Scandinavia and the World is an amazingly funny web comic about country stereotypes. This far we've seen most of Europe, some Middle Eastern countries, some Asian countries as well as America, Canada and Australia :) There are a little over 200 strips there and most of them are really quick reading. What takes time is you trying to stop laughing. These two are my favourites:
Another thing I love is that here England is portrayed as the father of USA, Australia and Canada. There are a lot of pictures, not as many comics, that show this relationship and this is one of my favourites:
Enjoy your reading :) Don't forget to read the descriptions of every comic as well! You might learn something :)
Lately there's been a lot of nosalgia around here. We've been looking through old cartoon intros in Swedish on YouTube. I even made a playlist that will continue to grow little by little. Yesterday we only looked through Disney intros like Gummi Bears, TaleSpin, Duck Tales and Rescue Rangers. Not to forget Pokémon, Digimon (although not in Swedish) and Sailor Moon! I also had to look through my favourite song of my favourite cartoon film when I was a child; the Swan Princess:
Yesterday ended with me finding and downloading four out of six complete seasons of Gummi Bears in Swedish!
Today however I was more inclined to old Cartoon Network shows, so while I looked at the PowerPuff Girls and Dexter's Laboratory intros, I accidentally came across an old cartoon that I remember that I absolutely loved and that scared the hell out of me at the same time; Courage the Cowardly Dog. I first came across the intro in English and by some easy clicking I soon enough found it in Swedish as well, and right now I'm downloading all the 52 episodes :) There will be a Courage marathon here as soon as I have the time! Seems like I was morbid already when I was 10 years old!
However speaking of old cartoons. I remember one cartoon I used to watch, before I was old enough to go to school, so about 5 years old. I don't remember much except that there was some kind of purple space alien who lived in a cave down on earth and was friends with two children, one boy and one girl... Other than that I don't remember anything, except than I liked it. Anyone?
There's also this show that I distinctly remember. The Ketchup Vampires. Can't seem to find it in Swedish though, only found the intro in German (of all languages?) on YouTube:
The last three weeks Love and I have been having "movie nights" every Sunday. We get to choose a film every other week. I started to choose and I chose Titanic. Simply because Love had complained so much about it being so bad. Point is last time he saw it he was 10 years old. Titanic isn't really made for 10-year-old boys to like. I like the film because it looks so big-time. Especially the scene where the ship is sinking and the water is rushing everywhere. That is the best part of the film according to me :) I also love to watch the dresses Kate Winslet wears. After the film was over Love had to admit that it wasn't as bad as he remembered.
Week after that it was Love's turn to choose and he chose to watch Shawshank Redemption, simply because I hadn't seen it and because it's the top of IMDB's top 100. When we started watching it I remembered having seen bits and pieces from it before. However I liked it a lot. I've realised that I usually like films that star Morgan Freeman. Shawshank Redemption is a real feel-good movie and I recommend it!
Last week was my turn and I started to educate Love in film history, as Kajsa has been doing with me. We watched Arsenic and Old Lace, an old Cary Grant film. It's a Halloween comedy so it's kind of morbidly funny, but most of the time just funny. It uses shadows to make things scary, something that has kind of disappared now that we have all those CGs and special effects. I like the entire old-fashioned feeling about it :) CHARGE!!!
Tonight we are going to watch Silence of the Lambs. Love wants to see it since he hasn't seen any of the Hannibal Lecter films! O.o Tonight's gonna be awesome! The weather is just right too...
Okay, this person made a post about Japanese boys/actors/singers and seems to have gotten me into a new period of watching dorama. I was only going to download more subbed episodes of Gokusen, but I ended up discovering that they had made Ouran High School Host Club to a dorama and spent some time looking around for it on the net. Later today I also discovered that they had made a live action film for Paradise Kiss!!! OMG, gotta have that! I looked around everywhere, but I can't seem to find it subbed to English :/ My Japanese is far from that great yet :/ But I was able to find a raw version, so I'll have to go with that for a while... Here's the trailer for Paradise Kiss:
So now I'm sitting here trying to download loads of dorama that had me interested before. Like Liar Game season 1 and 2 and the film, Densha Otoko, Anmitsu Hime SP 1 and 2 and Stand Up!!. I'm also trying to find Sentou no Musume?! with subs but it seems almost impossible :( I have only found softsubs for the first seven episodes :/
So I started going to the gym last week. Not to get a muscular body, just to get rid of some fat that I don't think I need. Simply I'm just doing 30 minutes of spinning and then, since I'm going easy on myself, two reps on some machines for the shoulders, lower back, chest and abdomin. I actually think I like it. Today I woke up lazy however, so there was no trip to the gym today. I needed a lazy day so I've just been hanging about at home. Tomorrow however I'm going again. Next week I think I'll buy a pass card. If I can get that flat belly 'til the end of February I'll go get that pierced navel again. Better to do it in springtime, rather than during the dogdays as I did last time... About 5½ months, exercising about 4 times a week... You think I'll make it if I try to stay away from sweets and ice cream as well? Christmas this year will be tough!
On a different note, Pottermore is making people crazy. Kajsa got her entry mail today and after she got sorted she called me to vent her frustration of being placed in Slytherin other than her House of choice; Hufflepuff. Slytherin really doesn't fit her at all... Not like it actually did me after I got over the first shock of not being placed in Ravenclaw (#lunadontleaveme ;)) I couldn't help being quite amused by it all, sorry hon, but one kind of gets into a happy bubble when one is able to enter. Just now I read on Facebook of another friend who hasn't gotten her mail yet, and she's getting seriously frustrated by that. Even threatening to write and complain if she doesn't get her entry mail in the coming batches of mails being sent out! While I myself am being completely frustrated that the second book; the Chamber of Secrets, isn't available to explore until February. FEBRUARY! What am I going to do 'til then? Brew friggin' potions?! At the moment I'm re-exploring the first book; the Philosopher's Stone, for the fourth time, and re-reading all Rowling's thoughts and news on characters, magic and places.
#lunadontleaveme that I wrote above comes from when Evanna Lynch twittered after she got sorted on Pottermore. I'll copy the article from MuggleNet:
Ahhhh umm errrrrr.... Just got sorted. Slight identity crisis. Need to sit down and process this... #pottermore I'm in Gryffindor. #Pottermore #confusion #shock #pride #happiness #LUNADONTLEAVEME!!! I don't know what to do. I feel like Jo just told me I'm a man. I'm SO utterly confused.Gryffindor! Woahhh what an honour! I'm so happy! But confused! But happy! BUT CONFUSED. #Pottermore #farewellravenclaw Dammit, now I have to change my whole bleedin' wardrobe!!! #pottermore #butredandgoldarenotmycolours Sorry for the tweet explosion... I'm just...having a moment. #farewellravenclaw #pottermore #JowhathaveyouDONE?!
Tonight we re-watched Les Misérables 25th Anniversary in Concert at the O2. This time it wasn't as painful to watch Nick Jonas, he's not that bad although he's still leagues behind the rest of the cast. I'm getting slightly nervous. I, Love, Kajsa and Tiffany are going to watch the Swedish version of Les Miz in two weeks and I wonder if it will be as grand? I'm guessing not, I never get my hopes up really high for a Swedish version of anything really. Swedish doesn't really have that big of a vocabulary, and compared to English it's a very small and limited language. I'm not that fond of it actually, except maybe the spelling that can be beautiful sometimes. Beautifully strange :P Also, will I like the songs as much as I like the British ones? Will they sound as great? Will they ruin my favourite songs; Master of the House, Do Your Hear the People Sing?, Look Down and Lovely Ladies? Anyway, I hope that they will prove me wrong. I'm actually looking forward to it, despite being nervous about it.
Ever since I registered I've been logging in once every day, just to check and the page always said "We look forward to seeing you". But not today. Today the page looked completely different! I haven't even gotten my Welcome email yet! But I got started and begun exploring the world of Harry Potter. You get to enjoy the books, one by one, while you discover small elements that you've never thought of before and new material from Rowling whose imagination has just kept on spinning. I loved reading the background story for Minerva McGonagall! One of my favourite characters.
I loved when I went to Diagon Alley to buy my school stuff. I loved getting my wand, and after reading all about wandlore, wand cores and wand woods I thought that wand fitted me perfectly :) Then came the sorting...
Just like Evanna Lynch (who plays Luna Lovegood) got sorted into Gryffindor and not Ravenclaw and had to deal with the confusion, I myself got sorted into Slytherin! But after reading Rowling's description and thoughts of Slytherin House I realised that it fits me quite well. I always thought Ravenclaw to be the place for me, but Slytherin might not be so bad... I'm not all that good-natured after all... I'll grow accustomed to being a Slytherin after a while I guess...
So I'm now a first year student and I'm slowly taking my time through the first book. It's recommended to read the book while you discover the site, but as I've read the first four books around 20 times each I think I'll manage without them ;)
Now I'm off to brew potions and earn myself some House Points =D
Wednesday: Slow day. Everyone was working or in school and nothing really happened. Not even in the evening. Was kind of nice to just be able to hang around.
Thursday: Started out slow, turned out real nice. Halfway through the day a group of people dressed up completely in pink and coloured pink showed up next to my stand and made a complete show out of everyone walking by. People stopped to film and take pictures, and since everyone was busy doing that I could do it as well. I had no costumers while they were there cause everyone was busy watching them. I hadn't brought my camera and tried to take pictures with my mobile, but they ended up bad and pixley. Then I figured I could film them. So here are the two best pictures and the video I put up on YouTube:
In the evening I went to the other stand by the stage to watch Jay Smith. He was part of the Rix.fm thingy. Jay Smith is last year's winner of Swedish Idol, and by far the only good thing that has ever happened to that show. He played the winner's song Dreaming People, which isn't one of my favourites. And then his, by now, famous version of Like A Prayer.
Friday. The end. I started by the stage and stood there for almost the whole day. Was interviewed by a news paper (can't find it online). At dinner time I changed places and then around midnight I got back to the stage and was able to see The Ark's final concert ever. It was the same concert program as on SommarRock in Svedala. I was able to hear One of Us is Gonna Die Young, The Worrying Kind and Calleth You, Cometh I. I'm usually very torn about this band. I can't decide if I think they're absolutely brilliant or if they're kind of boring. Everytime I hear them live they're awesome, incredible. But when I hear only the songs, they fall flat. So it all comes down to that they are (were) a great live band. Sayonara.
My feet ached so bad. I even had work on Saturday, but was able to leave early due to my aching feet. This is gonna turn into a nice salary in September :)
Last Friday on the 19th this year's edition of the annual festival in Malmö began. Of course I'm working there 7 out of 8 days. So here goes the first five days (including my day off).
Friday. Had arrived at my parents place the evening before to help my dad get two cars to the festival. Got there, got unpacked, all was fine. Then the electricity guy shows up claiming that we haven't ordered nor payed for the extra juice that we needed. Great. That meant we had to run the popcorn machine, the cotton candy machine and the lights on the same cable - not a good idea. Can't pop popcorn and making cotton candy at the same time without blowing a fuse. So we had to pop the popcorns while there was no people to stock up enough popcorn to last until we got that extra electricity, so that we could make cotton candy to those who wanted some. Some phone calls later and we still hadn't recieved that extra juice. 8 hours after the nasty electricty guy had left another one shows up, handing me an extra cable. Great! Turns out that there was no electricity in the cable. Traced the cable to a locked electrical cabinet. So one more phone call for Dad. Switch places to the other stand and there it turns out we haven't got electricty for the lights. The cable is pulled out of the cabinet and the cabinet is locked with white plastic strings. Great... Calls them up and they say they'll come and fix it. Before they do the guy next to us selling sugarcoated almonds has solved the problem by cutting of the plastic strings with a knife and putting in our cable and his own. The electricity people arrive after it's already dark.
Saturday. A new electricty guy shows up and gives us power in both cables. Day goes smoothly after that. It gets even better when Zombie Walk walks past us. I curse myself for leaving my camera home, but an old friend of mine was in the walk apparently and so I found these pictures on FaceBook :) Rest of the day goes smooth. Except that I and Love are sent to the stand next to the stage, cause Dad and Jeanne didn't want to listen to techno... As if I did. After five minutes of constant bass I started to wish that it'd be over soon.
Sunday. Except for terribly aching feet the day went smooth until it was almost closing time. The sky opened on us and I had to get creative to protect the balloons and the cotton candy machine. On top of that Love wasn't feeling well. I switched with Jeanne at the stage so that she and Love could pack up the other stand. After Veronica Maggio finished at 11pm loads of people wanted to buy. Unfortunately we are not allowed to sell after 11. How did they figure that one out? And after selling to a few people I was practically chewed out by a girl not much older than myself flanked by two security guards. Then a new police office was stopping Jeanne to drive the car to the stand cause there was too many people (the day before there had been more people and it hadn't been any problems for Dad driving in). Dad went mad on all of them as did I. I was furious at this self-important bitch who couldn't step outside protocol just to realise how stupidly arranged the schedule was, and that if someone asked to buy while I was packing I would sell to that person. I was still friggin' packing! Walking to the train home I felt as if my feet would fall off. They hurt so badly from standing on stone for 16 hours/day 3 days in a row. On the train I tried to put weight on my knees instead of my feet as to relieve them, instead I got a cramping in all of my right leg. Joy. It hurt so much that I couldn't keep myself from crying and when we got off the train I walked as if I was wearing a diaper cause I had to walk on the sides of my feet and without bending my knees much for it not to hurt.
Monday. Feet pretty OK when I woke up. Still I refused to spend any time at the stand next to the stage as to avoid any extra pressure on my poor poor feet. So instead I made cotton candy the whole day. This was Love's day off and Kajsa worked instead. It was nice spending some time with her, although I was pissed at the world in the beginning. The day went perfectly fine. It was first day of a new semester. All the adults were working and all the children were at school, a nice quiet day that I could actually spend sitting more than the other days. Day was only partly disrupted by the fact that we once again only had electricity in one of our cables for a few hours. And that the backstage area where we put our stand wagons after work was completely closed down and almost impossible to get into for the first time since Friday. Kajsa and I had to push and pull and heave both of us at the same time to manage to get one of the wires loose to be able to get inside.
Tuesday. Finally my day off. Woke up around 10am (my biological alarm clock is always set on ten hours) and immediately felt the effects of doing cotton candy four days in a row. I couldn't move my right hand without it feeling like the entire thing was bruised and broken. Muscles were a complete mess. Still hurts a little now, but after showering the muscles warmed up a bit and stopped aching that terrible. Feet were OK. So my day off was spent shopping for food for me and for Dixi the Rabbit and for the start of term in a week. I also scrubbed the entire flat, changed sheets and did some laundry. All that boring stuff that one doesn't have time for when one works full weeks.
Yesterday I went to the cinema again to watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2. This time with my best friend. I had finished reading the book on Sunday and with the book now in fresh memory I wanted to see what I thought of the film this time.
Well, I can say that a lot is changed. Still I'm mad that they did nothing of Percy's reunion with his family and Fred's death... Why oh why did they destory a wonderful scene from the book like that? The wands bother me in the final battle between Harry and Voldemort. That connection is only supposed to be possible with Harry's original wand along with Voldemort's original. It's not possible when Harry's got Draco's wand and Voldemort's got Dumbledore's! Why do they have to make it so dramatic on film? In the book Harry shoots Expelliarmus at exactly the same time as Voldemort shoots Avada Kedavra. Harry's being the stronger spell of the two, Avada Kedavra crashes with Expelliarmus and rebounds on Voldemort who is thus killed by his own hand.
And WHY did they destroy Neville's moment of awesomeness!??!?! There's no friggin' hunt for the snake. Neville kills it in front of everybody at the same time he pulls the sword from the Sorting Hat!!!! Don't ruin my favourite book!
Like Kajsa said: they have exchanged the fun moments from the book with fun moments of their own creation. I love when McGonagall says that she always wanted to try that spell, and I love how it's Hermione's idea to escape on the dragon (in the book it's Harry's). But I miss Ravenclaw Tower. I hate how Harry's whole talk with Helena Ravenclaw turned out in the film.
But on the whole I actually like the film much more than the others. DH part 1 and 2 are the best Harry Potter films since Chamber of Secrets. Prisoner of Azkban, Goblet of Fire, Order of the Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince are all blasphemous.
I'm not all that sad that it's over anymore. From the interviews I've seen Rowling seems to be having a hard time saying goodbye to Harry as well. Now I have Pottermore, and thanks to Pottermore it feels like it'll never end.
It's me and Love's one year anniversary today. For me it's the first time I've ever managed to stay in a relationship for this long, and it doesn't seem to be going anywhere. So here's a song I dedicate to him, because he puts up with me and because I love him dearly for it.
I can be an asshole of the grandest kind
I can withhold like it's going out of style
I can be the moodiest baby and you've never met anyone
who's as negative as I am sometimes
I am the wisest woman that you've ever met
I am the kindest soul with whom you've connected
I have the bravest heart that you've ever seen
And you've never met anyone
who's as positive as I am sometimes
You see everything, you see every part
You see all my light and you love my dark
You dig everything of which I'm ashamed
There's not anything to which you can't relate
and you're still here
I blame everyone else, not my own partaking
My passive-aggressiveness can be devastating
I'm terrified and mistrusting
and you've never met anyone who's as
as closed down as I am sometimes
You see everything, you see every part
You see all my light and you love my dark
You dig everything of which I'm ashamed
There's not anything to which you can't relate
and you're still here
What I resist, persists, and speaks louder than I know
What I resist, you love, no matter how low or high I go
I'm the funniest woman that you've ever known
I am the dullest woman that you've ever known
I'm the most gorgeous woman that you've ever known
and you've never met anyone as everything as I am sometimes
Last Sunday, the day after our party (which was a success btw, we'll be doing that more times), I went home to Kajsa to watch Les Misérables in Concert at the O2 25th Anniversary with her and Tiffany. It was my first time seeing this musical since I'm not that fond of musicals. I usually find that they're either great at singing and suck at acting, or they're great at acting and suck at singing. It's not very often that they're brilliant at both. This kind of proved me wrong and Tiffany assured me that West End really is brilliant at everything =P
However since this was "in concert" it meant that there wasn't much acting around and that may be the reason why I really liked it. At this moment I'm actually downloading both the show and the soundtrack. I'm gonna let Love watch it, I'm sure he'll like it. I loved little Cosette, too bad she's only in it for about 15 minutes, and then she becomes a whimp. I'm fascinated by how much Lea Salonga actually can open her mouth O.o And I thought the girl who played Éponine was gorgeous, however I though her character was pretty pathetic - like every other female character in the show (I can tell the story was written 150 years ago), the only female that wasn't pathetic was the wife of the Master of the House, and instead she was an idiot. My favourite character by far was Gavroche.
Yesterday I signed up for Pottermore! I figured out the clue. I was head over heels with excitement after I found the Magical Quill and made it fly. And now my nick is FelicisGoblet :) You better remember it, if you're going to register ;) Now my friends are asking me for help registering, turns out the pocedure is different every day. Pretty cool actually. It's not just a new clue, but also a new procedure.
I read on about Pottermore while I was waiting for the new clue to show up today. Turns out that when it opens to everyone in October it will start at Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, and it's pretty obvious when you sign in after you've registered - you're at Privet Drive and you see a wizard standing at the edge of the street. This is gonna be awesome! ^^ I'll blog more about it as I slowly gain access to the site in a few weeks :)
