Sunday, 21 August 2016

Some Hello! Project musings

I have to make this post although I don't think anyone except for me will find it interesting. But it's my blog and I need to get this off my chest.

In 2006 I fell into the world of J-pop. What mostly caught my eye was Morning Musume and from there I became a fan of all of Hello! Project (the agency to which MoMusu belong). The concept of having members graduate from a group and then audition for new members to join was very new to me, as was the whole idol concept - and I loved both. I was sick of the overly sexy Western pop music (still am). If I wanted pop music I wanted fun and upbeat pop music (still do) for every other mood I go with rock, but nothing lights up an early morning like J-pop. But with the graduation thing also came the thing that the member roster was constantly evolving. Next year nobody will be left in H!P from the time I started in 2006. Not even the original manager is still there. I feel like I'm watching an era come to an end. And I feel old.

Back in 2006, the agency was a lot more bustling, with several groups and soloists being active at the same time. Since then, not only the line-up but the music itself has changed. Let's take a trip back in time.

Line-up 2006:
• Morning Musume (Sexy Boy ~Soyokaze ni Yorisoutte~) [First song I ever heard by them]
• Berryz Koubou (Jiriri Kiteru)
• C-ute (Wakkyanai Z)
• v-u-den (Issai Gassai Anata ni A-Ge-Ru) [Famous for fan service]
• Melon Kinenbi (Onegai Miwaku no Target) [First song I ever heard by them]
• Country Musume (Kakumeichikku KISS)
• Abe Natsumi (The Stress)
• Maeda Yuki (Omae no Namida wo Ore ni Kure)
• Matsuura Aya (Suna wo Kamu You ni... Namida) [Love her voice]
• DEF.DIVA (Let's Go Rakuten Eagles)
• Tsukishima Kirari (Koi Kana)
• GAM (Melodies) [Famous for lesbian undertones]
• Tomoiki Ki wo Uetai (Minna no Ki)
• Nakazawa Yuko (Urara) [Love her voice]
• THE Possible (Young Days!!)
• Hello! Pro Egg (Sora ga Aru)

Line-up 2016:
• Morning Musume '16 (Utakata Saturday Night)
• C-ute (Jinsei wa STEP!)
• ANGERME (Itoshima Distance)
• Country Girls (Ran Ra Run ~Anata ni Muchuu~)
• Kobushi Factory (Osu! Kobushi Tamashii)
• Tsubaki Factory (Hitorijime)
• Hello Pro Kenshuusei (Oheso no Kuni kara Konnichiwa)

When I spend time on tumblr a part of me thinks it's cute when fans think they've been in the fandom long when they started in 2010 or 2013. Another part of me thinks it's good - we're gaining more fans overseas (from Japan) and they need that! But here I am, feeling like a grandma telling tales from ancient times. I remember Morning Musume's 8th gen audition vividly (currently there's an audition for 13th gen), and the confusion that arose with the addition of two Chinese members back in 2008. I remember when one member was literally kicked out of the agency for underaged smoking and relations with a much older man (Kago Ai). I remember when a member of Morning Musume resigned without a graduation concert for having a boyfriend after just one month as the group's leader (Fujimoto Miki). I remember the amount of clamor and confusion when another member announced at a press conference that she was getting married and was already pregnant (Tsuji Nozomi). I remember the horror as I learned that one member's newborn son had passed away (Iida Kaori). I remember the pain of the 2009 graduation, when all the members over 20 years old graduated the agency together. I still watch that concert from time to time and cry my eyes out as all my favourites leave.

The old line-ups are still stubbornly stuck in my heart, but I can't say I follow the ongoings of the current line-up as closely. It can go months before I listen to a new single, while before I listened to it the day after it was released. I hardly know any of the members anymore, and I feel like there aren't any good places to find out. The best places to get to know the members "in the old days" were Utaban and Hello! Morning. And none of those TV shows are around anymore.

So here I am in my own little bubble feeling like the oldest person in the fandom on tumblr. But that won't stop me from continuing to love Hello! Project and keep on supporting and following both old and current members.

Tuesday, 16 August 2016

Playing Skyrim quest mods: Pit Fighter & Pit Fighter Travels

This mod is basically what it sounds like. It adds an arena in Windhelm and you fight in it and go up ranks. From what I've read the original plans for Skyrim was to have an arena in Windhelm, the game's code includes codes for an arena there, but it was scrapped before release.

What I expected when I got the mod was the arena quest from Oblivion. I was wrong. It was so much more. First of all, all the fights don't take place in the same arena. You get to choose where you want to fight: Windhelm Arena, Ratways of Riften, Orcish Stronhold, Imperial Fort, or a smuggler ship. As you go up in rank you can challenge different champions. There's one for each arena, and with every victory against a champion you're rewarded with a unique weapon, which gets added to your trophy room in the Windhelm Arena.
 The Windhelm Arena, the Ratways of Riften, the Orcish Stronghold, the Imperial Fort, the smuggler ship

The mod Pit Fighter also has a sort of DLC called Pit Fighter: Travels. This DLC-mod gives you the opportunity to compete in arenas around the continent: Summerset Isle, High Rock, Valenwood, and Morrowind. As in the previous mod, you can challenge random enemies or a champion and with each victory against a champion you're rewarded with a unique weapon.
 The Summerset Isle arena, the High Rock arena, the Valenwood arena, the Morrowind arena 

I think that I was over-leveled for this mod in general, but I still liked it, and at least the arenas in Summerset Isle and Valenwood offered some challenge (as in I couldn't one- or two-shot the enemies there). If you want to get the most out of this mod you should not be level 70+. Just saying. I was overleveled even for the unique and pretty weapons. Nothing can beat my character in full-on dragonscale armour and dragonbone weapons.

The trophy room really looked nice in the end, though :)

Thursday, 11 August 2016

Playing Skyrim quest mods: Moonpath to Elsweyr

Next on my list of quest mods was Moonpath to Elsweyr, which literally takes your Dovahkiin to the land of the Khajiit.

I was really excited to try this mod, but while I sort of liked it I also feel like it fell flat. The scenery was amazing and I really felt like I had travelled from the chilly world of Skyrim to the damp jungles and arid deserts of Elsweyr. However, the quest line was very short and didn't feel well thought-out, like it had been hastily prepared and not quite finished.

When you arrive in Elsweyr you're almost immediately pulled into the Khajiiti attempt to defend their homeland against the Thalmor intrusion. There are also a bunch of side quests, all lore friendly (if you're on top of your Elsweyr lore - mine was kind of rusty). I really liked how the quests played out, but I feel like they came to an abrupt end, like the quest line was intended to go on for longer but the creator lost inspiration and just finished the thing instead.

The mod was worth the time for the scenery, the new armour you get as a reward for a simple side quest, and for my favourite part - the airships! I just wish it didn't feel so incomplete.

Dealing with backlog: Game of Thrones

I bought this game at the Steam Summer Sale in 2014. It's not the Telltale one, but the RPG, which was released 2 years prior to Telltale's game. This game's story is centered around the books rather than the TV show, although there are some features from the show. Like the music from the TV opening on the main menu, or the fact that the actors for Lord Commander Jeor Mormont and Varys reprise their roles for this game. George R. R. Martin also has a cameo, and his character apparantly writes books about the history of the realm and his assistant keeps asking him when his next book will be finished. A not-so-subtle hint towards all the fans that keep asking him when his next book will be finished IRL ;) I was somewhat disappointed, though, to find out that Lena Headey doesn't reprise her role as Cersei in the game. Only her likeness was used, not her voice.

Anyway, the game is divided into 16 chapters, and you follow two characters. Those characters are Ser Mors Westford and Ser Alester Sarwyck. Both of them were a part of Robert Baratheon's rebellion against Aerys Targaryen fifteen years ago, and because of their choices during the end of the rebellion we find them in their current situations: Mors decided to take the black and become a brother of the Night's Watch rather than being executed for disobeying an order; Alester went into self-imposed exile in the Free City of Braavos, due to a choice he had to make, and there became a red priest of R'hllor. Until chapter 11 we play every other chapter as each character separately until they are united in chapter 11. At the end of chapter 13 you have to choose which character you want to complete the story with, the first step towards one of the game's four endings.
Mors to the left and Alester to the right.

The game was very Game of Thrones-y, in the sense that just like in the TV show where all the action happens in the last two to three episodes, all the action here was reserved for chapters 13-16. Until Mors and Alester are united and you have to choose which one to follow there's more story and talk than action.

I found the controls of the game somewhat weird, but it was still something I got used to quite quickly. But because the controls were odd it took me a while to get back into it when I took a break from the game.

The battles are very similar to Dragon Age Origins, in that you can pause and tell your characters and their allies what moves to use. The amount of energy (stamina) they have determines what moves and how many they can do. Mors is a warg and also has a dog that he can control with him in battles.

The game has a lot of secrets hidden here and there. Playing with Mors you can use his warg ability to sniff out hidden objects with his dog (I really enjoyed doing that). Playing with Alester you can use his ability as a red priest, the Light of R'hllor, to find hidden objects.

Originally I liked Mors a lot better than Alester, but as the game progressed Alester grew on me until I saw Mors as nothing but a grumpy fool (he has every right to be grumpy, but I still don't like it). As the game progressed I also thought that Alester's story made more sense to use for the game's completion. While Alester was always in the midst of things, Mors seemed to be sort of just along for the ride. But in the end I got a bad ending - everyone died and then at the end of the epilogue Alester hanged himself in his bedroom.

The game, in the true spirit of Game of Thrones, was all intrigue, and as much as I wanted more action and less story it was exciting to watch the pieces fall into place and realise how it all fit together. There are just two things storywise that I didn't like. 1). I realised who the "bad guy" was way before that revelation. 2). The cliché that the pregnant lady always gives birth during the most inopportune moment in the entire show.

The game was good. Not brilliant, but good. Seeing as there are three more endings to explore, I may come back at a later time to see those as well. I did think ahead and made a separate save just before the moment when I had to choose between Alester and Mors.

Tuesday, 9 August 2016

My last 5 books: Harry Potter, Gaiman, and more Rowling

1. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (illustrated edition), by J.K. Rowling & Jim Kay. This book doesn't really need an introduction, does it? I had told myself to not buy any more editions of Harry Potter, but when an illustrated series was announced I just had to have it! I've wanted Harry Potter with pictures since I was 9 - I'm getting Harry Potter with pictures! It's been a while since I read the series, though, and I have to admit that even though I know every single thing that's going to happen in the book, the storytelling is still amazing. Even though I know everything the storytelling pulls me inside, compelling me to read on to find out what's gonna happen next - although I already know. It's amazing :P

2. M is for Magic, by Neil Gaiman. This is a short-story collection, and because I had read both Smoke & Mirrors and Fragile Things before, only two of the short-stories in this collection were new to me. There were 11 stories in M is for Magic. Those were:
1. The Case of Four and Twenty Blackbirds
2. Troll Bridge (read in Smoke & Mirrors)
3. Don't Ask Jack (read in Smoke & Mirrors)
4. How to Sell the Ponti Bridge
5. October in the Chair (read in Fragile Things)
6. Chivalry (read in Smoke & Mirrors)
7. The Price (read in Smoke & Mirrors)
8. How to Talk to Girls at Parties (read in Fragile Things)
9. Sunbird (read in Fragile Things)
10. The Witch's Headstone (an actual chapter from The Graveyard Book)
11. Instructions (read in Fragile Things, also released as a children's picture book)
How to Talk to Girls at Parties is being turned into a movie, and is widely praised as one of his best short stories, but it took a long time for me to like it. It had to grow on me, which I feel like it has now done. Sunbird has been kind of forced upon me too. Partly in this book, also in Fragile Things, and in the Unnatural Creatures anthology. But that is one of my favourites now. The Case of Four and Twenty Blackbirds was cool. What if Humpty Dumpty didn't fall off that wall, but was pushed? Murder in Fairyland. If I had to choose I'd say that Chivalry is my favourite story in the book. Closely followed by October in the Chair, Troll Bridge and Sunbird.

3. Anansi Boys, by Neil Gaiman. I read American Gods a while ago and while I thought it was good, I also thought it had to many narrative threads that all didn't get resolved properly. Anansi Boys is supposed to be an independent sequel to American Gods, but I like Anansi Boys a lot more. With American Gods I got the feeling that Gaiman tried to squeeze every little thing he knew into one book, but for Anansi Boys he had learnt how to be moderate and not space out the story too much. Anansi Boys seems more professional and I really like how the main character develops as a person throughout the story.




4. Career of Evil, by Robert Galbraith (a.k.a J.K. Rowling). I really like how
this series has turned out. The first book was incredibly boring to me. But the last two have been amazing. This book was intense and I didn't want to put it down. One thing that I really liked was that Strike's new girlfriend was named Elin. Do you know how rare it is for me to find my own name in things? Especially things that are not Swedish? I loved how Strike's and Robin's relationship evolved, and was horrified when Strike actually fired Robin. I was equally horrified when Robin actually got back together with Matthew instead of permanently dumping his ass. I did not expect who the murderer was. That was skill. I usually figure it out before the end, but I had seriously no idea with this one.

5. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany & Jack Thorne. This book needs no introduction. I've now had a week to contemplate the story and despite the short-comings that several discussion have revealed to me, I still love it to bits. Some fans are outraged by the trolley lady thing, but that only made me laugh out loud. Why not? was my feelings. If you can be chased by fireworks in the Potterverse, and also charm snowballs into bumping off the back of Quirrell's turban and thereby hitting Voldemort in the face - then why can't we have the trolley lady? Seriously. A lot of discussions have taken me back to the third book, trying to get a deeper understanding of how time-turner's work. But I admit that some things may have been overlooked there. But I'm okay with that too. Basically the whole story is amazing. I don't care if the basic plot has already been covered in different fanfictions (9+ years of fanfiction attempting to fill in gaps kind of makes it hard to create a brand new story, don't you think?), this one is canon. But some people are hilarious. Like the people complaining that there are so few people running the Ministry. Come on! It's not just the four or five people mentioned in the play! There are lots more! But unlike books and movies you can't fit innumerable people into a play. Deal with it. Let your imagination fill in the gaps. This book was amazing to me. I love it. And I hope that the play will get filmed so that I can watch it, because I really want to watch the play but doubt I'll get a chance.
Oh! And Scorpius for president.

Tuesday, 2 August 2016

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - no spoilers

Wow. Where to even begin?

When the play was announced I wasn't especially excited, and I haven't been very into Fantastic Beasts either. Somehow I felt like my Harry Potter affection and obsession was dying. Then came the announcement that they would be releasing the script as a book. A new book?! I was suddenly over the moon with anticipation. I knew it was a script. I knew she hadn't written it completely on her own. But nevertheless it was a new Harry Potter book (not a novel, but a book even so) 8 years after book 7 was released.

When I realised I wouldn't be able to be at the midnight release due to work I was very disappointed. I was at the midnight release of Deathly Hallows in 2007, and then at the midnight premiere of Deathly Hallows part 2 in 2011. I really wanted to be there for the midnight release of Cursed Child. But I had to resign myself to not being able to go there and instead I pre-ordered the book at the end of May.

On the 29th I got an e-mail telling me that my order had shipped. My book was officially on its way. On the 31st I was seated in the lunch room at work scrolling through my Facebook wall looking at all the updates and pictures from people I know who had been at the midnight release. And I was so jealous that they already had the book and already had started reading. On August 1st, yesterday, at work I got a text that my order had been delivered to my local post office and I could go pick it up. Said and done! After work I picked it up and when I came home I immediately started reading despite being very, very tired after getting up 4am in the morning for two days in a row.

The fact that it was a script didn't bother me. Of course the descriptions sometimes were a little poorer than I would've liked, but that's what you can expect from a script that's mostly dialogue and just some annotations to how the stage shifts and changes between each scene. When I studied French my favourite book that we read was Waiting for Godot, and that was also in script format. So I knew from before-hand that a script didn't bother my reading.

I only read the first act yesterday and then stopped because I wanted it to last as long as possible. I spent the rest of the evening just looking at my new book and holding it. Today I started reading as soon as I got out of bed and finished it before 3pm.

I want to go into extensive detail over the story, because I really liked it and I want to emphasize that in a world where the haters always are the loudest. But let me give you hints without really spoiling the story. It includes redemption. It includes the partial return of a character previously only seen in one single book. It includes a lot of nostalgia for what happened in the original seven books. It includes the exploration to a lot of 'what if?'s, and it includes a plot-twist that I didn't expect and that everyone is discussing loudly and fervently. I liked the plot-twist because it turned one of my old headcanons into canon. You do what you will with this information.

I know Rowling didn't write it alone, but I could still see her hand in it. And just like a good book should, this one has made me laugh out loud and giggle, it has made my heart race, and it has made me cry. Towards the end I couldn't help crying at a scene, and then I couldn't stop crying as I continued reading. And as I read the last page I cried even more. It felt like finishing the last book in 2007 and realising with some sort of horribly empty finality that there was nothing more. The movies don't really count in the same way, and now it was over. Completely over. Even more so now. In 2007 Rowling wasn't opposed to revisiting Harry's story at a later time. This time, though, she has expressed that she's done with Harry's story. There will be no more. No more. And the thought that it was truly over had me crying for a good fifteen minutes, and it still makes me teary.

I thought my obsession had died, but it was merely sleeping...

Monday, 1 August 2016

July favourites 2016

The very, very hot second third of summer has passed. Bring on the final third! The more autumny and nice third.

Books: Apart from finally finishing my set of 16 books of the Three Musketeers I also finished four more books and started on a fifth. Favourite book of this month is the illustrated version of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Are you surprised? That book never gets old, I still feel the magic even after having read it more than 20 times...

Music: There's a nice mix of songs this month. Mostly just songs that have stood out to me these past days.
• In This Moment - "Bloody Creature Poster Girl" & "Adrenalize"

• Berryz Koubou - "Ai wa Itsumo Kimi no Naka ni" & "Kanpaku Sengen" (feat. Mano Erina)

• Love Never Dies - "Love Never Dies" & Les Misérables - "Turning"

• Dragon Age: Inquisition - "Empress of Fire" & Elder Scrolls Online - "The Plane Meld"

• Sophie & Magaly - "Papa Pingouin" & Hangry & Angry - "Reconquista"


Games: In July I've played Clockwork Tales, The Forgotten City (Skyrim quest mod), Total War: Shogun 2, The Sims 4, Pokémon Go, and even started on the Game of Thrones RPG (not the Telltale one). I also started up a new playthrough of Oblivion, but I'm trying to pace myself with that so I can keep working on my ever-growing backlog. I think this month it's a tie between Shogun 2 and Pokémon Go. Pokémon Go for being so heavily anticipated everywhere, and for being a game that brings almost all of my friends together for something very special to talk about. (Even if none of them are on the same team as me #TeamMysticWillReignSupreme)


TV shows: This month I've watched 7th Heaven, Charmed, Game of Thrones, Agents of Shield, The Strain, The Vampire Diaries, and The Originals. Out of those Game of Thrones definitely wins. Although that ending of season 3 of Agents of Shield really brought up more questions than answers.

Other: Went to Malmö to visit my parents and go to the local annual festival. Also met up with a bunch of friends while there.