point of mine since I couln't quite connect all the ideas and scenes to one solid plot and had a hard time to describe the characters' actions.

So I completely changed to comics. It is way easier for me to draw everyting and then just add short descriptions, texts and speech bubbles.

BUUUUT I guess I can't change myself and therefore I didn't make a lot of plot progress since I'm always stuck at the same scenes, or I get better ideas so I have to redraw entire pages and so on...

So what I learned from all my "Procrastinating By Drawing" is, that it's probably not a good idea to just begin to write/draw and see what happens. Therefore I decided to make a little check-list:

1) Think about the plot before you even begin to write. Collect ideas.Take notes, lots of 'em!
2) Try to make your characters not too complex but also not too boring.
3) How long do you want your story to be? Find enough scenes and think about a way to connect them all.
4) What type of story is it and what audience is it for? Find an adequate language and writing style.

What I also thought abut is "Do I want to publish it?"
I think I'm too scared of running to a publisher right after finishing the plot. Too scared of a rejection, especially after having spent so much time on the characters and the plot. The whole story just became too precious to me and the thought of someone telling me it's not good enough would hurt...

Sooo, a biiiiig THANK YOU to the Internet!!! Webcomics and online stories are the perfect solution - in my opinion. So I'll try that one day, too. You can easily make a website or upload it somewhere. Than way you can collect feedback, you can find out if people like it and want you to continue it. And one day, you maybe have the courage to go to a publisher. And if none of them accept your idea, you still got the website ;D

Generation "Electronics-Are-Sh*t" a.k.a. Generation of my Parents

I KNOW I'm not alone in this matter. That's why I wanted to write about this. So this post is dedicaded to all the poor Internet-loving teenagers/young adults that still have to endure the complaints of their parents.

We are living in a time where really advanced technology is present everywhere. Smartphones, Computers, tablets, etc. People who can afford all this can't imagine a world without them.

Lil' kiddos nowadays get their first phone at 10 years old, followed by Wii's, Xboxes, a Computer all for themselves and by the age of 14 they are spoiled and loaded.

Now I could begin with the "IN MY TIMEEEEE...." -thing but then I would be exactly like my parents and in all honesty I don't want that. MY time isn't that long ago, there already were Computers and mobile phones....the only thing I have to critisize is, that when I was 10 I was playing with barbies and LEGO and didn't worry about being attacked on Clash Of Clans or wasting my battery on Minecraft. So probably parents shouldn't buy their kids this kind of stuff that early.

BUUT in general I have nothing against technology and that is not the topic here.

It's about my generation and their affinity to the Internet.
Time to make some things clear to our mean ol' parents.


1) "INTERNET MAKES YOU UNSOCIABLE"

"You're writing all day with your Internet friends, texting, and e-mailing and not with your familyyy"

NU-UH!
Listen here, mommy and daddy. only because I have maybe 3 - 4 friends in real life it doesn't make me UNSOCIABLE. What do you want, me being surrounded by a crowd of people begging me to come along to their houseparty, birthday party, to this and that Club, to the cinema, the pool and the City and all that in ONE WEEK?
There are different types of people. And maybe I don't like constantly going out and making new aquaintances every day. Maybe I'd rather stay at home alone by myself where I can do just what I want. Without anyone to disturb me. If my 4 friends are reliable, fun to hang out with and honest, I don't need 100 more. They are perfect and everything I need.
Hell, I go to every family meeting because I love my Family and I love to be around, I sit with you watching TV every time I don't have to wake up early. I go skiing and on bike tours with you even though I don't like skiing oR riding a bike.
You want me explore the world? To expand my horizons? Yeah, I can do that. I can talk to People and ask for all the informations I want. IF I WANT THEN I'LL DO IT.


2) "INTERNET MAKES YOU LAZY AND FAT"

"You never go out, blablabla"
So since Internet is actually only possible while being in a sitting or lying position we get that a lot.
No matter how much we've done all day, all week, how much we've worked, driven around to get to Uni classes, studied, whatever - as soon as we lie down to relax ang go look for news on the Internet, we get the "OMG you're all day lying around and surfin' and doing nothiiiing and..."
Okay now. So, I've got one hell of a week, studying my butt off and doing Uni things, now it's finally weekend and you telling me I'm getting lazy? That when I finally have some time alone and for myself I should be doing other things than the things I want to do?
I get it if you're saying that maybe I should go do some exercising but honestly, I have no need for that right now. I'm having enough exercise running around during the week, doing the chores at home and starving myself to death in order to learn for the tests is also helping me keep my weight.
Wha- you're saying that you don't underdstand how I don't feel the need to go out on that beautiful day? You think that this life I'm leading is so pityful and horrible? Well look at me, do I look like I'm unhappy? Do I look like I'm depressive, suicidial and desperate? Hell no I'm not. I have exactly the life I want and don't you worry, before I get fat I'm gonna do something about it.

3) "OH THANK GOD YOU'RE DRAWING/READING AND NOT ON THE INTERNET"

Also "Finally getting away from the elektro-Smog"

Wai- What? I'm sitting here for two hours drawing a wonderful picture that I had in mind for so long or reading an awesome book that totally captivated me and you're relieved?? But I haven't been doing a lot of different things on the Internet? I'm literally continuing to sit/lie ALONE, ALL DAY, in my room and you are not going to complain about how unsociable and lazy I am?
HOW GODDAMN UNFAIR IS THAT.
Oh, it's because I'm finally getting away from the bad, unhealthy electronic vibes that are totally dangerous and giving me cancer?  Error404: valid reason not found.
 No seriously, I'm so pissed when that comes up!


But then! Then our parents get one of those Smartphones, Computers and tablets themselves and suddenly they are "So handy!" and "Really awesome stuff" and "Really necessary for their work"
And they tooootally don't use them for other things than work.

The Struggles Of An Amateur Artist

(Whee double post today...I think I need to be in some kind of stress situations in order to have some good posting ideas...ehem^^")

Okay, uhm...I draw quite a lot. Not as much as I once used to - *stares angrily at pile of uni tasks*- but still.
And those who still need to improve face problems that sometimes makes them want to give up on art. Especially when drawing humans.

Drawing eyes
Ah yes....the problem of drawing both eyes as beautiful as possible.
and what comes out?

This

One eye is Michelangelo and the other one freaking Picasso.
Now, forever and always. Sometimes we just can't manage to draw both eyes as beautiful as we want. Either the shape is completely off, or the eye is squinting or it's bigger or smaller or higher up or lower OR....
And then we spend the next hour on trying to make the eye as pretty as the other one and when we're done we notice that it's too small.
Which brings me to the next point:


Drawing hands
Okay, drawing hands is hard and will always be. Even for the most experienced!
So, us amateur artists try to perfect the pose, the shape and lighting of the hands. So what we do, is zoom in and concentrate on the hand(s).

And the result is mostly like this

You know Sally from "The Nightmare before Christmas"?
Teeny tiny hands like her. Or it's the complete opposite and the person has Wreck it Ralph hands.
If we draw with a computer program it's easy to regulate the size of the hands, but when we draw on paper everything was in vain. And we mourn the perfection that now will be forever lost because the next hand will never be as beautiful as the one before.

I'm not going to make an extra paragraph for the feet, let me just say that the problems are the same. Although the feet mostly look like they belong to Bigfoot.

"What do you do with your art?"
One of the most frequently asked questions. And one of the questions that we poor poor amateurs are actually asking ourselves, too.

We are not afraid of showing off our pictures on the internet on art websites but when it come to making money we back off. So, mostly our routine is
1) Draw picture
2) be proud of it
3) show it to parents an friends and put it on the internet
4) get praised
5) stare at it and improve so that one day we hate that picture ans ask ourselves why we were so proud of it.
6) Throw picture away or hide it somewhere at the bottom of drawing pile and also taking it off from the internet.
That's basically it.

But I don't want to be pessimistic! It takes a lot of time to improve, to try out colours and drawing styles. We go through different stages in our life and begin for example with drawing simple manga only to end up with maybe hyperrealism. We are totally into compurer proograms and fantasy creatures and end up with portraits, still life and oil paintings.
So one day everyone has enough courage to show their art to a publisher! Every big artist was an amateur once ;)