Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first.

Where there is no imagination there is no horror

silknotes — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 00:08:25 +0000

Halloween (also spelled Hallowe’en) is an annual holiday celebrated on October 31. It has roots in the Celtic festival of Samhain and the Christian holy day of All Saints, but is today largely a secular celebration.

Common Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, wearing costumes and attending costume parties, carving jack-o’-lanterns, ghost tours, bonfires, apple bobbing, visiting haunted attractions, committing pranks, telling ghost stories or other frightening tales, and watching horror films.

The name ‘Halloween’ and many of its present-day traditions derive from the Old English era.

The word Halloween is first attested in the 16th century and represents a Scottish variant of the fuller All-Hallows-Even (“evening”), that is, the night before All Hallows Day. Up through the early 20th century, the spelling “Hallowe’en” was frequently used, eliding the “v” and shortening the word. Although the phrase All Hallows is found in Old English (ealra hálȝena mæssedæȝ, the feast of all saints), All-Hallows-Even is itself not attested until 1556.

The imagery of Halloween is derived from many sources, including national customs, works of Gothic and horror literature (such as the novels Frankenstein and Dracula), and classic horror films (such as Frankenstein and The Mummy). Elements of the autumn season, such as pumpkins, corn husks, and scarecrows, are also prevalent. Homes are often decorated with these types of symbols around Halloween.

Halloween imagery includes themes of death, evil, the occult, magic, or mythical monsters. Traditional characters include ghosts, witches, skeletons, vampires, werewolves, demons, bats, and black cats. The colours black and orange are associated with the celebrations, perhaps because of the darkness of night and the colour of fire, autumn leaves or pumpkins.

There are several games traditionally associated with Halloween parties. One common game is dunking or apple bobbing, in which apples float in a tub or a large basin of water and the participants must use their teeth to remove an apple from the basin. A variant of dunking involves kneeling on a chair, holding a fork between the teeth and trying to drop the fork into an apple. Another common game involves hanging up treacle or syrup-coated scones by strings; these must be eaten without using hands while they remain attached to the string, an activity that inevitably leads to a very sticky face.

Some games traditionally played at Halloween are forms of divination. A traditional Scottish form of divining one’s future spouse is to carve an apple in one long strip, then toss the peel over one’s shoulder. The peel is believed to land in the shape of the first letter of the future spouse’s name. Unmarried women were told that if they sat in a darkened room and gazed into a mirror on Halloween night, the face of their future husband would appear in the mirror. However, if they were destined to die before marriage, a skull would appear. The custom was widespread enough to be commemorated on greeting cards from the late 19th century and early 20th century.

The telling of ghost stories and viewing of horror films are common fixtures of Halloween parties. Episodes of television series and Halloween-themed specials (with the specials usually aimed at children) are commonly aired on or before the holiday, while new horror films are often released theatrically before the holiday to take advantage of the atmosphere. (source: wikipedia)

(photo source: unknown)

Marco Veringa’s Delicious Creations

silknotes — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 20:15:01 +0000

Who: Marco Veringa (‘s flickr)
Occupation: chef, food-stylist and photographer
Location: last 14 years in Honk Gong (born in Holland)

Source: Etoday

Girl Meets Boy by David Sims

silknotes — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 19:14:47 +0000

Well… Sergey Zverev comes to my mind. >_>;;

Vogue Paris June / July 2010

“Girl Meets Boy”

Ph: David Sims
St: Emmanuelle Alt
M: Raquel Zimmermann

Source: Etoday

Tablet PC Rivals

silknotes — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 01:54:19 +0000

Asus Pad

Google intends to release their own tablet

IdeaPad U1 by Chinese company Lenovo

Motorola's prototype

SmaKit S7 by Asian company Huawei, its operation system is Google Android

JooJoo by Fusion Garage

Neofonie WePad

HP Slate by Hewlett-Packard

P88 by Chinese company Great Loong Brother Industrial

Archos 9

Amazon Kindle does not own all tablet's functions, but this device can also be considered as a rival

Apple IPad

Source: Etoday

Freestylo ♪♪

silknotes — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 15:55:00 +0000

Freestylo (Фристайло) – an epic kazakh akyn (“ақын”, Kazakh folk poet and singer). He became famous on the talent show Superstar KZ (Superstar France prototype). In March 2007, the respective video, from the show, was all over Youtube.
Young kazakh man presented himself as Ernar (kazakh translation – “courageous camel”). His full name is Ernar Kaldynov (Russian: Ернар Калдынов). He lives in the Ust-Kamenogorsk (Russian: Усть-Каменогорск) oblast. Ernar played something that reminded eurodance (experts say that it was Culture Beat by Mr. Vain) on dombra and was cheerfully reading some text.
The combination of this talented young man’s image, dombra and the music itself brought lots of entertainment. Almost instantly 9000 remixes appeared. While the akyn himself became popular all over the world, overshadowing Borat, and turned into a hero in native steppes.
Freestylo appeared one more time on the contest’s Super Final and caused a storm of applause.

He played frank notes on a simple but touching song about love. It turned out that simple words were enough to win all hearts.

Audition:

Super Final Live:

Original song (?). Kazakhstan pop music singer R.Lizer – Freestailo:

The best cover, in my humble opinion:

Lyrics, Translations below ->

Lyrics (in Kazakh):

Фы-фы-фы-фы-ф-ф-ФРИСТАЙЛО!!!! Фы-фы-фы-фы-ф-ф-ФРИСТАЙЛО!!!!
Лака-мака-дам
Ду-тун-тари-дури-дам
Ду-тун-тути-рути дам
Ду-тун-тири-рири-дам
Ду-тун… УООО!!
Ойға да шыққан бүлдірген!
Қырға да өскен бүлдірген!
Айналайын қыздар-ау!
Қадіріңді кім білген!
Уоқ-ауоқ-ауе!
Сүйесің бе?
Бәрін тастап, сен маған тиесің бе?

Translation (in English):

Du-tun-taree-duree-dam
Du-tun-tutee-rutee-dam
Du-tun-teeree-reeree-dam
Du-tun… Wuooo!!
Strawberry appeared even in the steppes!
Strawberry even grew in the steppes!
Sweet girls!
Who could have known your dignity!
Wuok-auok-ayea!
Do you love me?
Abandoning everything, will you marry me?

Lyrics (in Kazakh, English – latin):

Du-tun-taree-duree-dam
Du-tun-tutee-rutee-dam
Du-tun-teeree-reeree-dam
Du-tun… Wuooo!!
Oyga da shikkan buldirgen!
Kirga da osken buldirgen!
Aynalayin kizdar-au!
Kadirindi kim bilgen!
Wuok-auok-ayea!
Suyesin be?
Barin tastap, sen magan tiesin be?

Translation (in Russian):

Фы-фы-фы-фы-ф-ф-ФРИСТАЙЛО!!!! Фы-фы-фы-фы-ф-ф-ФРИСТАЙЛО!!!!
Лака-мака-дам
Ду-тун-тари-дури-дам
Ду-тун-тути-рути дам
Ду-тун-тири-рири-дам
Ду-тун… УООО!!
Земляника появилась даже в степи!
Земляника выросла даже в степи!
Милые девчонки!
Кто бы мог знать ваше достоинство!
Опа-опа йее!
Ты меня любишь?
Бросив всё, выйдешь за меня замуж?

Translation №2 (in Russian):

Ду-тун-тари-дури-дам
Ду-тун-тути-рути дам
Ду-тун-тири-рири-дам
Ду-тун… УООО!!
На ум пришла клубника
На улице тоже растет клубника
Дорогие Девушки
Кто знал вашу благодать
Уоқ-ауоқ-ауе!
Любишь меня?
Все бросив ты выйдешь за меня?

Credit/source: lurkmore, luginka, youtube

Fashion Bailout by Steven Meisel

silknotes — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 00:19:10 +0000

Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new

- Albert Einstein

Vogue Italia April 2009

“Fashion Bailout”

Photographer: Steven Meisel
Models: Darya, Portia, Eliza, and Elin Svahn

Garden of Delights by Steven Meisel

silknotes — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 02:14:35 +0000

I think that all seasons should be respected, but… I am really looking forward to spring. o(^^o)(o^^)o
Ah, lately, my thoughts are in dreamland more often than usual. Although, that is probably what I unwittingly need at the moment.

Vogue December 2006

“Garden of Delights”

Photographer: Steven Meisel
Models: Caroline Trentini, Gemma Ward, Karen Elson, Sasha Pivovarova

Andy Julia’s Look at Beauty

silknotes — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 16:09:43 +0000

Who: Andy Julia
Occupation: Photographer
Location: Paris, France

A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.

- Albert Einstein

Breakfast. By Jennifer Rakowski

silknotes — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 01:41:24 +0000

“I like breakfast-time better than any other moment in the day,” said Mr. Irwine. “No dust has settled on one’s mind then, and it presents a clear mirror to the rays of things.”

- George Eliot

“Simply Breakfast” by Jennifer Causey

silknotes — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 05:51:52 +0000

Who: Jennifer Causey
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Project: Simply Breakfast

Breakfast is a notoriously difficult meal to serve with a flourish

- Clement Freud