Friday, April 30, 2010

Koninginnedag

This post is about three things. Today is "Koninginnedag" or Queen's Day it is a national holiday in the Netherlands, the Netherlands Antilles, and Aruba on 30 April or on 29 April if the 30th is a Sunday. Queen's Day celebrates the birthday of the Queen of the Netherlands and is supposed to be a day of national unity and "togetherness" (Dutch: saamhorigheid). The tradition started on 31 August 1885, on the birthday of Princess Wilhelmina, later Queen Wilhelmina. Since 1949, after the ascension of Queen Juliana, Queen's Day is Queen Juliana's birthday on 30 April. Although Queen Beatrix's birthday is on 31 January, she officially celebrates her birthday on 30 April.
And saying Queen I also think about the British rock band Queen. At there song, "Bohemian Rhapsody". It was written by Freddie Mercury for the band's 1975 album A Night at the Opera. "Bohemian Rhapsody" is in the style of a stream-of-consciousness nightmare that has unusual song structure, more akin to a classical rhapsody than popular music. The song has no chorus, instead consisting of three main parts including an operatic segment, an a cappella passage, and a heavy rock solo. Because of its ambiguous style and arrangement, the song has rarely been classified by the band or critics under a specific genre of music, however when done so it is usually described as a "rock opera" piece.
When it was released as a single, "Bohemian Rhapsody" became a huge commercial success, staying at the top of the UK Singles Chart for nine weeks. It reached number one again in 1991 for five weeks following Mercury's death, eventually becoming the UK's third best selling single of all time.  In the United States the song originally peaked at number nine in 1976, however returned to the chart at number two in 1992 following its appearance in the film Wayne's World, reviving its American popularity.
The single was accompanied by a promotional video; considered ground-breaking. Music scholar Peter Buckley wrote, "it is widely recognized as being the first promotional video." This piece helped establish the visual language of the modern music video. Although critical reaction was initially mixed, particularly in the United States, "Bohemian Rhapsody" is often considered to be Queen's magnum opus and is widely regarded as one of the greatest songs of all time.
Maksim Mrvica ends the third part of this post because he made a great performance of the song. That I like how pop songs been performed in a classic way you already know from the older post about David Garrett. David moves his fingers fast on his violin and Maksim is just as fast on the piano.
"Maksim Mrvica" (Croatian pronunciation: [ˈmaksim ˈmr.ʋitsa]; born May 3, 1975) is a popular pianist from Croatia. In 2003, he released one of his first albums, The Piano Player.
Mrvica took up piano lessons from the age of nine from Marija Sekso and gave his first public performance in the same year. Just three years later he gave his first concert performance of Haydn’s Piano Concerto in C major. When war broke out in 1991, both Mrvica and his professor were determined that this would not disrupt his music studies. In spite of the war and surrounding turbulence, Mrvica entered in, and won, his first major competition in Zagreb in 1993.
Mrvica went on to study at the Music Academy in Zagreb where he spent five years under Professor Vladimir Krpan, who himself was a pupil of Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli. He then spent a year at the Franz Liszt Conservatoire in Budapest and during this year he won first prize at the Nikolai Rubinstein International Piano Competition. In 2000, he moved to Paris to study with Igor Lazko and gained first prize in the Pontoise Piano Competition in 2001.
When he returned to Croatia he found himself to be the focus of intense media interest and he made frequent television appearances as well as giving a great number of interviews. He soon found himself recording his first CD, Gestures, an album of contemporary Croatian piano pieces. Gestures became one of the fastest-selling classical recordings to be released in Croatia, and Mrvica was even invited to officiate the Porin award ceremony, an honour not usually granted to a classical artist.
It been a rainy koninginnedag this year but princess Máxima seems to had fun.
For the non Dutch: Princess Máxima is the wife of prince Willem-Alexander, son of queen Beatrix and our future King

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Party Time

Friday, Open Minds Party with the theme: Cowboy 
The cowboys at the party did seem to ride horses a lot. Think I never saw so much ripped jeans on one party.
Saturday at T.R.A.C.S. theme: Historical Celebirty
Because I was not sure I could make a good snapshot at the party of Jenna (see always move so fast on the dance floor) I made this one of her as Lucy Ball, before the party did start.
Christo as Andy Warhol
Rod as Napoleon
Ash as Jack the Ripper
Curtis and his boy friend Jace. Curtis as himself and Jace as Robin Hood.
Tim our DJ as Alexander the Great

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Volcano Ash


Southern Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull (ay-yah-FYAH’-plah-yer-kuh-duhl)
volcano began erupting
for the second time in a month on Wednesday, sending ash
several miles into the air.
Winds pushed the plume south and east across Britain, Ireland, Scandinavia and into the heart of Europe.
Gray ash settled in drifts near the glacier, swirling in the air and turning day into night. Authorities told people in the area with respiratory problems to stay indoors, and advised everyone to wear masks and protective goggles outside.
In major European cities, travel chaos reigned. Extra trains were put on in Amsterdam and lines to buy train tickets were so long that the rail company handed out free coffee.
Sunday 18th April 2010 Eyjafjallajokull volcano, Iceland
Ash emissions are continuing from Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland. Winds are blowing the ash over Europe, causing flights to remain grounded. All flights to and from Britain have been cancelled until at least 7pm today. Five million travelers are stranded, waiting for flights to resume. Some may be waiting for more than a week to find available seats.
The intense red and orange hues of the sky at sunrise and sunset are mainly caused by scattering of sunlight by dust particles, soot particles, other solid aerosols, and liquid aerosols in the Earth's atmosphere. These enhanced red and orange colors at sunrise and sunset are mathematically explained by the Mie theory or the discrete dipole approximation. When there are no particulates in the troposphere, such as after a big rain storm, then the remaining less intense reds are explained by Rayleigh scattering of sunlight by air molecules. Sunset colors are typically more brilliant and more intense than sunrise colors, since there are generally more particles and aerosols in the evening air than in the morning air. Nighttime air is usually cooler and less windy, which allows dust and soot particles to settle out of the atmosphere, reducing the amount of Mie scattering at sunrise. The reduced Mie scattering correspondingly reduces the amount of red and orange scattered light at sunrise. Sunrise color intensities can however exceed sunset's intensities when there are nighttime fires, volcanic eruptions or emissions, or dust storms to the east of the viewer. [ from Wikipedia ]
Dust in the wind
I close my eyes, only for a moment, and the moment's gone
All my dreams, pass before my eyes, a curiosity
Dust in the wind, all they are is dust in the wind.
Same old song, just a drop of water in an endless sea
All we do, crumbles to the ground, though we refuse to see
Dust in the wind, all we are is dust in the wind

[Now] Don't hang on, nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky
It slips away, and all your money won't another minute buy.

Dust in the wind, all we are is dust in the wind
Dust in the wind, everything is dust in the wind.
-----------------------
There are a lot of people that suffers because of the volcano did erupt on Iceland and all that people that got stucked on airports.
I just try to see the bright side. Okay, I am bad.

'American on Schiphol airport: "A what? An ass walk? My flight is cancelled because of an ass walk? What the hell?!?"

'First Iceland's economy explodes, now Iceland itself is exploding'

'Dear Iceland, we said send Cash, not Ash'

'When my name was Eyjafjallajökull, I would be angry to'
' First they take your money, than your airspace, what’s next?

'Barack Obama: Iceland is now part of the Axis of Evil (As van het Kwaad)'
------------------------------------

Party Time

The Parties at Open Minds and at T.R.A.C.S. did not been very crowded, but with the people that came it was fun as always. Normally I make snapshots of the dance area but in the blog, pictures get smaller and the people not always been easy recognized.So this weekend I made close-up pictures. Lets see how that works.
Open Minds
T.R.A.C.S.
Because Rod and Tim had RL things, I had to host the party on my own. So it was not that bad we not had much crowd. Happily Jenna and Ash could help. Jenna was the DJ and she had made a great set of songs. Theme of the party was “Demo”.
Ash did got his demo things when he arrived but during the party he changed shape, skin and clothes and ………. Better look for yourself.
I did wear a demo of some great clothes Rod made.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Fireflies

This song went trough my mind when I was decorating the landscape around the new beach houses…… and yes I did get some fireflies.

"Fireflies" is the first single from electronic artist Owl City's Ocean Eyes.
Owl City is an American synthpop musical project by Adam Young. Young started out making music in his basement in his hometown of Owatonna, Minnesota, later developing a following through his MySpace profile before being signed to Universal Republic.
Relient K vocalist Matt Thiessen is featured as a guest vocalist in this song. He described it as "a little song about bugs and not being able to fall asleep at night." The single has attained worldwide success, topping the charts in the United States, Australia, Denmark, Ireland, Sweden, Norway, the United Kingdom, India and the Netherlands.
Fireflies lyrics

You would not believe your eyes
If ten million fireflies
Lit up the world as I fell asleep

'Cause they'd fill the open air
And leave teardrops everywhere
You'd think me rude
But I would just stand and stare

I'd like to make myself believe
That planet Earth turns slowly
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay
Awake when I'm asleep
'Cause everything is never as it seems

'Cause I'd get a thousand hugs
From ten thousand lightning bugs
As they tried to teach me how to dance

A foxtrot above my head
A sock hop beneath my bed
A disco ball is just hanging by a thread

I'd like to make myself believe
That planet Earth turns slowly
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay
Awake when I'm asleep
'Cause everything is never as it seems
When I fall asleep

Leave my door open just a crack
(Please take me away from here)
'Cause I feel like such an insomniac
(Please take me away from here)
Why do I tire of counting sheep
(Please take me away from here)
When I'm far too tired to fall asleep

To ten million fireflies
I'm weird 'cause I hate goodbyes
I got misty eyes as they said farewell

But I'll know where several are
If my dreams get real bizarre
'Cause I saved a few and I keep them in a jar

I'd like to make myself believe
That planet Earth turns slowly
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay
Awake when I'm asleep
'Cause everything is never as it seems
When I fall asleep

I'd like to make myself believe
That planet Earth turns slowly
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay
Awake when I'm asleep
'Cause everything is never as it seems
When I fall asleep

I'd like to make myself believe
That planet earth turns slowly
It's hard to say that I'd rather stay
Awake when I'm asleep
Because my dreams are bursting at the seams
                   ---------------------------------
At as always there are some nice parodies made of this song.
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Last weekend parties

Because I was experimenting with light and viewer 2 that weekend, not all pictures became that good as I wanted.  (But as always. Just click the picture to see it larger)

Friday party at Open Minds
Bernard was the DJ at the beach party and there was a nice crowd.
 
Saturday party at T.R.A.C.S.
We had a party again. Theme was Poor and Broke party.
Curtis made the text of the promo.
We just where glad we not have termites on our island.
Tim was the DJ and he had made a nice mix of songs.
Sunday at Sweet Grass
For the first time in my second life I looked manly next to Bernard (left) and Rod (in the middle) at this Drag Queen Party.
Its was a party with famous “woman”. Here just a few that I recognized:
Miss Rossini
Miss Gynoid
Miss Huet

Monday, April 12, 2010

Easter weekend

The party where we went on that Sunday was at Sweet Grass. Sweet Grass exist now for almost four years. Rod, Tim and I already been at there parties often in the past but lately when we met Bernard, owner of Open Minds and made a sort of alliance of support with him we also met Norbie and his gang more often. I know that not sounds nice but that was my thinking when they showed up at the parties at Open Minds.
I know them already for sometime. Talked with all three of them in the past, but never more than a hello or about businesslike things. The last few weeks we get to know each other a little more. The friendship seems to been limited to the parties where we meet but they kind and helpfully guys, that I learn already.
Easter Party at Sweet Grass
Tim and I became 2 of the four winners. Here the picture Gany made.
After that there was a photo shoot. Here some of them, made by:JennaGanyChristo