#Vienna Macdonald

[vienna-juliet]

[everywhere-y-o-u-go]

Aug 2023: Delos Island, Greece

[moodboard-you-need]

[applesfallingfromblondehair]

I would go to war for this smile thx

[frimleyblogger]

Murder In Vienna

A late Robert Macdonald novel from E C R Lorac which gives a fascinating insight into 1950s air travel and #Vienna #CrimeFiction #amreading

A review of Murder in Vienna by E C R Lorac – 230313 The last time I was in Vienna, the city centre was knee deep in snow which made an enchanting backdrop to the stunning architecture that graces the Austrian capital. One of Lorac’s strengths as a writer is her sense of place, her ability to convey an impression of the grandeur of the buildings, the delightful expanses of the parks in a few…

[josefavomjaaga]

Continuing with Archduke Johann's diary, entry of 6 December, because it ties in with his entry of 4 December:

6th: Visit to the King of Bavaria. There I had an opportunity to speak with him frankly. [Johann's first impression of Max had not been very good, apparently he had changed his opinion.] He told me in his good natured way how our Emperor had spoken categorically with that of Russia and had been quite vehement. He was firm and did not yield with regard to Saxony; everything he said I combined with what Joseph, who goes to the Russian Emperor every day after dinner and negociates there, told me. This much is true, that both emperors spoke to each other, that ours was very violent. As far as Poland is concerned, the matter seems to be over. Russia is to come as far as the Vistula and receive Warsaw, Prussia is to retain Prussia, Danzig, Thorn, the Polish and other territories, then it is to receive back the old Eastern Galician districts, either the Zamosk or the Tarnopol districts - the latter would be the better. With regard to Saxony, Russia's Emperor is supposed to recognise the injustice; but he has already promised it to Prussia and cannot therefore persuade her to desist (?!). However, he has nothing against it if we dissuade her, in this way he has expressed himself to us and to Wrede through Nesselrode. We will not, it seems, give way in this and Saxony will be saved, whether completely is the question; I would not give a village. Prussia is striving for the whole of northern Germany, that cannot be admitted. That is how things stand after three months, and only firmness can put an end to it.

On this Day: Vienna Congress Edition

December 6th, 1814

Political

N/A

Other

high ranking members celebrate Grand Duchess Catherine of Oldenburg's birthday with a luncheon.

Count Razumovsky hosts a ball, which is attended by all the foreign Gentlemen. "In the evening a ball was given by the Russian Ambassador, Count Razumovsky, attended by all the foreign gentlemen. The archdukes asked whether there were supposed to come to this ball and if so, how they were to behave. The house steward requested a resolution from H.M stating that the archdukes were indeed supposed to attend the ball, but not dance. Instead, they were to mention that although they otherwise never went to balls during the advent season, they were attending in honor of the Emperor of Russia, who was going to be there." - Österreichisches Staatsarchiv, Haus-, Hof-, und Staatsarchiv, Vienna (HHStA), Zeremoniell Protokoll, 1814 and 1815.

[trans-yllz]

a single log bridge til its dark is indeed not bad

stray italian greyhound, vienna teng / I hear a symphony, cody fry / agua viva, clarice lispector / handle with care, jodi picoult / summer, safia elhillo / pride and prejudice, jane austin / always, spellling / love like ghosts, lord huron / @/filmnoirsbian / the carnivorous lamb, agustín gomez-arcos / I'm not calling you a liar, florence and the machine / samson, regina spektor / jamie anderson / angnes, glass animals / the color of pomegranates, dir. sergei parajanov / turtles all the way down, sammy copley / the night we met, lord huron / mouth full of forevers, clementine von radics / the epic of gilgamesh, trans. herbert mason / caitlyn siehl / questions for ada, ijeoma umebinyuo / grief lessons: four plays by euripides, trans. anne carson / night lement in hergla, leila chatti / salma deera / love song, rainer maria rilke, trans. stephen mitchell / it's only time, the magnetic fields / your love finds its eay back, sierra demulder / art of style, jean cocteau / work song, hozier / the collected poetry 1968-1998, nikki giovanni / coffee and cigarettes, sade andria zabala / ticket taker, the low anthem / little dogs rhapsody in the night, mary oliver / giovanni's room, james baldwin / writing prompts for the broken hearted, eden robinson / essays in love, alain de botton / ono no komachi and izumi shikibu, translated by jane hirshfield and mariko aratani / my love love mine all mine, mitski / beast at every threshold, natalie wee / yves olade / @/ojibwa / last words from montmartre, qiu miaojin / I've been waiting for you, abba / the orange, wendy cope / george macdonald

[anicejuicymurder]

My month in mysteries (January 2024)

Thought I'd start a series of posts, rounding up all the mystery media I consumed at the end of each month! Here's what I watched and read in January 

TV

The Gone

NZ crime drama that sees an Irish detective travel to NZ to work with a local cop when an Irish couple goes missing. It's a decent enough show, though I figured out the culprit very early on, but that's fine. I liked Acushla-Tara Kupe as the NZ cop a lot and the touches of Māori culture. I hope it gets renewed, though, because it ends on a cliffhanger lol

Something Undone

Haven't finished this one! Canadian show about true crime podcasters investigating a cold case. Loved the atmosphere and cinematography, but I found it very difficult to follow and I feel like I missed something somewhere 

Deadloch

Brilliant! Wrote a review post about it here

Fargo

After nearly ten years of being on my watchlist, decided to finally watch Fargo, so I can watch the newest season. I know it's an anthology, but my brain won't let me watch things out of order, even in cases like these. I've only watched two or three eps, though, because I'm finding it difficult to get into :\

The Tourist (season 2)

This is stretching the parameters of this blog a little, but it *is* a mystery haha anyway, I enjoyed it a lot, though I was sad to leave Australia behind. Still, Ireland is gorgeous, and Jamie Dornan and Danielle Macdonald are just wonderful together. If you like dark humour, I highly recommend it!

I also started re-watching Grantchester and Vienna Blood

Movies

Where the Crawdads Sing

This is the kind of thing that should be right up my alley but it just fell flat for me

Maigret

I'm not overly familiar with Maigret—I've never read any of the books and the only other adaptation I've seen is the one with Rowan Atkinson some years back—but this was okay. Fairly subdued, but the costumes are great!

Invitation to a Murder

A little period murder piece in the vein of Agatha Christie (though not as good), that is inexplicably set in England when most of the cast seems to be American. But it was diverting enough and I'm pretty easy to please when it comes to period murder mysteries. I would 100% watch a series of Mischa Barton's character solving murders!

Miss Willoughby and the Haunted Bookshop

The titular Miss Willoughby has a friend who is plagued by the ghost of her dead father and she sets out to get to the bottom of what's going on. Feels a lot like some of the Hallmark mystery movies, but maybe a little nicer looking. It's not a murder mystery, but still has those cosy vibes I love. Again, I'd watch more—it's a very easy 'switch brain off' kind of watch, which I need sometimes

I also re-watched The Last of Sheila, which is just brilliant

Books

Lay Your Sleeping Head by Michael Nava

This is the first in the series of the Henry Rios mysteries (or the rewritten version of the first, which was originally titled The Little Death), which sees Rios, a gay, Latino criminal defence lawyer thrown headlong into a tangle of murder, amongst other things.

I thought it was really well-written and I enjoyed the protagonist a lot! It felt similar to Joseph Hansen's Brandsetter novels and Richard Stevenson's Strachey series—closer to the hardboiled tradition than cosies, but I love both types of detective fiction equally.

[poem-today]

A poem by Louis MacNeice

Bagpipe Music

It's no go the merrygoround, it's no go the rickshaw, All we want is a limousine and a ticket for the peepshow. Their knickers are made of crepe-de-chine, their shoes are made of python, Their halls are lined with tiger rugs and their walls with heads of bison. John MacDonald found a corpse, put it under the sofa, Waited till it came to life and hit it with a poker, Sold its eyes for souvenirs, sold its blood for whisky, Kept its bones for dumb-bells to use when he was fifty. It's no go the Yogi-Man, it's not go Blavatsky, All we want is a bank balance and a bit of skirt in a taxi. Annie MacDougall went to milk, caught her foot in the heather, Woke to hear a dance record playing of Old Vienna. It's no go your maidenheads, it's no go your culture, All we want is a Dunlop tyre and the devil mend the puncture. The Laird o' Phelps spent Hogmanay declaring he was sober, Counted his feet to prove the fact and found he had one foot over. Mrs Carmichael had her fifth, looked at the job with repulsion, Said to the midwife 'Take it away; I'm through with over-production'. It's no go the gossip column, it's no go the ceilidh, All we want is a mother's help and a sugar-stick for the baby. Willie Murray cut his thumb, couldn't count the damage. Took the hide of an Ayrshire cow and used it for a bandage. His brother caught three hundred cran when the seas were lavish, Threw the bleeders back in the sea and went upon the parish. It's no go the Herring Board, it's no go the Bible, All we want is a packet of fags when our hands are idle. It's no go the picture palace, it's no go the stadium, It's no go the country cot with a pot of pink geraniums, It's no go the Government grants, it's no go the elections, Sit on your arse for fifty years and hang your hat on a pension. It's no go my honey love, it's no go my poppet; Work your hands from day to day, the winds will blow the profit. The glass is falling hour by hour, the glass will fall for ever, But if you break the bloody glass you won't hold up the weather.

Louis MacNeice (1907-1963)

[josefavomjaaga]

He could not give more details as he was indeed not there 😊. He had been on the march to reinforce Eugène, but only arrived after the battle had ended. Macdonald actually was not with Eugène for a large part of that campaign in 1809, as he had been detached with a part of the Italian army to Ljubljana and Graz, while Eugène was crossing the Alpes in order to join Napoleon before Vienna. Napoleon then sent Eugène into Hungary in pursuit of Johann’s Austrian corps, while Macdonald, I believe, was supposed to seek contact with Marmont, who was marching up from Dalmatia but had gone missing. It was only when Eugène had located the enemy in Hungary that Macdonald received orders to join him, but too late for the battle.

Fun fact: When Macdonald had died in 1840, the eulogy held at his funeral also listed the battle of Raab among his victories (despite better knowledge, apparently). Which caused another furious outburst by Planat de la Faye in a French newspaper, defending Eugène’s memory and reclaiming that victory for his former master.

As today is the 14th of June, the threefold battle anniversary, I suspect there might be some talk about the battles of Marengo and Friedland. So I'll link to another brief report among the translations on Jonas de Neef's website - a site that I am absolutely thrilled with!

This report concerns the least known and least important of those battles, and the only one where Napoleon was not present, the battle of Raab, won by Eugène's army of Italy against the Austrians under archdukes Johann and Josef.

[savageandwise]

[vienna-juliet]

[everywhere-y-o-u-go]

July 2023: Thessaloniki, Greece

[moodboard-you-need]

S2 HUG

[applesfallingfromblondehair]

more Raughy in Vienna 👀

[m4gp13]

My hc's for Ethan being a nomadic vagabond in the years between leaving camp and joining the army are the only things holding me together sometimes. It really makes ya want to stuff all your possessions into a well-worn backpack, throw on some barely holding together clothes and hop on a train to anywhere and nowhere. Sitting around a campfire with some fellow runaways who didn't want to spend such a cold night alone as stories and food are traded around. In the morning you part ways and promise to lend an ear and a hand should you ever meet again, smiling at the thought even though you know how unlikely it is. You hop on another train, never going in the wrong direction because every one is the right one when you have no destination.