Art postcards from China, Russia, Ukraine & USA!

Art postcards are always the ones I remember the best. They often end up in my favourites list, too. After you've seen these four postcards, you can hopefully see why.

The first postcard is from China as you probably figured out all by yourself. The second card is from Russia and the woman on the card is Empress Maria Feodorovna, the wife of emperor Paul I. The painting is from the 1800s.

The third card is from Ukraine and the fourth card is from USA.

Small postcards from USA & Singapore!

These four postcards are the smallest postcards I have. Two of them are also quite old. 

The first card shows Barkley Dam from Kentucky. The card "feels old" but it had no date in it so I'll never know how old it is. The second card is from Long Island, New York. I know that this card is from the late '90s.

The third card shows Battery Road from Singapore (as you can read from the card). Even though the photo of the card is long (ca. 1910 the card says), the card itself feels quite new. The fourth card is from Kansas and this card is old for sure!

Postcards from Iran, South Africa, Argentina & Bosnia and Herzegovina!

These postcards are very special to me because they are the only postcards I have from those countries. I have received three of them from Postcrosser (direct swap) and one from a sibling. I never ask for direct swaps myself (because I have enough work with these Postcrossing cards) so I'm very lucky to have these cards :)

5 funny or interesting websites to visit when you're bored

Are you bored with checking news sites or Facebook? Looking for something interesting or funny for a change? If you answered yes to those questions, you might want to check these websites I have listed here.


1. Sporcle
Sporcle offers hundreds of trivia games for you to play from several different categories such as movies, television, geography, entertainment, sports, literature,... and many others. When I at first found this site, it took me nearly two hours to stop doing it and start doing something else. These games can be quite educating, too; if you want to learn the European capitals, Adam Sandler movies, car logos or something else, this is the place to go.


2. FunPic
I have visited FunPic on a daily basis for some years now. You can find thousands of funny, interesting or cute pictures from FunPic. The pictures are probably mostly the same ones as you can find in any other fun picture -themed website, but this is one place to go. Unfortunately, the FunPic site is updated quite irregularly. Sometimes you have to wait couple weeks for new pictures.


3. Awkward Family Photos
Probably one of the funniest websites there are. When looking at the photos people have posted on Awkward Family Photos, you are likely to feel simultaneously amused and sorry for the people appearing in the photos. New embarrassing photos are published in the site almost daily.


4. BeFunky
BeFunky is a cool website where you can edit your photos in many ways. If you are bored with your ordinary looking photos, add some photo effects or graphics to make it look more interesting. 


5. Postsecret
Postsecret is a blog kept by an American man called Frank. People send him postcards where they share a secret they have never shared with anyone else. Then Frank posts the secrets on this blog. There's nothing funny about this site because the secrets are usually quite serious but it is definitely interesting to read what kind of secrets other people have. New secrets appear on the site every Sunday.

Map postcards from USA & Canada!

To celebrate my beginning 5th year with Postcrossing, I present you some map postcards from my postcard collections. As you can see, most of my map postcards are state maps but sometimes when I'm lucky, I get other kind of map postcards. 

Oscar nominations are here!!

This is a very exciting day indeed; the Oscar nominations have been announced! I have to admit that I was quite surprised to hear who got nominated and who didn't. (the full list of nominees here)


At first, Best Picture -category. There were no big surprises in this one. I was quite happy to hear that The Tree of Life got a nomination because I really like that movie. On the other hand, I was little amazed that Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close got a nomination because it hasn't got very good reviews. But I haven't seen it, so it could be a good movie nevertheless.


A category that did surprise me, was Best Actor in a Leading Role. Who is Demián Bichir? I have never heard of him or his movie A Better Life. But I'm going to find out about that soon. 


A category that made me almost angry, was the Best Animated Feature Film of the Year. Why isn't The Adventures of Tintin nominated? Why?? Even though the plot of that movie was at least insane, the movie itself was really good. The plot of The Tree of Life was "insane", too, but it got nominated, so why not Tintin, too?


The last category I'm going to discuss, is Best Original Song -category. Why does it only have two nominees? And why isn't either of them Gnomeo & Juliet's 'Hello hello'? 


So many questions and so few answers... Now I just have to start watching the films which is going to be quite a lot of work since I have only a month. But I'll make it, I'm sure about that :)

Cow postcards from the Netherlands!

When I think of the Netherlands, cows are not the first thing that come to my mind. I would rather start thinking about tulips, flat ground, canals, drugs,... but not cows. However, surprisingly many of the cards I have received from the Netherlands, represent cows. So I guess cows are a Dutch thing. I found two of them for this blogpost.

Postcards from Croatia, Italy, USA & Ireland!

Four beautiful postcards from four different countries. 


Tuscany in Italy, and Fallingwater in Pennsylvania, USA. One of the most beautiful houses in the world. 
Plitvice Lakes National Park in Croatia and Ireland.

Black & white postcards from Germany & Taiwan!

Here are four of the many black & white postcards I have. The first three are from Germany and the one in the lower right corner is from Taiwan. I used Google translator to find out what the sheep postcard says: "You are something very special". At the time when I received the card, I still knew some German since the message on the back of the card is German, too. Sadly, now "it's all Greek to me". 

Consider Uggie!

The most famous dog at the moment is, without a doubt, Uggie from the movie The Artist (he also appeared in the movie Water for Elephants). After seeing the pictures of him in the Golden Globes and the tricks he made in 'Ellen', I became one of his fans. He is one talented dog, indeed. 
In Facebook, there is even a fan group where people ask Oscars to consider Uggie. I haven't seen the movie The Artist yet but according to what I saw in 'Ellen', I believe that he would deserve an Oscar ;) It would be only equal to let animals to get recognized for their "acting skills" as well. Here's a clip of Uggie in 'Ellen' so you can decide yourself whether he is worth of an Oscar or not.

Movie postcards from Belgium & Taiwan!

I have seen both of these movies - Larry Crowne and The Lovely Bones - and I didn't consider neither of them very good. The Lovely Bones was just too weird for me, I didn't get the parallel reality in the movie (or you should call it?). As for Larry Crowne, it was just too boring for me. There was no climax, and the characters didn't make any impact on me. Nevertheless, I do love both of these postcards :)

Vintage(-looking) postcards from USA!

These two postcards from USA are belong to my favourite postcards list. I wish I had more vintage-looking postcards than just these two. Anyone want to send me one? :D

 

And the Golden Globe REALLY went to...

As I was sleeping last night, the Golden Globe Awards was held in Los Angeles. According to what I have read, Ricky Gervais did great job as a host this year, too. You can read more about his jokes here.
Last week I predicted the winners in this blog and now it's the time to see how I did. I made my predictions on 13 different categories (leaving out Best Original Score - Motion Picture). To my delight, more than half of my predictions were right, 7 out of 13. Here's a list of the winners and my guesses: (·⁄· = right prediction)


Best Motion Picture - Drama: The Descendants ·⁄·
Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy: Midnight in Paris (The Artist)
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama: Brad Pitt (Moneyball) (George Clooney for The Descendants)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama: Glenn Close (Albert Nobbs) (Meryl Streep for The Iron Lady)
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy: Joseph Gordon-Levitt (50/50) (Jean Dujardin for The Artist)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy: Michelle Williams (My Week with Marilyn) ·⁄·
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture: Christopher Plummer (Beginners) ·⁄·
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture: Octavia Spencer (The Help) ·⁄·
Best Director - Motion Picture: Alexander Payne (The Descendants) (Martin Scorcese for Hugo)
Best Screenplay - Motion Picture: Woody Allen (Midnight in Paris) ·⁄·
Best Original Song - Motion Picture: "Hello Hello" (Gnomeo & Juliet) ("Masterpiece" (W.E.)
Best Animated Film: The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn ·⁄·
Best Foreign Language Film: A Separation (Iran) ·⁄·

The entire list of winners here. 

I think I did quite well in my predictions even though there were some stupid "mistakes". For example, I really liked the movie Midnight in Paris so I really wished that it had won in Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy -category. But now I know better so I can make more accurate predictions for the Oscars... ;)

Postcards from Florida!

From all the postcards I've received from the United States, the Florida postcards are my favourite ones. The fact that I have dreamt of traveling to Florida for a while might have something to do with that... For now I just have to settle for watching these postcards.

I have to say something about this fat cat -postcard. It is probably the most weirdest and the most memorable postcard ever. At first, when I received the card, I was stunned; why would anyone send someone a postcard like this?! But now I have learned to love the card :)

PS. A short reminder at the end of the post: Golden Globe Awards are held today. Have you already picked your winners?

Postcards from California & Oregon!

Here are some of my bigger postcards. The first one is from Oregon as you can see, and the second one is from San Jose, California. The building on the card is the Tech Museum - museum of innovation (that's the text behind the card). 

1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

My mom found something great from the sales earlier this week: the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die!! And then she gave it to me as a gift today. 


This book is the every movie enthusiast's daydream. It has gathered 1001 movies from different times, different genres, different countries, different directors, producers, actors/actresses, composers, writers,... Somehow the people behind this book have come up with only 1001 movies you must see before you die. The authors of this book have wrote short essay of each of the movies explaining the plot shortly and telling why exactly that movie deserves its place in the list. It's up to you to decide whether their judgement is right - whether this movie should be on the list or not. 


If you got interested... here you can find more information about it. I know that I have found myself a movie bible :D

Royal family postcards from Luxembourg & the Netherlands!

After I mentioned in my Postcrossing profile that I like royal family postcards, I have also received them more than usual. I have received one from Luxembourg and the rest three from the Netherlands. Two of them show a picture of Princess Máxima of the Netherlands in her wedding. 

And the Golden Globe goes to...

I've been looking forward to this week's Sunday (January 15th) with almost the same enthusiasm as I've been looking forward to February 26th (the Oscars). On this Sunday the Golden Globe winners are announced. 


Even though I'm super-enthusiastic about Golden Globe Awards, I have seen only a minority of the movies that are nominated this year. From the nominated movies I have seen: The Help, Bridesmaids, 50/50, Midnight in Paris, Crazy Stupid Love, Beginners, Gnomeo & Juliet, The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, Cars 2, Rango and The Skin I Live In. That's not enough but, nevertheless, I'm going to predict the winners now.  


Best Motion Picture - Drama: The Descendants 
Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy: Midnight in Paris
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama: Brad Pitt (Moneyball)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama: Glenn Close (Albert Nobbs)
Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy: Joseph Gordon-Levitt (50/50)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy: Michelle Williams (My Week with Marilyn)
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture: Christopher Plummer (Beginners)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture: Octavia Spencer (The Help)
Best Director - Motion Picture: Alexander Payne (The Descendants)
Best Screenplay - Motion Picture: Woody Allen (Midnight in Paris)
Best Original Song - Motion Picture: "Hello Hello" (Gnomeo & Juliet)
Best Animated Film: The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn
Best Foreign Language Film: A Separation (Iran)


I haven't picked winners for the other categories because, honestly, I don't really care about them. 
So there are "my winners". However, it's not a big shame if these films/people won't win because I believe that all the movies have deserved their nominations. Hopefully Hollywood will keep making as good movies as it did last year :)

Disney postcards from Russia & the Netherlands!

During my postcrossing "career" I have received two Disney postcards: one from Russia and one from the Netherlands. Here I present them to you.

Happy birthday to me!

Today, January 9th, is an important day; it's my birthday :) Another important person, Kate Middleton, celebrates her birthday today as well. So happy birthday to Kate, too! 


At some time in every woman's life, there comes the time when they "don't age" anymore. I don't think I have reached that age yet but it is coming... However, I will not worry about that now. Now I will enjoy the last years of my youth before I get midlife crisis :D

Postcards from California, Nevada, North Carolina & Texas!

As long as I have collected postcards, I have also collected state maps. So far I have state maps from eleven differents states. Here are four of them. 

Let it snow!

Yesterday, January 7th, the entire Finland was covered in snow. FINALLY. The temperature dropped from plus degrees to -11 celcius degrees. Now it really feels like winter :)

Animal postcards from Germany and Austria!

The first postcard, showing a lion, is originally from Namibia but it was sent to me by a German postcrosser from Germany. The second card (I don't know the name of this animal) is also from Germany. It had an inspirational line on the back of the card: "If you can dream it, you can do it." 

These last two cards I have bought myself a long time ago. The first one is from the famous Spanish Riding School in Vienna and second one, as you can read, is from Hagenbeck Zoo in Hamburg.

More animal postcards are to come some day again... I have many of them.