bending_sickle | Some wounds never heal.* (Reply)

Lander cancelled our Amsterdam trip yesterday, but since I was already up I decided to go anyway. I went to Anne Frank's house. The museum lets you walk though the house and secret annex - devoid of furniture as per Otto Frank's request. A few replicas were in place, like photographs, wallpaper, even the diary. I'm glad I went, but I'm equally glad I stopped myself from thinking too much about where I was and what had happened between those walls. The old videos of deportations and the interview of Anne's surviving friend, who was also in a concentration camp, were hard to take.

At the end of the house, there was a documentary on what we consider human rights, and the occasional controversies (e.g. the banning of headscarves in French schools, the banning of the ETA-supportive newspaper Egunkaria, the insulting comic of the Prophet Mohammed).

(I failed to see the horse-chestnut tree, over which much controversy there's been recently.)

I then wandered around the centre of Amsterdam, desperately seeking out a Pannenkoeken Huis due to a craving for them Dutch pancakes. Alas, at 'round 4pm, sick of the rain and tired and hungry, I had a slice of pizza before huddling in a cafe for a club sandwhich (not seals!).

Coincidentally, if you wiki "pancake house dutch", you get Neil Gaiman's Death of Sandman with a 66.5% relevance.

Then I went to watch The Kite Runner (trailer, wiki). I was a bit of an idiot in not realizing that 1) the majority of the film was in Persian and 2) subtitles would be in Dutch. Still, I understood most of the subtitles, and remembered a bit of the book despite having read it back in 2005. I was immensely pleased to understand some of the Persian, however. (Just Inshallah and teshelkur (sp?), and only because of my limited Arabic and Turkish exposure. Apparently, I listed them as some of my favorite words in a meme.) Apart from the language, the film was nice, the actors were pretty or extremely familiar (I got vibes from Shaun Toub, but they were French-film vibe,s so a bit off. And I knew I knew Said Taghmaoui, if only from Hidalgo), but it wasn't omg-awesomesauce-yay. (The opening-credits, however, were awesome-sauce indeed.)

And not surprisingly, I got a bit depressed in the evening and homesick for non-homey things and woe was had. Then I internetted and photoshopped, and fun was had. Now, I'm off to read the latest in Define Dangerous. Possibly eat first, though.

You can still hit me for that meme.

Quotes of the Day:
It is foolish to pretend that one is fully recovered from a disappointed passion. Such wounds always leave a scar. - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
"Better a lie which heals than a truth which wounds." - Proverb
"Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses." - Bible. Wha?
"Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful." - Bible, Proverbs 27:6

Links of the Day:
Accident of Evolution: Peter Petrelli Fanmix by

seaouryou
How to draw Claude comic by

icecreamkatana
Broken Glass fic (Mylar) by

motseru. Part 1 of a trilogy continued by Any Other Night and Victims of Circumstance
Necessity Breeds Adaptation fic (Gabriel) by

notcrazy_honest
Valentine icons and headers, Heroes comic style and Zach 'n Zach banners by

lay_of_luthien
Killer fanvid (Mylar) by

random00
Zach and Sendhil present Parasite. Sendhil's adorable: "I'd listen to him, America."
Posted ZQuinto, KBell, SRamamurty E! interview links to ZQuinto and DRamirez Season 2 interview, including such jewels as:
Interviewer - "I used to have a crush on Spock."
ZQ - "Does that mean you have one on me now?"
Her - "I think I’m starting to feel something."
ZQ - "Right here, right now!"
Director's Guild, Studios Reach Contract Deal by Steve Gorman (January 17, 2008), washingtonpost.com
Wookieepedia: Star Wars Wiki
Hedgehog in the Fog: classic award winning russian animated short film (with english subtitles), and Tale of Tales Part 1, by Norstein.

* Common expression.