MoK leonieke.net

How Evil Are You?

webmaster@leonieke.net (Leonieke Aalders) — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 14:05:30 +0100

Always fun ... How evil are you? 

Photo Friday - Misty

webmaster@leonieke.net (Leonieke Aalders) — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 19:34:46 +0100

Photo Friday - Misty

My Album Cover - meme

webmaster@leonieke.net (Leonieke Aalders) — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 22:37:40 +0100

Blaming Caff1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:RandomThe first article title on the page is the name of your band.2. http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3The last four words of the very last quote is the title of your album.3. http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/The third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.You then take the pic and add your band name and the album title to it, then post your pic.

Happy New Year!

webmaster@leonieke.net (Leonieke Aalders) — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 02:22:54 +0100

Happy New Year!May 2008 bring you all you want!

post title

webmaster@leonieke.net (Leonieke Aalders) — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 19:18:39 +0100

The Future Warehouse of Unwanted Books

iTunes Meme

webmaster@leonieke.net (Leonieke Aalders) — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 19:27:52 +0100

[via RJ Anderson]

How many total songs?
3040 songs, 13.9 days, 23.32 GB

Sort by song title - first and last
'Aan de Oevers van de Tijd' by Spinvis [Dagen van Gras, Dagen van Stro]- '3121' by Prince [3121]

Sort by time - shortest and longest
00:00:08 'Evangelista - Und da die Engel von ihnen gen Himmel fuhren' by JS Bach [Weihnachsoratorium] - 01:17:53 'Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince' by JK Rowling, read by Stephen Fry [Disc 8]

Sort by Album - first and last
'Amplified: A Decade of Reinventing the Cello' by Apocalyptica - '3121' by Prince

Sort by Artist - first and last
ABBA - Wouter Hamel

Top five played songs
Not counted

Find the following words. How many songs show up?
Sex: 7
Death: 42
Love: 178
You: 227
Home: 29
Boy: 13
Girl: 23

First five songs that come up on Party Shuffle
Not counted

Meme of Me - G

webmaster@leonieke.net (Leonieke Aalders) — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 12:19:49 +0200

G is for ... Georgia

And Georgia is still on mind.
Right after high school, I spent one year in Georgia, USA. I was enrolled at Oxford College of Emory University [wiki:Oxford@Emory]. Looking back at my year, I can see how I grew, but I also realise how much I had yet to grow compared to where I am now.

I had a great time and I met a lot of people, but in a way I feel that I was too young to get the full experience. I do think, however, that I left a piece of my heart in Georgia, and whenever I hear it mentioned I think of all the wonderfully loving people I met!

Personal Motto

webmaster@leonieke.net (Leonieke Aalders) — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 12:17:31 +0200

[via Caff and Cilla]

Leonieke

"What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger - and crazier"

 

'What is your personal life motto?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Meme of Me - F

webmaster@leonieke.net (Leonieke Aalders) — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 21:57:03 +0200

F is for ... Friends

And that was any easy pick!

This post is for all my friends, in the Netherlands, in Belgium, in the UK, in Germany, in the USA, in Spain, in Mexico, in Poland, in Canada.

Meme of Me - E

webmaster@leonieke.net (Leonieke Aalders) — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 11:01:29 +0200

E is for ... Eten (Food)

Alright, so I'm cheating slightly, but only because I am bilingual.

Eten, according to the Van Dale Dictionary of Dutch:

eten(1) (het ~) (noun)

1 voedsel
2 maaltijd

eten(2) (ov.ww., ook abs.) (verb)

1 (iets) als voedsel tot zich nemen => aan de maaltijd zitten, aan tafel zitten, bikken, de inwendige mens versterken, de maaltijd gebruiken, nasjen, nassen, zijn honger stillen

I like Food/Eten, and I not ashamed to admit it! Some of my favorite recipes can be found online, and I regularly receives updates from one of the best food sites available now: Simply Recipes. Of course, whenever I find something that hasn't been posted anywhere, I'll add the recipe to this blog (it's been a while, I know!): Bien Manger.

In time, I have realised that I'd rather spend more money on less food when that food is of a higher quality. What can I say: taste matters.

Do you have any recipes you wish to share?

Meme of Me - D

webmaster@leonieke.net (Leonieke Aalders) — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 10:51:38 +0200

D is for ... Den Haag

Apologies for the late post, but I was busy with my sister's wedding last week.

On to this letter, D. Den Haag / The Hague, my new hometown as of December 26, 2006.

I grew up in Voorburg (might come back under the V), one of Den Haag's neighbouring towns. As Voorburg is quite small compared to Den Haag, my parents would always take my sister and me to Den Haag whenever we needed new clothes and such, as Den Haag has some excellent large department stores. Also, any movie I saw, I saw in the cinema theaters in Den Haag. In fact, whenever my mom would say "let's go into town", she'd mean Den Haag.

Now growing up in a small town near Den Haag, I never felt I wanted to live in Den Haag. Among Voorburgers (aka, people from Voorburg) there is some pride in the fact that Voorburg received its 'city rights' from the Romans (Voorburg was known in Roman times as Forum Hadriani), whereas Den Haag received its 'rights' from Napoleon, which I believe were rescinded when the French left the Netherlands. Den Haag never received city rights again, but nowadays, seeing as it is the seat of our government and our queen, it is certainly a city in its own right!

I would never call myself Hagenaar/Hagenees (more on the difference can be found in the City section on Wikipedia's The Hague page), but I do feel at home in this city. Perhaps this also has something to do with the fact I live in a posh section!

Meme of Me - C

webmaster@leonieke.net (Leonieke Aalders) — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 22:01:20 +0200

C is for ... Comics

And cartoons. In books, or on television. I love reading comics and cartoons, and while at university I graduated to reading and enjoying graphic novels.

It all started with my parents' collection of Suske and Wiske comic books [Spike and Suzy] and I still occasionally read them when I'm at my parents' house. However, the recent comic books in this series (recent as in those published in this century) are not of the same level as the old ones and I do not buy nor read them anymore. Whenever my family and I would visit places in Europe, I (and my sister too) would usually have already read about it in Suske en Wiske, and I have recognized this in stories told by friends who grew up on the same books.

Of course, I also read the books of Tin Tin (Kuifje, in dutch) and Asterix and Obelix, but in my youth, Suske en Wiske were my favorite.

On TV, I used to watch all the popular cartoons (He-Man, yes, I'm sorry, was included as well), and in my late teens I even enjoyed Dexter's Lab.

While at university a friend of mine introduced me to the Sandman graphic novels. And this was very new to me!

Right now, whenever I watch TV, I will try to catch As Told By Ginger on Nickleodeon. Her kid brother is just hilarious!

Which comics did you grew up reading?

p.s.: I have always had a weakness for Calvin&Hobbes. Thanks to birthday presents from friends, I now have three books. These same friends also gave me the Gary Larson Galleries. In one word: awesome!

Meme of Me - B

webmaster@leonieke.net (Leonieke Aalders) — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 00:52:21 +0200

B is for ... Bamse

My teddy bear. I received him for my first birthday from my godparents, and he has been a faithful friend ever since that first day we met.

I do not have a current photo of Bamse, but compared to his first days, he has certainly changed! He used to sleep in my bed, underneath my head as an extra pillow. Over the years, Bamse was flattened severely, and now he is but a shadow of his former self.

Bamse has travelled with me to various countries, and of course during my one-year stay in both Georgia, USA and Edinburgh, Scotland he was at my side (and on some lonely nights in my bed). Even now, on those rare nights when sleep will just not happen, I will grab him, place him on my pillow and as soon as I hit the 'pillow', I fall asleep.

I have no idea where I found the name Bamse (in his younger years, I think he was simply known as Beer (Bear)), but I think I once received a comic book which featured a super strong bear, called Bamse [Bamse {wikipedia}].

Bamse now resides in a nice comfy basket at the food of my bed, together with some other stuffed animals i rescued from my youth (my parents did not allow me to keep ALL of them - how rude!), and last I heard, he was quite happy not be squished between my head and my pillow anymore.

I have discovered over the years that people who grew up with a teddybear as their favorite companion cannot seem to explain to people who did not have this particular stuffed animal what it is exactly, that makes a teddybear so special. Very odd!

Of Reading and Harry Potter [no spoilers]

webmaster@leonieke.net (Leonieke Aalders) — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 16:15:44 +0200

As you might know, I am an avid reader of basically anything. There are enough posts on this blog in the category Reading Material. When I was younger, my parents would not allow me to read while eating breakfast/lunch/dinner, so I frequently resorted to reading the packages of milk, cereal or whatever was handy. Just to be able to keep reading.

I think one of the greatest things I ever learned from my parents is reading and a love for reading. I can remember numerous hours where all four of us (mom, dad, sister and I) would sit around the living room, each with our own book.

This love of reading has of course never left me. Perhaps during my university years I read a little less, mainly because for my English Lit courses, I had to read a mandatory list of books that I otherwise would not have read. But all this time, whenever I found a new book, I would read. And read. And read.

I cannot imagine nor fathom how many books I have read over the years. At some point during these years, I stopped reading Dutch books, because I found that the English books were more suited to my taste (as always, whenever there are more books written, you tend to find more books you actually enjoy).

Some time in 1998, when I was in Edinburgh, a friend of mine suggested I start reading the Harry Potter books. Book Two had just been published, I believe. Bookstores didn't spend too much attention to them, but I had seen them lying around. As I knew these were children's books, I told her I wasn't interested. It is not as if I never read children's books anymore, but I only read the ones I had grown up reading, I never read any new ones, and certainly not new English ones. She insisted I read them, but I never got around to borrowing her copies, or buying any for myself.

Fast forward to April 5, 2000 (good policy, always add dates/places/events/etc to the french title page of your book, including your name) when I bought Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. I must not have found any other books to my liking, and I remebered my friends positive review of the book.

I bought the paperback version, and I read it in one go.

Two weeks later (April 17) I went back to the bookstore to buy Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, also the paperback version.

Book number three, I bought from amazon.co.uk. I did not want to wait for the paperback version this time, because I knew that as the books would be published in the future, I would not be able to wait for the paperback print, I would want that hardcover! On a summer Sunday, sitting behind my mom's computer, right before I would join my parents for dinner, I was online comparing the hardcover prices between amazon.co.uk and amazon.com. As my previous two books had been the UK children's version (Bloomsburry), I wanted the hardcover UK one. It was then that I noticed that it is cheaper to order a UK published book through the uk amazon and vice versa.

Skip one week, I was in possession of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Needless to say I finished the book that same day.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire came out only about a month later, and the same friend who had started me on Harry Potter was in London that same weekend. She stood in line, bought her copy, and when she returned on Tuesday, I was allowed to borrow the book if I finished reading it by the next morning, as she had promised her dad to bring it around that day. Living in Leiden, in an old noise and creaky house, it was quite the experience! I didn't buy the book until January 2001 (hardcover, of course). By this time, my sister had also caught the Harry Potter bug, thanks to one of her friends.

Three years later, book five, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was released. I had mine on backorder and with a 50% discount from amazon.co.uk. It took close to two weeks for it to arrive, and I was anxious to read it. As this was the longest Harry Potter to date, it might have taken me slightly longer to read it. Sipping cola and eating chocolate, I actual took two days off to read and recover.

For book six, I ordered two copies from amazon.co.uk. One for me, and one for my sister. When it arrived, I started reading immediately, and I could not wait to find out which of my colleagues at work had also finished it, so that we could discuss the events from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Theories were flying around, and as I had been a Snape fan since before the first movie (saw that one with other Snape-fanx/friends in the UK), I was fervently hoping the last book would see to his redemption.

My sister had to wait before I handed over her copy of the book, because - as per her own wishes - she wanted to finish the thesis for her master's graduation first. The day she handed it in, she stopped on her way back from Rotterdam in Leiden, and we spent a gorgeous summer afternoon and evening getting drunk on white beer and talking about everything and nothing. I have never seen her thoughts more scattered than that day!

Cue to book seven.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows [spoilers]

As I promised no spoilers in this post, you will simply have to read my previous post on book seven.

I still have the intention to re-read book seven this Summer, but i am a bit hesitant to start again, with all these reviews of other people fresh in my mind.

Until this afternoon.

I have just read a wonderful review/essay by Stephen King on Harry Potter and its author JK Rowling. I might just grab the book tonight and read again. Please do not read this essay if you (still) haven't read the last book, because as King says,

And so now the hurly-burly's done, the battle's lost and won — the Battle of Hogwarts, that is — and all the secrets are out of the Sorting Hat. Those who bet Harry Potter would [...]
turned out to be exactly that. And if you think that's a spoiler at this late date, you were never much of a Potter fan to begin with.

(Yes, I blocked out some of the text, to keep my post spoiler-free! Emphasis is mine)

It was this essay that started my post. Admiration and love for an author and a character: what more do you need in a good book?

Are You a Feminist?

webmaster@leonieke.net (Leonieke Aalders) — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 09:56:11 +0200

You Are 91% Feminist

You are a total feminist. This doesn't mean you're a man hater (in fact, you may be a man).
You just think that men and women should be treated equally. It's a simple idea but somehow complicated for the world to put into action.

Are You a Feminist?

Life and such ...

webmaster@leonieke.net (Leonieke Aalders) — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 21:19:53 +0200

Life is good. Even though at work it feels like I need a vacation again (it's a bit busy, but we don't use the word b.u.s.y. anymore).

And life in my own little house is great!

For all those who have not yet had a chance to visit me, below an impression:

The Simpsons Movie

webmaster@leonieke.net (Leonieke Aalders) — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 22:42:46 +0200

The Order of the Phoenix - Simspons style

(and my character)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows [spoilers]

webmaster@leonieke.net (Leonieke Aalders) — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 22:51:41 +0200

As this entry will contain spoilers for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7), I have decided that - even after 2 weeks - I should put my thoughts on the book behind the read more section.

Without further ado:

I liked DH! I did! I do!

Although 2 weeks after reading the book too quickly, I have decided I will read it again probably next weekend. Some scenes are a bit vague in my memory, and after discussing the book with friends and colleagues, I have noticed that I did miss some more or less important scenes.

I have to say that JKR added some surprising new themes to the Harry Potter saga, and I am still not quite sure what I think of those. They seemed a bit contrived to me, as if she used them as a deus ex machina just to tie all the loose ends together for the sake of simply finishing the book series.

The Dumbledore backstory was intriguing, especially his relation with Grindelwald. I liked how Dumbledore had Snape help Harry along the way, without Harry knowing about it. This is also the story arc which I still distrust. Snape.

Why did she have to kill him so carelessly?

I have been a Snape fan since book two I think, and I was always hoping to see him redeemed publically, in front of his Order peers. No such luck. Also, the reasoning behind his motives - a life long love for Lily Evans (Potter) - seemed immature. Harry's reading of his memories did clear up some of the remaining oddities and story arcs from books 1-6 and also from events in this book, but to me it appears as if Snape needed to be killed in order to close these arcs. By killing him so carelessly (why would a Potions Master, supposedly one of the best in his field, be killed by the venom of a magical snake?), JKR has left her only truly interesting character with a life debt - from her as an author to him as a character with the most redeeming potential.

As for the other deaths, of course, it is sad to see George without Fred, and little Teddy without his parents Lupin and Tonks, but those are the casualties of war, and their deaths did serve the better good.

The epilogue? Nice.

Sickeningly nice.

And useless.

Long live fanfiction!

Deathy Hallows [wikipedia explanation of the title]

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows [wikipedia entry on the book]

Harry Potter: The Complete Obituaries [New York Entertainment - spoof]

Off to get HarryP7

webmaster@leonieke.net (Leonieke Aalders) — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 12:00:03 +0200

Waiting for phonecall from sister that she has arrived at train station, where she will take a tram to the bookstore, and I will follow by bike.

Can't wait to start reading!

Please know, I will not be posting any spoilers for at least a week (or until I will burst from telling them to someone).

[UPDATE]

Sister and I bought our books and we raced back to my house. We started reading immediately around 1:30PM. We finished around 9:30PM. I will post a review once I have been able to straighten all the ideas and opinions running through my mind right now. I might even reread some bits and pieces before I do. I can say this: loved the book, good ending, but there is one scene/action that I totally do not agree with!

Book Meme

webmaster@leonieke.net (Leonieke Aalders) — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 21:58:17 +0200

Book Meme [via Jennifer]

A book that made you cry

The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold

A book that scared you

The Plot Against America - Philip Roth

A book that made you laugh

Lucy Talk - Fiona Walker

A book that disgusted you
I haven't read a book that disgusted me.

A book you loved in elementary school

Brief aan de Koning/Geheimen van het Wilde Woud - Tonke Dragt

A book you loved in middle school
In the Netherlands, you don't really have a middle school. After six years of elementary/primary school, you enter high school. When I was around middle school age, I read everything by Thea Beckman. My most favorite are her two trilogies, one about the Hundred Year's War and one about a possible future.
The trilogy on the Hundred Year's War: Geef Me de Ruimte / Triomf van de Verschroeide Aarde / Het Rad van Fortuin
The trilogy on a possible future: Kinderen van Moeder Aarde / Het Helse Paradijs / Het Gulden Vlies van Thule
I can recommend both these trilogies, and I hope to see them translated into English soon! (no idea if this is a future project, though!)

A book you loved in high school

Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follet / Day of the Jackal - Frederick Forsyth / Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

A book you hated in high school

Ubu Roi - Alfred Jarry

A book you loved in college

Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen (and not just in college)

A book that challenged your identity

The Zahir - Paolo Coelho

A series that you love

In Death series - JD Robb / M. Didius Falco - Lindsey Davis / Harry Potter - J.K. Rowling

Your favorite horror book

The Historian - Elisabeth Kostova

Your favorite science fiction book
Some Star Trek: Voyager books

Your favorite fantasy

Lord of the Rings Trilogy - JRR Tolkien / Dragon Bone Chair series - Tad Williams

Your favorite mystery

A Dying Light in Corduba (M. Didius Falco series) - Lindsey Davis

Your favorite biography
I don't think I have ever read a "star's" biography, but I guess Life of King Alfred by the Welsh monk Asser is a good guess.

Your favorite "coming of age" book
No idea if this is a "coming of age" book, but Two Lives by Vikram Seth is a wonderful tale of the author about his great-uncle and aunt.

Your favorite classic

The Canterbury Tales - Geoffrey Chaucer

Your favorite romance book

Vita Brevis - Jostein Gaarder

Your favorite book not on this list

Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow - Peter Høeg