- Belgium is not a "nothing country". I find this highly insulting.
- It is Herman Van Rompuy and not Herbert Van Rompuy (check your sources/facts!)
- If Herman is elected as president of Europe, he will not be ruling over Britain. Europe presidency is not the same as the USA (again, check your sources/facts)
- To my knowledge Van Rompuy has never spoken about installing European symbols instead of national symbols. (License plates are not symbols if everyone in Europe has the same format, what is the big deal? I am not for, nor against this.)

Look I am not saying that Belgium country is perfectly governed, but first look at your own country before you start making assumptions about a country of which you probably do not understand a lot of!

And what is it with you people, first you want/kick Blair out and now you want him to become president of Europe?


I am way to busy with college at the moment to update this blog on a regular base, but this will change starting from halfway January when I start my placements at www.supo.be for four weeks and followed by eight weeks at gunktv (pronounced as junk tv). I just had to get this of my chest..

I'm no expert on either the Nobel prize nor politics. Yet I was a bit shocked when I read the news this morning when I was at school. When I was a bit critical towards the fact that President Obama won it, a classmate berated me for that.

Yet, I stand with my point... what has he done so that he could win the Nobel Peace Prize for?
I know the Nobel Committee said “It was because we would like to support what he is trying to achieve."

Don’t get me wrong, he is a decent president and what I’ve seen of him shows that he has great ideas and morals. But I think that one year in office is not enough to give him this reward (and if you think about it, only his first two weeks in office “count”)

Maybe in a year or two, but now? No.

I had won 4 tickets for the avant-première of The Half-Blood Prince that was held on July 11, 2009.

Together with my mum, my niece Luna and good friend Myrthel I went to Brussels to see the movie. Evanna Lynch (Luna Lovegood) and Matthew Lewis (Neville Longbottom) were present as well.

Unfortunately, we couldn't take any pictures of them when they where introducing the film. Bloody security was pretty high.

After the after-party, we bumped into Evanna - In my niece's case this was quite literally, the bodyguard pushed her quite rudely away even though we didn't see Evanna because she was still 100m away. He could have asked nicely to step away so she could pass, you know! Of course, I forgot to take a picture until a few minutes later when we saw her on the level above us...

The film was great! Only the most literalist Potter fans will not enjoy this film as it has it all: exquisite cinematography, a brilliant soundtrack, imaginative direction, and the very best acting from both the veterans and young guns we've seen so far in the series.

The leading actors were great. They've all matured in pace with the maturing content of the books and their acting shows it. Rupert Grint has no reason to keep doubting himself as an actor. And although Emma Watson had relatively little to do in this film, she generally hit the spot.

As for Radcliffe, I particularly enjoyed his comedic turn in this movie. I do tend to agree with others that Radcliffe's handling of the more serious moments needs refinement. Not bad at all, but some depth still missing there.

The supporting cast is excellent as always; Maggie Smith and Michael Gambon are fine and isn't it always wonderful to see the familiar faces of others like the great Julie Walters and of course the great Alan Rickman? Jim Broadbent is wonderful as Prof. Horace Slughorn. Tom Felton was superb as Draco Malfoy. Helena Bonham-Carter (who wowed me to no end with her minimal screen time as the deranged and depraved Bellatrix Lestrange) delivers once again.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince mixes comedy, romance, drama, and adventure into one, and makes it so marvelous and fun to watch. The movie is not sort of rushed, but you feel that it is being pushed forward. It doesn't feel long at all because of everything going on, so it passes by normally. Quidditch is back and is action packed.

Much more confident direction, fine cinematography, an improved score and excellent performances by an all star cast mark this triumph, which is sure to be one of the biggest hits of the summer.

Pics from after-party avant-première HBP @ Facebook

Edward's behavior and the fact that many people are seeing it as romantic is very disturbing. He watched her while she slept, was obsessively violent mannered towards anyone that even looked at her, he is manipulative... and the most horrifying scene happens in the 4th book is the "sex" scene (= rape in my dictionary! She is unconscious for Pete's sake!!) after they are married. After Bella is "beaten and bruised" and pregnant and SHE IS HAPPY!?? Come on!! Teenagers think this is romantic?!!

So when I stumbled on this little remix, I thought it was quite refreshing.
What would Buffy do if Edward Cullen was interested in her? Here is the answer


Amazing editing and hilarious too! :-)

Btw: I have nothing against the actor Robert Pattinson. I enjoyed his performance as Giselher in Ring of the Nibulungs and as Cedric in Goblet of Fire. I think he has everything to become a great actor. (And he's nice to look at as well ;P)

Farrah Fawcett
February 2, 1947 - June 25, 2009
A great woman, not only known for her role in Charlie's Angels. But most of all, a woman who fought bravely against cancer.

Hilde "Yasmine" Rens
March 3, 1972 - June 25, 2009
She is not known outside the borders of Belgium (perhaps maybe in The Netherlands) but she had a great impact on the Flemish music here in my country. It is sad that she took her own life. She seemed the struggle when her partner left her, bu noone expected this.

Michael Jackson
August 29, 1958 - June 25, 2009
I'm not really into his music, but I do love a few of his songs. I also know the impact he had on the music world in general.
He was a weird guy, a person who I've always felt sorry for. He is the result of a abusive upbringing in front of the whole world, never really allowed to be a child and by some, actually I think by a lot of people, looked up as a god. Which is never a good thing.

May they all rest in peace.

Finally! The Easter Holliday have started. Two weeks where I don’t have to go to college, don’t have any deadlines, don’t have to write a lot of articles/interviews... Oh, wait... I do have a lot of articles to write, and I do have deadlines... Ah well, at least I got plenty of time to write them. :P

But as you might have guessed, I hadn’t got the time to update this LJ-thingy. I hope this will change in the near-future.

This bookmeme has been going around on my fl these last few days. I am rather proud of myself that I've read quite a few of them. :-)

"The Big Read reckons that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they've printed."
1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Underline the books you LOVE.
4) Strike out the books you have no intention of ever reading, or were forced to read at school and hated.
5) Reprint this list in your own LJ

( Here goes... )

Sorry for spamming, but while I was posting the other post, I heard on the radio that Justine Henin is quitting tennis.

Sad to hear, but I do understand that it takes a lot from a person to stay on top and sacrifice quite a lot for her sport. She recently mended her ties whit her family (father and siblings) and I think she realized that there are more important things in life than staying on top of the WTA ranking.

Our little country was spoiled. Both Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin highlighted Belgium on the tennis world map. Though there is new talent coming up, I don’t think they will achieve the same results as those two. We shouldn’t expect that either. Wouldn’t be fair.

Anyway, I wish Justine the best and I hope she finds the same happiness that Kim has found with her child and husband.

Merry New Year and Happy...no wait...Happy Merry and New Christmas. Shit no, that aint it. Uhh Merry New Happy and... ah fuck it! You all know what I mean :D

Yours truly,
Nathalie

I saw this movie tonight.
I haven't read the book, so I can't compare it.
The acting is really good (Especially Nicole Kidman's performance!) But the movie was choppy and fast paced. I find that it lacks story development. Nice sceneries, but most of the time to artificial.

( My daemon is… )

Anyway, updated my My atempt at 50 Book Challenge for 2007 list.
I've read 49 books so far. I still got time enough time to read at least one :)

Over 19 years ago, my godfather died of cancer (Leukaemia). I was 3,5 years old and thus don't remember much of the guy.

One of the few memories I have of him is where I once visited him in the hospital. He gave me a little casio keyboard on that occasion, since I was always saying I wanted to play the piano. Or so my mom says, cause I can't remember saying that before I was five. In a way, he had a big influence on my life.

So when I was 8 years old, I was old enough to start at the music academy in Broechem (Did my last year in the Music Academy in Lier during 2003-2004). A year later I had a piano in my room and started playing. Unfortunately I'm not that good, but that has never stopped me from playing 'easy' pieces. And I love listening to it as well!

Anyway, you may remember that I followed the Queen Elizabeth competition for Piano in May & June of 2007 (My posts on May 19, June 3), where a fellow Belgian, Liebrecht Vanbeckevoort, ended on the sixth place in these prestigious international music competition.

I'd like to share 4 youtube movies where the you can see the winner, Anna Vinnitskaya, play Prokofiev's piano concerto No.2 in G minor.

Enjoy!

Prokofiev piano concerto No.2 1st.Mov(1/2)


Prokofiev piano concerto No.2 1st.Mov(2/2) & 2nd.Mov


Prokofiev piano concerto No.2 3rd.Mov & 4th.Mov(1/2)


Prokofiev piano concerto No.2 4th.Mov(2/2)

... I'm going to the Nightwish gig in Antwerp, 3 days after my birthday ^^

Here's the gig. Go to www.musicoutfitters.com. Type the year of your high school graduation [or first year, if still in high school] into the search function. Retrieve the Top 100 songs from that year. Strike through the songs you hate(d). Underline the songs you like(d). Bold the songs you love(d). Leave blank those you don't care about or don't remember. Annotate at will.


( The year 2003 )

Not many songs I liked/loved... only 20.

I know, haven't updated for eleven weeks or so... sorry about that... But that's going to change.

But first:

What The Holidays Mean to You

For you, the holidays are a very spiritual time. You have as much holiday fun as everyone else - but you never forget what you're celebrating. You celebrate the holidays in a minimalist style. You are likely to only give one great present and decorate your house with a few special items. During the holidays, you feel magical. You love all of the decorations and how happy people are. You like to sit back and take it all in. You think the holidays should be nostalgic and sweet. The holidays bring out your inner child. Your best holiday memories are warm and intimate. You remember special moments more than gifts or parties.

They've replied at my (bluff)e-mail :

Dear Nathalie,
We apologize for this inconvenience. As requested, we have gone ahead and removed the Rapleaf profile for the email address you requested.

Please let us know if you have any other questions or if we can be of further assistance.

Best,
Cristina Hernandez
Rapleaf

The page seems indeed to be deleted.

Still, I'm angry about this all. With false pretences - Upscoop/Rapleaf wouldn't email, spam or contact any email address obtained from those address books. Nor would they sell, rent, or lease email addresses to partners, clients, third-party marketers, or other third parties - they used the info that nwhyte collected in his (Upscoop/Rapleaf ) address book, for there own benefit.

Their actions are repulsive!

I'm still tempted to contact www.ecops.be (Belgian governmental contact point for internet abuse) I'm just not sure that my case is severe enough.

Edit: I was wondering, can these actions by Upscoop/Rapleaf be categorised under Phishing?

Today, I received this mail:

Dear Nathalie,
Someone scooped up all your social networks on Upscoop and searched for you.
To get an idea on what this particular person saw, go to your Rapleaf profile:
http://www.rapleaf.com/pub/-deleted-
Upscoop is a service of Rapleaf that allows you to find all your friends on all the major social networks, such as MySpace and Friendster. At Rapleaf, you can find reputational information such as age, location, history, Upscoop social network links, and more on over 60 million people. Use Rapleaf and Upscoop to control your privacy online.
-Your friends at Rapleaf.com
www.rapleaf.com

My name (as in name & surname) is linked with my e-mail (which I certainly don't want cause all you get is N M unless I would sign the mail with my name which I haven't cause I want this mail-address as anonymous as I can) My age, my city, Province and Country. I know, you can find this info in my profile aswell but it isn't linked with my name! Besides, I've never given my consent for this!!!

My reply:

I did not consent for this! Please delete this page or I will take legal action!
http://www.rapleaf.com/pub/-deleted-

I was wondering could I go to the police and serve a complaint against Rapleaf?
This is a serious violation to the Privacy laws. (at least here in Belgium, and I'm pretty sure it counts for the European Union as well)

Wait…what? Homeros' Iliad is Sci-Fi?
Well, it is if you read Dan Simmons’ Ilium.

Who would even think of weaving together sentient robots, Indiana University, Helen of Troy, Greek gods and goddesses, Shakespearian sonnets, quantum theory, Proust and so much more, into one novel.

I found Ilium to be the most enjoyable Sci-Fi read I've had in many years. I do not have that good knowledge of the Iliad, Shakespeare, or Proust, but did not find the regular references and allusions to them to be disconcerting at all. Though knowledge on these topics would certainly increase the pleasure in reading Ilium.

The Iliad provides the core of the central story in the book; "Gods" on Olympus are watching and interfering in a recreation of the war between the Greeks and Trojans. The central question is who and what these Gods are, and why they have recreated this particular part of human history (and why so closely following how Homeros describes it). Cybernetic beings from Jupiter's moons show their intrinsic humanity by studying and discussing Shakespeare and Proust. These literary elements are contrasted in the 3rd storyline, with humans that can no longer read, and have no knowledge of their history, or of art (or science) in general. Somehow, and I couldn't quite imagine how at first, Dan Simmons manages to tie all three storylines together in a way that feels far more natural than it possibly should.

Ilium has primed my interest in Simmons writing talent to seriously consider picking up his older Hyperion series, but I am witholding a decision on that until I can judge how well he concludes this current story in the upcoming "Olympos".

So spike1977, you should read it ;-)

At 10.22 this morning, Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows was (FINALLY!!!!) delivered.
I finished reading it ten minutes ago, at 18.45.

WOW

A marathon reading and I only stopped reading to eat and to go to the bathroom. My parents and brother think I’m crazy…