Alright, so today a big (is it only in Sweden or elsewhere as well?) tradition kicked off; the annual book sale. It starts in February each year and continues for... I don't really know, about a month? To be quite fair I usually don't pay a lot of attention to the whole thing, simply because it can get as crazy as Christmas shopping... And the regular big book shops (the big corporations, like the Swedish version of WH Smith) don't really have the kind of books I read. I read fantasy, horror and sometimes, but very rarely, science fiction. Those genres are still pretty obscure here and the regular shops only hold about one shelf of English language fantasy and one shelf of Swedish language fantasy. It's kind of ridiculous... But in the three largest cities in Sweden (Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö) we have book stores called the Science Fiction Book Store, which is heaven for me and all other geeks of various size and interest. They stock manga, anime, Asian pop culture (not music), RPG, board games, science fiction books, fantasy books and horror books. They too participate in the book sale. So today me and my friend Kajsa went there to take a look. Actually none of us could really afford to heavily spoil ourselves with new books, but we managed to walk out of there with three books each.
Looking at their web page yesterday I had my eyes set on one book specifically; Prince of Stories: The Many Worlds of Neil Gaiman. Since 2010 when I read Smoke & Mirrors, Fragile Things, Coraline and Stardust I've really been a huge fan of his way of writing. And now after recently finishing Good Omens, I feel like this is the next one I'll deal with before getting started with American Gods, Anansi Boys and The Graveyard Book.
After getting my hands on that one I found, by chance, By Blood We Live. It's a compilation book with vampire stories by Neil Gaiman, Joe Hill, Stephen King, Tanith Lee and Anne Rice among others. Some of them will undoubtedly be the urban fantasy vampire, but I have hope that some of them will be the classic Victorian vampire that I like.
Then I had decided that I was done with getting books. But Kajsa wanted to go check out the New Arrivals book section too and I went with her. The first book my eyes fell on in that book case was Songs of the Earth by Elspeth Cooper. The cover immediately spoke to me and as I read the back cover I realised that I would probably like reading this one. So I just had to buy that one too... So I got out of the shop €28 poorer, but three books richer ;)
Now for something completely different...
Yesterday I finished watching the latest season of Mad Men. So now I've caught up. I like it a lot, although I'm really not sure why xD It's not the type of TV-show I usually watch.
Anyway I've really fallen for Peggy, I think she's great. Maybe not in the first season, but the three after that and especially in the fourth season she's awesome!
Then there's Don. The main character. Sometimes I like him, sometimes I hate him, sometimes I pity him, sometimes I think he's an idiot, sometimes I feel compassion, sometimes I think he's an ass... But the fact that he's a character with many layers that stirs so many feelings makes me want to continue watching.
And Sally. I've always liked Sally. Even in the first two seasons when she wasn't such a big character. Now I like her even more.
I used to not care for Joan, but the more I've seen of the series the more I've grown to like her. I really missed her when she quit Sterling Cooper cause she got married and I was really happy when she came back to work again. I like her a lot in the fourth season.
Then there are the characters I don't like.
For example Betty. I thought she was a little weird in the first season, but as the season's have been going on she's getting more and more neurotic and more and more obstinate. She's acting more and more like a spoiled child.
Then we have Roger Sterling. Another adult that keeps acting like a child and can't get his temper under control. I dislike the fact that he doesn't seem able to think ahead. He divorces his wife and marries a woman young enough to be his daughter and it seems to be a spur of the moment thing. He can't get over Joan and it doesn't seem like he's making any attempts to do so either. He's too confident and then he gets mad when things don't go his way. Like a petulant child.
Then there's Pete Campbell, whom I'm not really certain if I like or not. Sometimes I think he's great. Sometimes I think he's just a boasting kid trying desperately to get on the top of his game. Trying desperately to be one of the big boys although it seems like he's just starting out. He just seems too desperate to make a fantastic career sometimes.
Thus far the fourth season is the one I like the most. But the fourth season wouldn't be great without the other three ones to let the characters and the story evolve. The next season (coming on March 25th) will be very interesting... :)
Wednesday, 22 February 2012
Sunday, 5 February 2012
Call of Cthulhu RPG #5
Amanda Palmer shows up to interview Sophie about the death of her father. She's disappointed to find out about Sophie's obvious detachment towards her father's death. Amanda mentions a disappearance outside of Boston. Sophie says she has a car and expereince of disappearances. Amanda agrees to it. They drive to Amanda's contact with the police. The person who has disappeared is Meklin, a demolition expert. An explosion in a house outside of Boston. There's covered up information around the whole thing. The police contact Angus can't find anything special around it. There doesn't seem to be any proper information at all. The policeman tags along in the car. On the way to the army doctor, another of Amanda's contacts, we pick up Amanda's assistant; the paper boy Charlie Harper. We find the army doctor Charles Packington ins a park. Amanda talks him into coming with us. We drive to Meklin's office. Charlie, Amanda and I walks up to the fourth floor where his office is. Amanda and Charlie walks into the other offices on the same floor. Sophie stays outside. Amanda finds out that he disappeared after he had gotten a job outside of Boston where the exploded house is. Ordinary office. A safe ajar. Lots of money in it. An archive folder with the name Boucher House + ASAP written on it. Amanda takes photos. Charlie takes notes. Angus says that a man called Jason Porter hired him to do this job. Take a drive to the city archive to check out an addition to the old house. Amanda finds a certificate of ownership belonging to Jason Porter. Angus drives to the police house. The rest of us go to the archive of the Boston Globe and looks for information concerning the Boucher House 22 years ago and what happened with the child after the incident with the dogs and the death of the mother and who the father is. The child was left to Martin Adoption Agency after the mother had been bitten to death by dogs. People says that they have seen a monster that looks like a dog close to the house. We find nothing of the dad.
The day after we meet at the Martin Adoption Agency. Jason Phyllis Boucher was adopted by Ben and Emma Porter = Jason Porter. Angus tells us that he found a false death certificate of Porter with the police. The house in the suburbs is empty. The neighbours tell us that Ben died of the flu 6 years ago, Emma died naturally 6 months ago. Sophie pries open the door and we take a look around. Completely empty. All we can find in the phone book is a Jeff Porter. Knocks on door. A young man in his 20s opens. He tells us everything. That he went out to the house after he found out that he inherited it. Uninhabitable. He wanted to demolish it and build something new. After too many questions about the Boucher House and Meklin we're driven out of there. We decide to get to the house and sleep in a motel along the way. We arrive at the house the morning. Very deserted. Wild garden. A wall around it that has no door. Can't drive inside cause the vegetation is in the way. Charlie jumps up at the wall to try to see above the vegetation. Sees some kind of stone building. We prepare ourselves and walks through the vegetation all the way to the house. The door is unlocked, but we decide to walk around the house first.
The day after we meet at the Martin Adoption Agency. Jason Phyllis Boucher was adopted by Ben and Emma Porter = Jason Porter. Angus tells us that he found a false death certificate of Porter with the police. The house in the suburbs is empty. The neighbours tell us that Ben died of the flu 6 years ago, Emma died naturally 6 months ago. Sophie pries open the door and we take a look around. Completely empty. All we can find in the phone book is a Jeff Porter. Knocks on door. A young man in his 20s opens. He tells us everything. That he went out to the house after he found out that he inherited it. Uninhabitable. He wanted to demolish it and build something new. After too many questions about the Boucher House and Meklin we're driven out of there. We decide to get to the house and sleep in a motel along the way. We arrive at the house the morning. Very deserted. Wild garden. A wall around it that has no door. Can't drive inside cause the vegetation is in the way. Charlie jumps up at the wall to try to see above the vegetation. Sees some kind of stone building. We prepare ourselves and walks through the vegetation all the way to the house. The door is unlocked, but we decide to walk around the house first.
Friday, 3 February 2012
A music questionnaire
So I found this one post a day for a month-thing at a friend's blog and thought I'd do it. But of course you know by now that I do all the questions in one go ;)
Your favourite song
The most difficult question. It's a tie between "Last Man on Earth" (can't find on YouTube) and "Ghouls Gone Wild". Both by Alice Cooper.
Your least favourite song
"Det Löser Sig" by Timbuktu.
A song that makes you happy
"Rottara Rottara" by Buono!.
A song that makes you sad
"Hello" by Evanescene
A song that reminds you of someone
"Lost in Life" by Sirenia. We used to practice this song on guitar :)
A song that reminds you of somewhere
"How do you like this Japan?" by Morning Musume. Reminds me of Tokyo ;)
A song that reminds you of a certain event
"Summer of '69" by Bryan Adams Was played on the truck at my graduation :D
A song that you know all the words to
Well, I like to learn all the words to songs. I know all the words of the songs posted above. Which means I can post any song I like ;) "Hey Stoopid" by Alice Cooper.
A song that you can dance to
I can't really dance at all. But a song that makes me want to move then... "Keepin' Halloween Alive" by Alice Cooper.
A song that makes you fall asleep
In a good way. I use to listen to this before going to sleep. It gives me pleasant dreams ;) "Music of the Night" sung by Ramin Karimloo.
A song from your favorite band
I've already given you three xD But let's go with the most known one then ;) "Poison" by Alice Cooper.
A song from a band you hate
"Poker Face" by Lady Gaga
Gah, my ears! Don't make me do this again. This version is waaaaaay better ;)
A song that is a guilty pleasure
A song that no one would expect you to love
"Disturbia" by Rihanna
A song that describes you
"How Does it Feel" by Avril Lavigne
A song that you used to love but now hate
"Just Friends" by Jonas Brothers I was going to say "Australia" first cause the lyrics are just soo... But then I realized that I had never liked "Australia" while Ia ctually did use to like this song...
A song that you hear often on the radio
Last time I listened regularly to the radio was back in 2004/05. Does that count? Anyway this is what was on the radio all the time back then: "Welcome to My Life" by Simple Plan.
A song that you wish you heard on the radio
I could say anything Japanese as an answer, but I'm going to be somewhat realistic and go with "Storytime" by Nightwish. I'm guessing they still don't play symphonic metal on the regular radio channels?
A song from your favourite album
Yet another tough question. My favourite album? ARE YOU INSANE?! But I'm gonna say the album I listened to all the time back in 2006-2008. And the song is "It Snows in Hell" by Lordi.
A song that you listen to when you’re angry
"Runaway" by Avril Lavigne
A song that you listen to when you’re happy
"Smily" by Otsuka Ai (Just don't watch the video if you're gonna listen. The video is freaky -.-')
A song that you listen to when you’re sad
"Fuckin' Perfect" by P!nk
A song that you want to play at your wedding
"Heaven" by Bryan Adams
A song that you want to play at your funeral
"Wild World" by Mr. Big Seems perfect... actually :O
A song that makes you laugh
"America" by Stephen Lynch Listen to the lyrics and you'll laugh too ;)
A song that you can play on an instrument
"Acoustic medley" by In Flames I can do one of the guitars ;)
A song that you wish you could play
"Boku wa Shitteru" by Miyavi
A song that makes you feel guilty
I can't really think of a song like that...
A song from your childhood
Now this is a fun one. I could take any song from Aqua, Spice Girls or any of those billions of boybands in the late 90's to the early 2000's... But it should be a song that I listened to a lot... I listened to this song a lot and I loved the video and this song also made me love her for a couple of years... Couldn't believe that now :P
Oh dear me the fashion... ;P
Your favourite song at this time last year
This was.... interesting :P
Your favourite song
The most difficult question. It's a tie between "Last Man on Earth" (can't find on YouTube) and "Ghouls Gone Wild". Both by Alice Cooper.
Your least favourite song
"Det Löser Sig" by Timbuktu.
A song that makes you happy
"Rottara Rottara" by Buono!.
"Hello" by Evanescene
A song that reminds you of someone
"Lost in Life" by Sirenia. We used to practice this song on guitar :)
A song that reminds you of somewhere
"How do you like this Japan?" by Morning Musume. Reminds me of Tokyo ;)
A song that reminds you of a certain event
"Summer of '69" by Bryan Adams Was played on the truck at my graduation :D
Well, I like to learn all the words to songs. I know all the words of the songs posted above. Which means I can post any song I like ;) "Hey Stoopid" by Alice Cooper.
A song that you can dance to
I can't really dance at all. But a song that makes me want to move then... "Keepin' Halloween Alive" by Alice Cooper.
A song that makes you fall asleep
In a good way. I use to listen to this before going to sleep. It gives me pleasant dreams ;) "Music of the Night" sung by Ramin Karimloo.
A song from your favorite band
I've already given you three xD But let's go with the most known one then ;) "Poison" by Alice Cooper.
"Poker Face" by Lady Gaga
Gah, my ears! Don't make me do this again. This version is waaaaaay better ;)
A song that is a guilty pleasure
"Disturbia" by Rihanna
A song that describes you
"How Does it Feel" by Avril Lavigne
A song that you used to love but now hate
"Just Friends" by Jonas Brothers I was going to say "Australia" first cause the lyrics are just soo... But then I realized that I had never liked "Australia" while Ia ctually did use to like this song...
A song that you hear often on the radio
Last time I listened regularly to the radio was back in 2004/05. Does that count? Anyway this is what was on the radio all the time back then: "Welcome to My Life" by Simple Plan.
A song that you wish you heard on the radio
I could say anything Japanese as an answer, but I'm going to be somewhat realistic and go with "Storytime" by Nightwish. I'm guessing they still don't play symphonic metal on the regular radio channels?
Yet another tough question. My favourite album? ARE YOU INSANE?! But I'm gonna say the album I listened to all the time back in 2006-2008. And the song is "It Snows in Hell" by Lordi.
"Runaway" by Avril Lavigne
A song that you listen to when you’re happy
"Smily" by Otsuka Ai (Just don't watch the video if you're gonna listen. The video is freaky -.-')
A song that you listen to when you’re sad
"Fuckin' Perfect" by P!nk
A song that you want to play at your wedding
"Heaven" by Bryan Adams
A song that you want to play at your funeral
"Wild World" by Mr. Big Seems perfect... actually :O
A song that makes you laugh
"America" by Stephen Lynch Listen to the lyrics and you'll laugh too ;)
A song that you can play on an instrument
"Acoustic medley" by In Flames I can do one of the guitars ;)
A song that you wish you could play
"Boku wa Shitteru" by Miyavi
A song that makes you feel guilty
I can't really think of a song like that...
A song from your childhood
Now this is a fun one. I could take any song from Aqua, Spice Girls or any of those billions of boybands in the late 90's to the early 2000's... But it should be a song that I listened to a lot... I listened to this song a lot and I loved the video and this song also made me love her for a couple of years... Couldn't believe that now :P
Your favourite song at this time last year
This was.... interesting :P
Thursday, 2 February 2012
And the Best Children's Book of the past 10 years will be...?
So Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is up for a battle of which book was the Best Children's Book of the past decade. The other competitors are:
- "Mr. Stink" by David Williams
- "Alex Rider Skeleton Key" by Anthony Horowitz
- "Candy Floss" by Jacqueline Wilson
- "Horrid Henry and the Football Fiend" by Francesca Simon
- "A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Austere Academy" by Lemony Snicket
- "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" by Jeff Kinney
- "Private Peaceful" by Michael Morpurgo
- "Silver Fin" by Charlie Higson
- "Theodore Boone" by John Grisham
Call me old but the only books I've heard of in that list is (ofc) Harry Potter, A Series of Unfortunate Events and Alex Rider, and out of the three of them, I think, Harry Potter would easily win. It's also for the fans to vote at this website (gotta sign up first though).
But seriously, if the fans can vote, what other result would you get except HP as a victor? I haven't heard anything about those other books having such devoted fans ;)
Wednesday, 1 February 2012
Nerdiness of January
Sherlock. Pirates. Harry Potter. Good Omens. The Vampyre. The Sims 2. Medieval II Total War. Morning Musume. The First Law. Skulduggery Pleasant. Durarara!. Japanese. Korean. Chinese. Pokémon. Writing. Mad Men.
In no special order, these are the subjects I've been nerding the last month.
Sherlock. The second season was friggin beautiful! Why oh why does have to be so long until the next season? And why is every season just consisting of three episodes?! I loved, loved, loved the new version of The Hound of the Baskervilles and how I cried at pretty much all of the last episode. I love watching Benedict Cumberbatch, and that Martin Freeman won a BAFTA is just *love*. So I started following this Tumblr on my Google Reader...
Pirates. As in Pirates of the Caribbean. We started watching the first film one evening and now we're back at reciting the entire movie together at random times. Today we started at "I've heard of one. It's supposed to be very fast nigh uncatchable; The Black Pearl." But usually the favourite is "You'll get another one!"
Harry Potter. This one really never ends. I'm hanging out on this Swedish community where we talk about so much more than Harry Potter, but having HP as the main thing that gathers us together. I also signed up for myHogwarts :) And I'm really looking forward to it! I also started following this Tumblr on my Reader.
Good Omens. The book I'm currently reading, written by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. Gaiman is one of my favourite authors. I've never quite liked Pratchett, only thing he's written that I've found funny is The Wee Free Men. But this far I'm liking it a lot! It was my Christmas present from Kajsa and she did right in getting me the edition with the demon Crowley on the cover, because I do like him the best ;)
The Vampyre. The first book of the year. It's a vampire book, but it was nice reading a vampire novel with the classical gothic vampire that is evil, sucks blood, kills humans and LIKES it. None of that urban fantasy crap where vampires are plain sexual beings that put a little adventure into having sex. No this is the classical gothic vampire story and I love this book. It starts off kind of slow and for a while there one thinks it will keep going the same road as Dracula, but it takes a turn - for the better - and turns the main character into a vampire.
The Sims 2. I've spent hours building an apartment house and a huge mall in my neighbourhood. Now I'm back to playing on that one family.
Medieval II Total War. It's been a while since I played this, but I started it up again after I figured out how to play it in windowed mode. I love playing as the Holy Roman Empire and having the armies shout "Ja, mein Kaiser!" at me, but this time I started as France and having the armies yell "Mon Roi!" isn't that bad either ;)
Morning Musume. The 9th and 10th generations joined last year. I've grown accustomed to the 9th generation by now but I don't really have any opinion on the 10th yet. Just had my first ever serious discussion on the subject. I'm also extremely disappointed by MoMusu's new single, the debut single for 10th, which is soooo bad compared to what 9th has done since their debut. But this Tumblr keeps my interest up.
The First Law. The fantasy triology by Joe Abercrombie. I started reading this series last year, but I recently bought the following two books and can't wait to continuing the story! I love Glokta!!!
Skulduggery Pleasant. A youth fantasy series that I started reading in 2010. I bought the two following books at the same time as I bought the continuation of The First Law, I really like reading youth novels again. It's lighter reading and usually a lot more easy humour than with adult fantasy. Stephanie is just *love*.
Durarara!. Not that long before I went to Tokyo this became an anime series that I really came to like before going. In Tokyo however I forgot to watch the anime and started reading the manga online instead and I really liked it. I bough the first volume of the manga in Japanese while buying the books mentioned above ;)
Japanese. I've started going through my notes from Japanese class at university and in Tokyo, and I've started looking at the Joujou Kanji again... I'm also trying to find new Japanese artists that I can come to like witht he help of generasia and JPopSuki. That's how I found miwa before :)
Korean. I'm getting really good at reading Korean now. Now I just gotta learn the words and the grammar ;) I'm also looking at Korean artists. As of now I only have the discography of Cherry Filter and a few songs by Girls' Generation.
Chinese. Or rather Taiwanese. I want to find the time to go through Love's Chinese textbooks but I would need more than 24-hour days... I've found a Taiwanese band that I like called Cherry Boom.
Pokémon. I recently picked up SoulSilver again. It's really a lot of fun but I was in a somewhat tight spot picking up the game where I left it, with two Pokémon at daycare and no money xD I managed to fight enough trainers to get one of them out of daycare at least. Right now I'm in Goldenrod playing Voltorb Flip, fighting to gain 2100 coins so I can exchange it for a Dratini ^^
Writing. Yup, I've found a way to get out of the hole I nicely put myself in ;) So now I've been taking notes, making a few changes in the story and looking up stuff that needs to be checked with historical sources :)
Mad Men. Right. I started watching the series in January. I'm now almost halfway through season 3 and this far I love it! Peggy is by far my favourite character.
Thursday, 19 January 2012
A common conversation with my head
There you go
You're alwys so right
It's all a big show
It's all about you
You think you know
what everyone needs
You always take time to criticize me
It seems like everyday
I make mistakes
I just can't get it right
It's like I'm the one you love to hate
But not today
So shut up, shut up, shut up
Don't wanna hear it
Get up, get up, get up
Get out of my way
Step up, step up, step up
You'll never stop me
Nothing you say today
is gonna bring me down
There you go
You never ask why
It's all a big lie
whatever you do
You think you're special
But I know and I know and I know and we know
that you're not
You're always there
to point on my mistakes
and shove them in my face
It's like I'm the one you love to hate
But not today
So shut up, shut up, shut up
Don't wanna hear it
Get up, get up, get up
Get out of my way
Step up, step up, step up
You'll never stop me
Nothing you say today
is gonna bring me down
(So shut up, shut up, shut up)
Is gonna bring me down
(Shut up, shut up, shut up)
You'll never bring me down
Don't tell me who I should be
and don't try to tell me what's right for me
Don't tell me what I should do
I don't wanna waste my time
I'll watch you fade away
So shut up, shut up, shut up
Don't wanna hear it
Get up, get up, get up
Get out of my way
Step up, step up, step up
You'll never stop me
Nothing you say today
is gonna bring me down
Thursday, 12 January 2012
Concluding the musical year of 2011
Yeah it's a bit late, I know. But I got the idea to look over what kind of new artists and albums I came across and looked forward to in twenty-eleven. Simply because 2011 was a big year in music for me for many reasons. 2012 isn't even half as promising.
So let's start from the beginning.
Avril Lavigne. I was very curious about her new album; "Goodbye Lullaby". She had mentioned in interviews that it would be more toned down than "The Best Damn Thing" and largely acoustic, which sounded great to me. She released the first single from the album "What the Hell" on January 7th and the two other singles were "Smile" and "Wish You Were Here". I love this album! I love how it's fun and mellow at the same time. Judging by my 25 most played playlist on iTunes this album was a huge success with me; "What the Hell" 147 plays, "Wish You Were Here (acoustic)" 45 plays, and "Smile" 38 plays. One thing I love is that she has taken the success of older songs into account when making the videos. The video for "What the Hell" is similar to that of "Complicated". The video to "Smile" is similar to that of "He Wasn't", and the video for "Wish You Were Here" is similar to that of "When You're Gone".
Kamiki Aya. The Japanese version of Avril Lavigne. This rock chick never ceases to amaze me. Her sole new release of 2011, a mini-album called "EVILALIVE" wasn't the best she had done, but it was far from bad. "EVILALIVE", "crossover", "one week", "AGAIN", "Aria", "Japanese Rockin' Girls" and "YELL" are the songs off of this mini-album.
Panic! At the Disco. I loved "A Fever You Can't Sweat Out" then when they released "Pretty. Odd." I kind of lost faith in them. Their second album was slow, boring. On a whim I checked out their new release; "Vices & Virtues" and it's alright. I wasn't immediately hooked as I was when I heard "I Write Sins Not Tragedies" for the first time, but it's an okay record. I haven't listened that much to it yet due to a slight lack of interest and other, greater, releases taking up too much of my time. The singles off of the album are "The Ballad of Mona Lisa" and "Ready to Go (Get Me Out of My Mind)".
Within Temptation. I had been anticipating their new album; "The Unforgiving". The first time I listened through it I remained throughly unimpressed and somewhat disappointed. But the more I listened to it, the more some songs grew on me, especially the three singles "Faster", "Sinead" and "Shot in the Dark". "In the middle of the night" is also a song that gets stuck. This album grew even more on me after I went on the accompanying tour and saw the band live for the first time.
The Sounds. I don't like that they've grown more synth-y and less guitar-y. I haven't listened attentively to this album enough times to actually recall most of the songs. Unlike "Crossing the Rubicon" this album hasn't managed to grow on me. I was actually disappointed with this release. The singles are "Better Off Dead" and "Something to Die For".
miwa. This little singer-songwriting girl won me over with the first song I ever heard of her, which was her second single as a signed artist; "Little Girl". Her first album release "guitarissimo" was fantastic and it contained all of her previously released singles; "don't cry anymore", "Haru ni Nattara", "Otoshimono", "Change" and ofc "Little Girl". I was also very glad to find one of my favourite b-sides as a remastered version on the album; "Megurogawa (strings version)". She's amazing and the following two singles released last year; "441" and "FRIDAY-MA-MAGIC" made me love her even more. She's fantastic!
Dream Morning Musume. Just the formation of this group was a dream come true. Past members of Morning Musume coming together forming this group instead. All of these members were immensly popular during their time in MoMusu and they remain that way although it's now 3-10 years since they left the group. The members are: Nakazawa Yuko, Iida Kaori, Abe Natsumi, Yasuda Kei, Yaguchi Mari, Ishikawa Rika, Yoshizawa Hitomi, Ogawa Makoto, Fujimoto Miki and Kusumi Koharu. Their album "Dorimusu 1" contained lots of old classics re-recorded by the new group along with 2 new songs; "Atto Odoroku Mirai ga Yattekuru!" and "Koibito no You ni Kao wo Shite". I like that they made a new version of "Joshi Kashimashi Monogatari" introducing every member.
Simple Plan. I haven't really listened much to these guys since 2005. But on a whim I decided to check out their new album "Get Your Heart On!", and it was surprisingly good. Overall it was upbeat, fast and cocky, fitting the pop/punk/rock image they started out with at their first album, which then was overturned by the emo-fashion in 2004. I was positively surprised and I've listened to it a lot lately! The singles off of the album are: "Can't Keep My Hands Off You", "Jet Lag", "Astronaut" and "Summer Paradise". Another song off of the album that I like a lot is "This Song Saved My Life", which is kind of still on the emo path, but I guess I am somewhat there too, still.
Buono!. This group kept me interested from their 3rd throughout their 9th singles. Their first two albums were great as well. Then it was quiet around them for about a year. Then suddenly a new single emerged that was completely fantastic. This single "Zassou no Uta" along with its B-side "JUICY HE@RT" is on this mini-album, as well as the next single "Natsu Dakara!". But apart from those three songs the majority are weird electronica songs with strange rhythms which in my head turns into plain noise. I don't like it and I was so disappointed, cause I had been looking forward to more releases from them.
Hangry & Angry. Consisting of Ishikawa Rika and Yoshizawa Hitomi, two former Morning Musume members and being a rock group, this unit had me interested from the beginning. This group was formed to promote a gothic fashion brand with the same name as the group. Their first mini-album "Kill Me Kiss Me" was fantastic as well as their first single "Sadistic Dance". In 2011 it had been quiet around them since the end of 2009 and a new single release was extremely looked forward to! This single "Reconquista" is pretty awesome actually :) The B-sides of the single are one remix of "Renai Revolution 21" and one remix of "Sadistic Dance".
Edguy. I loved their last album "Tinnitus Sanctus" and I was curious about the new one and somewhat worried that it might be too much power metal for me. I alwasy worry about that when it comes to an Edguy release. "Age of the Joker" is power metal. The opening song "Robin Hood" was so much power metal that I didn't really have any will to listen to the rest afterwards. But I did to prepare for the concert. "Nobody's Hero" is alright and I vaguely remember liking "Rock of Cashel", "Pandora's Box" and "Fire on the Downline".
Alice Cooper. This! This. This was what I had been looking forward to for the entire year. A new Alice Cooper album! OMG I was so excited about this. It's called "Welcome 2 My Nightmare" and is the continuation of the immensly successful 1975 album "Welcome to My Nightmare". Only one single was released; "I'll Bite Your Face Off", which he promoted during the concert I went to. I like this album so much! I can have this album on repeat for a whole day and still not tire of it. It's amazingly fantastically wonderful! Yes, I'm fangirling here, don't mock me ;) My favourite songs are; "Last Man on Earth", "Ghouls Gone Wild", "Something to Remember Me By", "What Baby Wants" and "I Am Made of You". "What Baby Wants" features Ke$ha and I was seriously worried about that. Could she sing Cooper? But she pulls it off, surprisingly well and makes "What Baby Wants" into one of those Beauty and the Beast themed songs that I like. Picking those songs is hard cause in the end I do like the entire album, every bit of it. It's yet another one of Cooper's masterpieces!
The Phantom of the Opera 25th Anniversary. After seeing the musical at the cinema I got really interested and as I loved it I decided to buy the CD and the DVD from Amazon. I've seen the musical a shitload of times on the DVD and I haven't listened through the entire CD, just the songs I like. I like the first half of the musical better and my favourite songs are "Angel of Music", "Little Lotte/The Mirror", "The Phantom of the Opera" and "Music of the Night". The vocals of Ramin and Sierra are just perfect! I also love the ending of the DVD with the speech of Andrew Lloyd Webber and the performance of the 5 Phantoms!
Evanescence. I used to actually like this group. Well, I still do. I like their old stuff; "Fallen" is perfection and "The Open Door" is great too. This self-titled album is not that good. It's a little too much. Too much of everything. I'm quite fond of the first single "What You Want", but I only listened through the album once and was unimpressed and disappointed and therefore I don't really have an opinion of the second single "My Heart is Broken".
Morning Musume. They released their twelfth album last year and it was the first album for the four new members (first new members since 2008) and I was really excited about it. Of course the preceding singles are there "Maji desu ka SKA!", "Only You" and "Kono Chikyuu no Heiwa wa Honki de Negatteirun da yo!/Kare to Issho ni Omise ga Shitai!". Lately MoMusu's albums have been disappointments and therefore I haven't listened attentively to this one yet. But "Silver no Udedokei" is kind of nice to listen to. I also like "Kono Ai wo Kasanete" and the rocky "My Way ~Joshikou Hanamichi~" and "OK YEAH" kind of gets stuck in your head. It seems to have the makings for a great album so I gotta get a real listen-through ;)
Goto Maki. How I hated this girl while she was in Hello! Project, but since she switched to avex trax I've started to kind of like her. Great timing I have since she's going on an indefinate hiatus as of 2012. But last year she did release one last solo album and one colaboration single. The colaboration single is called "Non Stop Love Yoroshiku!" and I liked it as soon as I heard the 60 sec preview of the PV. It's fun, speedy and just so perfectly Japanese :D Her album, "Ai Kotoba (VOICE)" is proof of how much she has evolved as a singer-songwriter. She has written the song "Nee..." herself and that is the song I love the most. "Ashiato" is also a good song.
Shibata Ayumi. This girl was in the Hello! Project group Melon Kinenbi and always got the most screen time out of the four girls. When they split up I wondered whether she'd go on solo and I was right. Her first solo single "Believe" isn't that fantastic, but it's not bad either.
Disturbed. The announcement that they would go on a hiatus was awful, and all we got after that announcement was a compilation album of all the unreleased songs and B-sides. The album in itself is kind of nice, but the fact that I already had almost all the songs made the release a little less interesting. "Hell" was the only single from the album and that's the best song off of the album. Other good songs are "Monster", "Dehumanized" and the only really interesting song, the previously unreleased "3".
Nightwish. There we have it. This release along with the Cooper album was what I was looking forward to the most. This album that I had been waiting for practically since the concert in 2007. 5 years. "Imaginaerum" sounds like Nightwish so much that it annoys me even more when fans still complain that Anette isn't Tarja. No she isn't, but this album was made with Anette in mind and it sounds absolutely fabulous and it still sounds like Nightwish used to. The release of the preceding single "Storytime" had me on clouds all day. I loved the video and I loved the song. It felt like a big lump of anxiety disappeared when I heard the piano intro and realised that yes, this is Nightwish. It's still Tuomas and I still love his genius. I haven't listened much to the album yet, haven't really had the time and I was still in the Cooper period. But another song that I immediately liked was "I Want My Tears Back". The upcoming single is "The Crow, the Owl and the Dove" which also is a great song. I need to listen through this album properly by April when I'm going to their concert in Copenhagen :D
So let's start from the beginning.
Avril Lavigne. I was very curious about her new album; "Goodbye Lullaby". She had mentioned in interviews that it would be more toned down than "The Best Damn Thing" and largely acoustic, which sounded great to me. She released the first single from the album "What the Hell" on January 7th and the two other singles were "Smile" and "Wish You Were Here". I love this album! I love how it's fun and mellow at the same time. Judging by my 25 most played playlist on iTunes this album was a huge success with me; "What the Hell" 147 plays, "Wish You Were Here (acoustic)" 45 plays, and "Smile" 38 plays. One thing I love is that she has taken the success of older songs into account when making the videos. The video for "What the Hell" is similar to that of "Complicated". The video to "Smile" is similar to that of "He Wasn't", and the video for "Wish You Were Here" is similar to that of "When You're Gone".
Kamiki Aya. The Japanese version of Avril Lavigne. This rock chick never ceases to amaze me. Her sole new release of 2011, a mini-album called "EVILALIVE" wasn't the best she had done, but it was far from bad. "EVILALIVE", "crossover", "one week", "AGAIN", "Aria", "Japanese Rockin' Girls" and "YELL" are the songs off of this mini-album.
Panic! At the Disco. I loved "A Fever You Can't Sweat Out" then when they released "Pretty. Odd." I kind of lost faith in them. Their second album was slow, boring. On a whim I checked out their new release; "Vices & Virtues" and it's alright. I wasn't immediately hooked as I was when I heard "I Write Sins Not Tragedies" for the first time, but it's an okay record. I haven't listened that much to it yet due to a slight lack of interest and other, greater, releases taking up too much of my time. The singles off of the album are "The Ballad of Mona Lisa" and "Ready to Go (Get Me Out of My Mind)".
Within Temptation. I had been anticipating their new album; "The Unforgiving". The first time I listened through it I remained throughly unimpressed and somewhat disappointed. But the more I listened to it, the more some songs grew on me, especially the three singles "Faster", "Sinead" and "Shot in the Dark". "In the middle of the night" is also a song that gets stuck. This album grew even more on me after I went on the accompanying tour and saw the band live for the first time.
The Sounds. I don't like that they've grown more synth-y and less guitar-y. I haven't listened attentively to this album enough times to actually recall most of the songs. Unlike "Crossing the Rubicon" this album hasn't managed to grow on me. I was actually disappointed with this release. The singles are "Better Off Dead" and "Something to Die For".
miwa. This little singer-songwriting girl won me over with the first song I ever heard of her, which was her second single as a signed artist; "Little Girl". Her first album release "guitarissimo" was fantastic and it contained all of her previously released singles; "don't cry anymore", "Haru ni Nattara", "Otoshimono", "Change" and ofc "Little Girl". I was also very glad to find one of my favourite b-sides as a remastered version on the album; "Megurogawa (strings version)". She's amazing and the following two singles released last year; "441" and "FRIDAY-MA-MAGIC" made me love her even more. She's fantastic!
Dream Morning Musume. Just the formation of this group was a dream come true. Past members of Morning Musume coming together forming this group instead. All of these members were immensly popular during their time in MoMusu and they remain that way although it's now 3-10 years since they left the group. The members are: Nakazawa Yuko, Iida Kaori, Abe Natsumi, Yasuda Kei, Yaguchi Mari, Ishikawa Rika, Yoshizawa Hitomi, Ogawa Makoto, Fujimoto Miki and Kusumi Koharu. Their album "Dorimusu 1" contained lots of old classics re-recorded by the new group along with 2 new songs; "Atto Odoroku Mirai ga Yattekuru!" and "Koibito no You ni Kao wo Shite". I like that they made a new version of "Joshi Kashimashi Monogatari" introducing every member.
Simple Plan. I haven't really listened much to these guys since 2005. But on a whim I decided to check out their new album "Get Your Heart On!", and it was surprisingly good. Overall it was upbeat, fast and cocky, fitting the pop/punk/rock image they started out with at their first album, which then was overturned by the emo-fashion in 2004. I was positively surprised and I've listened to it a lot lately! The singles off of the album are: "Can't Keep My Hands Off You", "Jet Lag", "Astronaut" and "Summer Paradise". Another song off of the album that I like a lot is "This Song Saved My Life", which is kind of still on the emo path, but I guess I am somewhat there too, still.
Buono!. This group kept me interested from their 3rd throughout their 9th singles. Their first two albums were great as well. Then it was quiet around them for about a year. Then suddenly a new single emerged that was completely fantastic. This single "Zassou no Uta" along with its B-side "JUICY HE@RT" is on this mini-album, as well as the next single "Natsu Dakara!". But apart from those three songs the majority are weird electronica songs with strange rhythms which in my head turns into plain noise. I don't like it and I was so disappointed, cause I had been looking forward to more releases from them.
Hangry & Angry. Consisting of Ishikawa Rika and Yoshizawa Hitomi, two former Morning Musume members and being a rock group, this unit had me interested from the beginning. This group was formed to promote a gothic fashion brand with the same name as the group. Their first mini-album "Kill Me Kiss Me" was fantastic as well as their first single "Sadistic Dance". In 2011 it had been quiet around them since the end of 2009 and a new single release was extremely looked forward to! This single "Reconquista" is pretty awesome actually :) The B-sides of the single are one remix of "Renai Revolution 21" and one remix of "Sadistic Dance".
Edguy. I loved their last album "Tinnitus Sanctus" and I was curious about the new one and somewhat worried that it might be too much power metal for me. I alwasy worry about that when it comes to an Edguy release. "Age of the Joker" is power metal. The opening song "Robin Hood" was so much power metal that I didn't really have any will to listen to the rest afterwards. But I did to prepare for the concert. "Nobody's Hero" is alright and I vaguely remember liking "Rock of Cashel", "Pandora's Box" and "Fire on the Downline".
Alice Cooper. This! This. This was what I had been looking forward to for the entire year. A new Alice Cooper album! OMG I was so excited about this. It's called "Welcome 2 My Nightmare" and is the continuation of the immensly successful 1975 album "Welcome to My Nightmare". Only one single was released; "I'll Bite Your Face Off", which he promoted during the concert I went to. I like this album so much! I can have this album on repeat for a whole day and still not tire of it. It's amazingly fantastically wonderful! Yes, I'm fangirling here, don't mock me ;) My favourite songs are; "Last Man on Earth", "Ghouls Gone Wild", "Something to Remember Me By", "What Baby Wants" and "I Am Made of You". "What Baby Wants" features Ke$ha and I was seriously worried about that. Could she sing Cooper? But she pulls it off, surprisingly well and makes "What Baby Wants" into one of those Beauty and the Beast themed songs that I like. Picking those songs is hard cause in the end I do like the entire album, every bit of it. It's yet another one of Cooper's masterpieces!
The Phantom of the Opera 25th Anniversary. After seeing the musical at the cinema I got really interested and as I loved it I decided to buy the CD and the DVD from Amazon. I've seen the musical a shitload of times on the DVD and I haven't listened through the entire CD, just the songs I like. I like the first half of the musical better and my favourite songs are "Angel of Music", "Little Lotte/The Mirror", "The Phantom of the Opera" and "Music of the Night". The vocals of Ramin and Sierra are just perfect! I also love the ending of the DVD with the speech of Andrew Lloyd Webber and the performance of the 5 Phantoms!
Evanescence. I used to actually like this group. Well, I still do. I like their old stuff; "Fallen" is perfection and "The Open Door" is great too. This self-titled album is not that good. It's a little too much. Too much of everything. I'm quite fond of the first single "What You Want", but I only listened through the album once and was unimpressed and disappointed and therefore I don't really have an opinion of the second single "My Heart is Broken".
Morning Musume. They released their twelfth album last year and it was the first album for the four new members (first new members since 2008) and I was really excited about it. Of course the preceding singles are there "Maji desu ka SKA!", "Only You" and "Kono Chikyuu no Heiwa wa Honki de Negatteirun da yo!/Kare to Issho ni Omise ga Shitai!". Lately MoMusu's albums have been disappointments and therefore I haven't listened attentively to this one yet. But "Silver no Udedokei" is kind of nice to listen to. I also like "Kono Ai wo Kasanete" and the rocky "My Way ~Joshikou Hanamichi~" and "OK YEAH" kind of gets stuck in your head. It seems to have the makings for a great album so I gotta get a real listen-through ;)
Goto Maki. How I hated this girl while she was in Hello! Project, but since she switched to avex trax I've started to kind of like her. Great timing I have since she's going on an indefinate hiatus as of 2012. But last year she did release one last solo album and one colaboration single. The colaboration single is called "Non Stop Love Yoroshiku!" and I liked it as soon as I heard the 60 sec preview of the PV. It's fun, speedy and just so perfectly Japanese :D Her album, "Ai Kotoba (VOICE)" is proof of how much she has evolved as a singer-songwriter. She has written the song "Nee..." herself and that is the song I love the most. "Ashiato" is also a good song.
Shibata Ayumi. This girl was in the Hello! Project group Melon Kinenbi and always got the most screen time out of the four girls. When they split up I wondered whether she'd go on solo and I was right. Her first solo single "Believe" isn't that fantastic, but it's not bad either.
Disturbed. The announcement that they would go on a hiatus was awful, and all we got after that announcement was a compilation album of all the unreleased songs and B-sides. The album in itself is kind of nice, but the fact that I already had almost all the songs made the release a little less interesting. "Hell" was the only single from the album and that's the best song off of the album. Other good songs are "Monster", "Dehumanized" and the only really interesting song, the previously unreleased "3".
Nightwish. There we have it. This release along with the Cooper album was what I was looking forward to the most. This album that I had been waiting for practically since the concert in 2007. 5 years. "Imaginaerum" sounds like Nightwish so much that it annoys me even more when fans still complain that Anette isn't Tarja. No she isn't, but this album was made with Anette in mind and it sounds absolutely fabulous and it still sounds like Nightwish used to. The release of the preceding single "Storytime" had me on clouds all day. I loved the video and I loved the song. It felt like a big lump of anxiety disappeared when I heard the piano intro and realised that yes, this is Nightwish. It's still Tuomas and I still love his genius. I haven't listened much to the album yet, haven't really had the time and I was still in the Cooper period. But another song that I immediately liked was "I Want My Tears Back". The upcoming single is "The Crow, the Owl and the Dove" which also is a great song. I need to listen through this album properly by April when I'm going to their concert in Copenhagen :D
Friday, 30 December 2011
Another Harry Potter questionnaire
The first one I did is here.
1. Favourite book in the series.
Deathly Hallows. It answers everything as well as ends everything :)
2. Least favourite book in the series.
Order of the Phoenix. It's painfully obvious when I read it nowadays that she really had no idea what to do with that one when she started it.
3. Favourite character.
Dumbledore. He's just awesome.
4. Favourite villain.
Bellatrix Lestrange. She's so deranged it's fascinating O.o
5. Saddest moment.
Death of Dumbledore
6. Favourite professor.
Professor McGonagall
7. Least favourite professor.
Gilderoy Lockhart. Yes, he beats Umbridge!
8. Favourite subject.
Charms
9. Least favourite subject.
Divination. It's just a bunch of crap.
10. Favourite shop in Diagon Alley.
Either Florean Fortescue who sells ice cream or Weasley's Wizard Wheezes... I'm not sure.
11. Most handsome character.
Sirius Black. Not Gary Oldman. Just Sirius Black.
12. Most beautiful character.
Lily Evans.
13. Most missed dead character.
Dumbledore
14. Favourite book cover.
Now this is a tricky one. I'm not a big fan of the original British covers and I don't really like the American ones either. But I used to really love the Swedish covers of Philosopher's Stone, Chamber of Secrets, Prisoner of Azkban and Goblet of Fire (the first four and also those I've read most in Swedish). I also like the adult cover of Deathly Hallows. I'm not too sure about the signature versions. I think the colours are too bold.
15. Favourite Tri-Wizard Tournament challenge.
The Third Task. The hedge maze. It's fantastic. A perfect way to let the best win. The one who knows enough magic to beat whatever is thrown in front of them.
16. Favourite Hogwarts house.
I'm a Slythclaw. And I can't really decide between them.
17. Favourite animagus.
McGonagall.
18. Favourite unforgivable curse.
Am I too morbid if I say the Cruciatus Curse?
19. Favourite horcrux.
The Slytherin locket
20. Funniest moment.
"I've got a good feeling about going to Hagrid's"
Or potentially "I've always wanted to use that spell" and "Boom!"
21. Most emotional moment.
Death of Dumbledore
22. Aspired Quidditch position.
Chaser. I think I'd suck a little less in that position than at everything else :P
23. Whose pantronus is your favourite?
Luna's. A hare.
24. Your own patronus.
Probably a dolphin or a rabbit.
25: Favourite Dursley.
Dudley :D
26. Favourite wand.
I think I'll have to say James' or Lily's... Or maybe Draco's...
27. Favourite magical ability.
The flying Voldemort and Snape does. It's Dark Magic but who wouldn't want to be able to fly? Honestly?!
28. Favourite death eater.
Bellatrix Lestrange
29. Favourite Hogwarts portrait.
Hahah! Sir Cadogan ofc! :D
30. Favourite spell.
Accio. I'm lazy enough to like that.
1. Favourite book in the series.
Deathly Hallows. It answers everything as well as ends everything :)
2. Least favourite book in the series.
Order of the Phoenix. It's painfully obvious when I read it nowadays that she really had no idea what to do with that one when she started it.
3. Favourite character.
Dumbledore. He's just awesome.
4. Favourite villain.
Bellatrix Lestrange. She's so deranged it's fascinating O.o
5. Saddest moment.
Death of Dumbledore
6. Favourite professor.
Professor McGonagall
7. Least favourite professor.
Gilderoy Lockhart. Yes, he beats Umbridge!
8. Favourite subject.
Charms
9. Least favourite subject.
Divination. It's just a bunch of crap.
10. Favourite shop in Diagon Alley.
Either Florean Fortescue who sells ice cream or Weasley's Wizard Wheezes... I'm not sure.
11. Most handsome character.
Sirius Black. Not Gary Oldman. Just Sirius Black.
12. Most beautiful character.
Lily Evans.
13. Most missed dead character.
Dumbledore
14. Favourite book cover.
Now this is a tricky one. I'm not a big fan of the original British covers and I don't really like the American ones either. But I used to really love the Swedish covers of Philosopher's Stone, Chamber of Secrets, Prisoner of Azkban and Goblet of Fire (the first four and also those I've read most in Swedish). I also like the adult cover of Deathly Hallows. I'm not too sure about the signature versions. I think the colours are too bold.
15. Favourite Tri-Wizard Tournament challenge.
The Third Task. The hedge maze. It's fantastic. A perfect way to let the best win. The one who knows enough magic to beat whatever is thrown in front of them.
16. Favourite Hogwarts house.
I'm a Slythclaw. And I can't really decide between them.
17. Favourite animagus.
McGonagall.
18. Favourite unforgivable curse.
Am I too morbid if I say the Cruciatus Curse?
19. Favourite horcrux.
The Slytherin locket
20. Funniest moment.
"I've got a good feeling about going to Hagrid's"
Or potentially "I've always wanted to use that spell" and "Boom!"
21. Most emotional moment.
Death of Dumbledore
22. Aspired Quidditch position.
Chaser. I think I'd suck a little less in that position than at everything else :P
23. Whose pantronus is your favourite?
Luna's. A hare.
24. Your own patronus.
Probably a dolphin or a rabbit.
25: Favourite Dursley.
Dudley :D
26. Favourite wand.
I think I'll have to say James' or Lily's... Or maybe Draco's...
27. Favourite magical ability.
The flying Voldemort and Snape does. It's Dark Magic but who wouldn't want to be able to fly? Honestly?!
28. Favourite death eater.
Bellatrix Lestrange
29. Favourite Hogwarts portrait.
Hahah! Sir Cadogan ofc! :D
30. Favourite spell.
Accio. I'm lazy enough to like that.
Sunday, 18 December 2011
Dungeons & Dragons inspired fantasy RPG #3
We're back in Gwelvin's temple. The others are there too. Lelarion tells us that a dragon tried to turn the ship over so he made the decision to teleport it away. Narampyr (the Dwarf king) is out of town and has gone to the other Dwarf Kingdom. There's a rumour running about a wedding over there (no dwarves get married out of love). There's a knock on the door. Razario, who is closest, opens it. A dwarf guard in full armour is there. He says that someone is looking for Starion. Starion leaves. While he's gone Razario asks us why we're on this trip. Starion comes back. Starion walks to the pool and the water rises to form the face of a dragon. Razario is out of there. Starion tells the dragon that Gwelvin may be dead. The dragon doesn't react. Mirion says the same thing in dragon language and the dragon turns back into water. Starion and Mirion have a telepathic conversation. We hurry after Razario. We catch up with her and the dwarf Bellur before they arrive at the market. (Lots of innuendos on Razario's and Starion's behalf) Starion travels to his library with awesome wings. The rest of us travel to the elven forest below ground. We arrive at a tavern. Ariana and Razario eats and drinks beer. Get drunk. Continue downwards. Arrive there and they're out. (Zzzzz) Thanks to some nuts they're just mildly hungover the next morning. By then they're back above ground.
Wednesday, 14 December 2011
Nerd pictures!
I wanted to blog about something nerdy, but couldn't think of anything nerdy that I had been up to lately. So I decided to give you a taste of how I put nerdy in my environment :P
1). My Potter shelf. Two copies of each book (Swedish and English) + Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them + Quidditch Through the Ages + The Tales of Beedle the Bard + Harry Potter Page to Screen + Harry Potter Film Wizardry. 2). Harry Potter Trading Cards + game board + Pokémon Trading Cards + Harry Potter Quidditch Card Game + Death Note Deck + RPG dices with bag + Charmander figurine + a Neopet. 3). My DS + console case + games + game cases + PokéWalker. 4). Harry Potter notebook from Wizarding World + a replica of Bellatrix Lestrange's wand
1). Winnie the Pooh box with memories from Japan from Tokyo Disneyland + soda can with Hello Kitty + fruit drops can with Hello Kitty + two boxes with Mame Goma. 2). My two Gloomy bears. 3). Munchkin Board Game + Monopoly The Nightmare Before Christmas. 4). Pot with Pikachu.
1). Marauder's Map Wall Scroll. 2). My teddy bear with a Konoha forehead protector. 3). Poster with Morning Musume. 4). Books of Greek mythology, Japanese design, Korean and Pirates.
1). Slytherin crest key chain on my rucksack. 2). Slytherin crest key chain + Les Misérables 25th Anniversary key chain on my keys. 3). My Ravenclaw scarf. 4). My DVDs with Phanom of the Opera 25th Anniversary and Les Misérables 25th Anniversary.
Now I am planning on buying more Potter-related books so my Potter shelf my have to expand. There will overall be more Potter objects in the future :) I'm also considering buying myself a third Gloomy bear, this time a purple one. But all in due time and when I have money. More Hello Kitty items will probably follow as well...
And of course I forgot to take pictures of some things that I have on other places in the flat. But at least you'll get the idea ;)
Wednesday, 16 November 2011
Birthday presents part 1
Happy birthday to me :) Now I'm 21. That is not reflected on the presents I got today (next batch comes on Saturday when the family shows up for cake).
Day starts out with pancakes with vanilla ice cream and strawberry jam for brunch :) Then I got a 200g bar of Marabou milk chocolate with Dime in from a friend :D Then I got my presents from Love. Three of them. I opened them in order of size of course, smallest first ;) The Nintendo DS game for Plants vs. Zombies. See you sometime around Christmas. I've pretty much finished everything there is on the PS3 game so now I can start over on the DS one. I'll be so lost.
Second biggest was a Harry Potter book called "Harry Potter Film Wizardry". It's amazing. It's more of a toy than a book. Except for containing loads and loads of information on the actors and the sets, the actors memories etc. It also contains loads and loads of artefacts and pop-up things. The first thing you get to actually hold in your hands is Harry's letter to Hogwarts; a parchment paper envelope with green ink writing and a Hogwarts crest and a wax stamp at the back. As you open it you're able to extract Harry's admittance letter to Hogwarts. As you keep turning pages you arrive to Diagon Alley where you can find (after opening up the spread) a product catalogue from Borgin & Burkes. Later on you're given a copy of Advanced Potion-Making with stickers to put on bottles and boxes to make them look like they contain potions or ingredients! When we arrive at Hogsmeade we're given a sheet where you can extract two sweet boxes to fold together :) Moving on we arrive at the Quidditch World Cup and we're given a programme to flick through. At the Yule Ball we're given another programme to flick through. Towards the end there's an awsome spread of the Black Family Tapestry. Then we arrive to Dolores Umbridge and we're given five Educational Decrees on paper than you can actually use and put on your wall. And (the best thing) at a page called Confidential we're given the Marauder's Map :D At Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes we're given a product catalogue. The last thing we're given is a Ministry of Magic Identity Card for Mafalda Hopkirk.
The third present (and the largest) was a huge Harry Potter-esque book (meaning it takes up all of my desk and doesn't fit in the bookcase). It's called "Harry Potter: Page to Screen" and basically tell you the story of how the films were made with loads of photos and interviews etc. How the casting was done and everything. It was quite fun to read although I didn't read all of it, I mostly flicked through the pages and looked at the photos and read whatever I though was interesting. I loved reading about Evanna Lynch who played Luna Lovegood since her story is somewhat remarkable. She started out just like the rest of us: a huge fan of the books. She was one of the lucky few who wrote to Rowling and got an answer and at the casting they realised that she was a personification of Luna. I love this book. I actually thought of buying it myself, but then I decided against it - and I got it anyway!
This night we will order some sushi for home delivery and then we will cuddle up in the sofa watching a film of my choice - Cutthroat Island. I wanted something piratey, but I've seen Pirates of the Caribbean too many times so I decided to let Love watch my other pirate film for the first time. Obviously it's not as great as Pirates of the Caribbean, but it's not total shit either ;)
So to sum up my 21st birthday:
• Pancakes with icecream
• Chocolate
• DS game
• Harry Potter nerdiness
• Sushi
• Pirates
And the world seriously considers me an adult? O.o
Day starts out with pancakes with vanilla ice cream and strawberry jam for brunch :) Then I got a 200g bar of Marabou milk chocolate with Dime in from a friend :D Then I got my presents from Love. Three of them. I opened them in order of size of course, smallest first ;) The Nintendo DS game for Plants vs. Zombies. See you sometime around Christmas. I've pretty much finished everything there is on the PS3 game so now I can start over on the DS one. I'll be so lost.
Second biggest was a Harry Potter book called "Harry Potter Film Wizardry". It's amazing. It's more of a toy than a book. Except for containing loads and loads of information on the actors and the sets, the actors memories etc. It also contains loads and loads of artefacts and pop-up things. The first thing you get to actually hold in your hands is Harry's letter to Hogwarts; a parchment paper envelope with green ink writing and a Hogwarts crest and a wax stamp at the back. As you open it you're able to extract Harry's admittance letter to Hogwarts. As you keep turning pages you arrive to Diagon Alley where you can find (after opening up the spread) a product catalogue from Borgin & Burkes. Later on you're given a copy of Advanced Potion-Making with stickers to put on bottles and boxes to make them look like they contain potions or ingredients! When we arrive at Hogsmeade we're given a sheet where you can extract two sweet boxes to fold together :) Moving on we arrive at the Quidditch World Cup and we're given a programme to flick through. At the Yule Ball we're given another programme to flick through. Towards the end there's an awsome spread of the Black Family Tapestry. Then we arrive to Dolores Umbridge and we're given five Educational Decrees on paper than you can actually use and put on your wall. And (the best thing) at a page called Confidential we're given the Marauder's Map :D At Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes we're given a product catalogue. The last thing we're given is a Ministry of Magic Identity Card for Mafalda Hopkirk.
The third present (and the largest) was a huge Harry Potter-esque book (meaning it takes up all of my desk and doesn't fit in the bookcase). It's called "Harry Potter: Page to Screen" and basically tell you the story of how the films were made with loads of photos and interviews etc. How the casting was done and everything. It was quite fun to read although I didn't read all of it, I mostly flicked through the pages and looked at the photos and read whatever I though was interesting. I loved reading about Evanna Lynch who played Luna Lovegood since her story is somewhat remarkable. She started out just like the rest of us: a huge fan of the books. She was one of the lucky few who wrote to Rowling and got an answer and at the casting they realised that she was a personification of Luna. I love this book. I actually thought of buying it myself, but then I decided against it - and I got it anyway!
This night we will order some sushi for home delivery and then we will cuddle up in the sofa watching a film of my choice - Cutthroat Island. I wanted something piratey, but I've seen Pirates of the Caribbean too many times so I decided to let Love watch my other pirate film for the first time. Obviously it's not as great as Pirates of the Caribbean, but it's not total shit either ;)
So to sum up my 21st birthday:
• Pancakes with icecream
• Chocolate
• DS game
• Harry Potter nerdiness
• Sushi
• Pirates
And the world seriously considers me an adult? O.o
Tuesday, 8 November 2011
Challenge accepted
After being shown this video I kind of feel like I need to prove my nerdiness in some way, and at the same time help her prove that hot nerdy girls exist ;) (Cause seriously she's hot. The first thing I look at when she's going to show the Lord of the Rings copy around her neck is her boobs! O.o)
Let's start with the obvious:
Harry Potter. I have two copies of each book. One in English and one in Swedish. I haven't actually read the sixth and seventh books in Swedish but I like to have the complete set, you know? I also have "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them", "Quidditch Through the Ages" and "The Tales of Beedle the Bard". I also have had two books containing background facts about the world of Harry Potter, unauthorized by JK Rowling. The first one I got kind of fell to pieces (like my very first Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in Swedish. Had to buy a new one) the second is "A Complete Idiot's Guide to the World of Harry Potter", which I must say isn't all that accurate. I actually had a lot of fun correcting the thing while reading it! ;) I also used to play dress-up Harry Potter as a child (so long playing with dolls, I'm off to Hogwarts!) I had a wand as a child, but it broke. Now I've ordered a new one (Bellatrix Lestrange's wand) along with a wall scroll of the Marauder's Map ^^; Oh and after I got sorted into Slytherin at Pottermore I bought two key chains with the Slytherin chest; one is on my keys and one is on my rucksack. I used to have Harry Potter Lego (it's probably still in the Lego bin at my parents' house). I also have a Quidditch card game and I have a fair few of Harry Potter Trading cards, along with the playing chart. Oh and I also loved playing Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4 on my DS and I can't wait for Years 5-7 to come out which is happening real soon! Yay! :) Oh and I've played through the computer games for Philosopher's Stone and Chamber of Secrets a few times each ;) Here's my Harry Potter playlist on YouTube and if there's anything else you want to know of my Harry Potter fandom then I redirect you to this older blogpost of mine. I also used to hang out a lot at hogwarts.nu (Swedish community) before it closed down, still have contact with a few people from there though. Now I sometimes hang out at mugglarportalen.se, but thing is it's not the same. Hoggy had this amazing spirit and it's not present at Mugglis :( I kind of miss that.
Now how to top that? :P The others aren't as much fandoms as fangirl crushes... Oh well, let's take them in some kind of order.
Pokémon. I fell for them in elementary school. I still stand by that there are only 151 Pokémon, I may stretch it to 250. But I really don't like the Pokémon beyond the second generation that much. That is why I'm still playing SoulSilver on my DS ;) I love the PokéWalker! I didn't really get the hype over Black & White, although I do have White version. I don't have all my old Pokémon cards left. I sold most of them, but I kept those that I really liked and now they serve as bookmarks (I have a tendency to lose real bookmarks, but I've never lost a Pokémon card :P) I have seen the first three films and I have the entire first season of the anime on my external harddrive ;) If you throw a Pokémon from the first generation out in front of me I can probably name it without having to think (much) about it. A friend of mine used to have a poster of all the first 150 Pokémon on the ceiling above her bed and we used to lie on her bed and testing ourselves if we could remember the names of all of them xD I only have one plastic figurine left and that's Charmander, but I did buy a mobile strap with Eevee on when I was in Tokyo. I also love reading this one.
Digimon. Well I might as well. Digimon was the only thing that made me get up early every Saturday morning. (I got that sleeping-'til-'noon thing when I was about 10). I've seen the first two seasons of it and I have the first season on my external harddrive. I never collected the cards, but I used to know the names of all the Digimon and what they evolved to, similar to what I knew about the Pokémon. Thing is I can still find watching Digimon fun, that's not really true for Pokémon anymore.
Pirates of the Caribbean. Wow, I can't believe it's soon going to be 10 years since the first film was released... I feel so old... Anyway, the first film got me into a kind of big frenzy. I read up on pirates in general, both on the Internet and in books. I bought a book about it. I had a pirate flag in my room and I still have a pirate cushion. I know all the lines of the first film by heart. The DVD with the extra material on it has gotten jumpy due to me watching deleted scenes and bloopers too much. That film also got me a huge fangirl crush on Johnny Depp and I started watching every film I could find starring him. I've kind of gotten over that one by now. But Pirates of the Caribbean is still going strong. I love his entrance in the first film, I love this song and I love this cover. I have Lego Pirates of the Caribbean for my DS, but I haven't really tried to play it yet.
Hello Kitty. Not even slightly possible to skip that one. I can buy anything because it's Hello Kitty on it. I have socks and shirts with that cat on them. I've got a tin can no longer filled with caramels, saved just because it's Hello Kitty on. I even saved the soda can with that cat on ^^; I still love Hello Cthulhu. It's such a shame that in Sweden Kitty is percieved as something only little girls can wear and have. So loads of children's clothing and stuff have Kitty on them but not adult ones. There are also a lot of make-up and creams that have Kitty on them - but I don't really use that :/ I have Hello Kitty case for my DS and loads of DS Hello Kitty stuff that came with it. I also have four mobile straps with Kitty on. This is my current desktop background:
Manga & Anime. I used to have a really big one for that. It started with Pokémon, Digimon and Sailor Moon. Then it evolved to Naruto, xxxHolic, Chobits... really I've seen a lot of them! I lost interest in anime first cause I always found the manga so much more interesting and funny to read. I used to buy a lot of them. One time I counted my manga volumes to about 400, of course 40 of them were One Piece, 15 Naruto and another 15 Fullmetal Alchemist, but you get the point. I used to have a really big thing for CLAMP so I had loads of their mangas, other than them it was mostly shounen that I liked. Oh and the gothic style of Kaori Yuki! I got a slight back-glimpse at anime when Kajsa showed me the anime for Nana (I had previously read Paradise Kiss). I watched the entire anime with her, then I found OneManga (which is currently not working because of copyright issues) and there I read all the mangas I was currently reading plus a fair few one shots and I started on several new ones. Now I've sold most of my manga volumes. I still have my 45 One Piece ones and some odd ones like the first volumes of Azumanga Daioh and School Rumble, and I don't really read a lot of manga anymore. I only keep track of five; FairyTail, One Piece, Bleach, Naruto and D.Gray-Man.
I think this next one is more dorky than nerdy, but whatever.
Greek and Nordic mythology. I started with Greek mythology in about sixth grade. I read everything I could find, mostly on the Internet. It came to an abrupt end when I (at the age of fourteen) gave myself the task of making a family tree of the Greek gods. Fantastically impossible! Then I went through a phase where I wanted to find myself a faith and I went for the old Nordic gods. So I learned all about the myths, the gods, ceremonies all that I could find! In the end it stopped being for the faith (I finally found myself comfortable with being an ateist) and it became to be only for the fun of knowing and reading up on the mythology.
Code Lyoko. I spent an entire summer watching this show. It's four seasons of pure cartoon awesomeness. The first half of the first season is really not that great but then you start getting some hints of a background story. And the fourth season is just wow. Anyway four high school kids find an abandoned factory which contains a super computer. They start up the super computer and find that it holds a virtual world, where they also find Aelita; a girl who apparantly lives there. In this world there's also XANA an evil entity that tries to take control over and destroy our world. To stop that from happening three of the four children are scanned into the virtual world when a threat appears. There they have to fight off some of XANA's monsters to help Aelita (who can't fight herself) get to an activated tower (XANA activates towers to get to our world) where she can deactivate the tower and stop XANA. After the tower has been deactivated they press the button that makes the super computer return them to the past. All of the children remember everything that has happened but no one else does, and so the world remains unaware that XANA exists. But there's a remaining question almost throughout the entire series: who is Aelita?
Heroes. The TV-series, that is. I remember some of us had a period in school where we greeted eachother with "Save the cheerleader" "Save the world". I think that's enough to describe how nerdy we were about this.
Other small things that make me nerdy? RPG is one thing. My favourite dice is a D10 which instead of numbers has kanji. Another one is that I've seen all the six Star Wars films in the right order (the order they were filmed, not the order they take place). I've also seen the entire first season of the original series of Star Trek (I actually kind of enjoyed the 2009 film). I get the strangest associations to YouTube jokes when watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy ("They're taking the hobbits to Isengard-gard-gard-gard"). I used to watch the cartoons Batman, Superman, Spiderman and Justice League and thanks to that I know most of the characters. Spiderman is without any doubt the best of them! I have tried playing WoW, but I don't like games that tell me what to do all the time. I'm kind of good at Guitar Hero, Bejeweled and Fruit Ninja and I'm getting really good at Plants vs Zombies. I've tried out Magic the Gathering once in the beginning of the 21st century, but really we weren't that good at English at the age of 10 and really it wasn't as fun collecting them as it was collecting Pokémon and because of the lack of English and the lack of someone explaining properly I never got the game... Oh and I looooove boardgames. That's one of my reasons for buying Monopoly Nightmare Before Christmas edition:
Admittedly I have had other obsessions throughout the years, but other than these most of them were simple fangirl crushes (meaning reading everything, collecting pictures, downloading everything...). I've had fangirl crushes on Avril Lavigne, Jonas Brothers, Johnny Depp, Nightwish, Lordi, Alice Cooper, David Eddings, Neil Gaiman, Keira Knightley and most lately Ramin Karimloo :)
I think that covers most of it. Am I as good at the nerdy stuff as she is? I'm not entirely sure, but heck what to do if I don't like most sci-fi, Tolkien or MMORPG? I mean if I dislike those things I have to find supplements, right?
Monday, 7 November 2011
Dungeons & Dragons inspired fantasy RPG #2
It's been ages since last time, I know. Life kind of got in the way for at least one of us all the time. But we did manage to get together on October 29th (I know I'm lazy with the RPG blogging) the same day I had my phonetics exam. Great way to end a day, although because I got up at 7am I was tired to death around 11pm so we had to quit early :/ Anyway, if you don't remember (I know none of us did without reading old notes first) here's how it all began and where we were when this meeting started.
Ariana Stumbles the first scaly man that comes running. It doesn't really have any effect. But in that moment the entire place shakes as if from a huge earthquake and everyone lose their balance. We feel some kind of shockwave from behind - the direction from which we came.
Mirion has with the help of his Invisibility Cloak been able to move from the tunnel in which Gapy and Ariana are to the tunnel with the archers. He kills the archers then deactivates his Cloak. More scaly men comes running and Mirion recieves a cut on his arm which almost cuts his arm off. Starion heals him. Gapy hits the first one coming at him, he gets hit and falls down unconscious. Ariana tries to push him aside to be able to get past him. Starion borrows Mirion's Cloak and sneaks off into the hall beyond the tunnels. He conjures a huge Grave of Thorns which kills most of the scaly men, but when he conjures the spell another spell goes off and give each of us 15 HP damage. Gapy dies. Mirion, Ariana and Barrskägg are unconsiouc. Starion pretends to be unconscious (he's got some kind of magician in his mind that at this point tells him what to do. Starion's magic Protection saved his life.) The magician in his mind healed us and put a spell on us so we'd look dead, because now there's a person walking among us and making sure we're really dead. After this Starion's shizo-friend magician disappears (something with an old debt being repayed). We find a glass coffin or chest (blackened glass) that can't be opened by magic. At the glass there are loads of demon faces. The floor around and under the chest seems to contain loads of iron ore. Starion can't feel any kind of consciousness coming from the chest. Mirion's Perception gives us nothing. We try to destroy the ches with the weapons of the scaly men. Not even a scratch. Mirion conjures a sylph to get the rocks away from the landslide. Starion squeezes through to the outside and swims back to the surface. There is no ship. Starion flies around looking for a ship and finds none. He is discovered by a water dragon that agrees to help us in exchange for the chest. The dragon digs us out and takes the chest to his mistress. We get dropped off at the coast of Narania, because we still couldn't find the ship.
Ariana Stumbles the first scaly man that comes running. It doesn't really have any effect. But in that moment the entire place shakes as if from a huge earthquake and everyone lose their balance. We feel some kind of shockwave from behind - the direction from which we came.
Mirion has with the help of his Invisibility Cloak been able to move from the tunnel in which Gapy and Ariana are to the tunnel with the archers. He kills the archers then deactivates his Cloak. More scaly men comes running and Mirion recieves a cut on his arm which almost cuts his arm off. Starion heals him. Gapy hits the first one coming at him, he gets hit and falls down unconscious. Ariana tries to push him aside to be able to get past him. Starion borrows Mirion's Cloak and sneaks off into the hall beyond the tunnels. He conjures a huge Grave of Thorns which kills most of the scaly men, but when he conjures the spell another spell goes off and give each of us 15 HP damage. Gapy dies. Mirion, Ariana and Barrskägg are unconsiouc. Starion pretends to be unconscious (he's got some kind of magician in his mind that at this point tells him what to do. Starion's magic Protection saved his life.) The magician in his mind healed us and put a spell on us so we'd look dead, because now there's a person walking among us and making sure we're really dead. After this Starion's shizo-friend magician disappears (something with an old debt being repayed). We find a glass coffin or chest (blackened glass) that can't be opened by magic. At the glass there are loads of demon faces. The floor around and under the chest seems to contain loads of iron ore. Starion can't feel any kind of consciousness coming from the chest. Mirion's Perception gives us nothing. We try to destroy the ches with the weapons of the scaly men. Not even a scratch. Mirion conjures a sylph to get the rocks away from the landslide. Starion squeezes through to the outside and swims back to the surface. There is no ship. Starion flies around looking for a ship and finds none. He is discovered by a water dragon that agrees to help us in exchange for the chest. The dragon digs us out and takes the chest to his mistress. We get dropped off at the coast of Narania, because we still couldn't find the ship.
Saturday, 5 November 2011
Mostly about The Sims 2
This Thursday I went out to meet a guy I had only talked to online previously. It went well actually. I'm just so ridiculously shy that I feel uncomfortable keeping eye contact for very long and then I don't know where to look. I can't talk with someone knew without having something to fiddle with (this time I ripped a napkin to pieces :P) But all in all it went well and he seems like a nice guy :P At least he said he'd like to meet again so I can't have been as weird and awkward as I thought ^^;
Moving on, yesterday and today have both been terribly boring days. I read some French books yesterday, but other than that half-hearted attempt at studying I've only been playing The Sims 2. Basically what I do is building houses. I usually get bored with the families after a while and to keep them interesting I usually do something kind of evil; like having the wife cheat on the husband with more than one sim. Having the husband abducted by Aliens makes for an Alien baby. Hurrying up the birthdays and creating new families with the children or have the teenaged sims cheat with eachothers girlfriends/boyfriends, make them run away from home, skip school (to the point where they are sent to military school) or having them sneak out every night and being brought home by the police every other night (the police yells at the parents for letting the teen sneak out). Sometimes I just kill off one of the boring sims :P Creating a big happy family without any internal problems is usually less fun than making a completely messed up family.
I also make up stories for my families. In the neighbourhood I created today my first family consists of Sayumi that fell in love with Bradley as a teenager and accidentally got pregnant. Her parents shunned her and they ran off together to start a new life. Their future contains some terribly naughty children :D I initially created two adult sims and after some cheating Sayumi had twins the very same day they moved into the new house (which made for her being pregnant as a teen without actually being it) and Bradley is already halfway through his adult life (which made for him being much older than her). This is the house I built for them:
Recently I got a thing for pillars, balconys, sloping roofs, several porches and orchards, and all my creations contain one or more of them. At least I've gotten over my fireplace period :P
The reason I'm still playing The Sims 2 and not 3 is because I tried out 3 and it was too much. So many details, it was so elaborated that it lost its fun part. I didn't like 3 because of that. 2 is what you make it out to be. 3 is just the way it is.
Oh, and because it's that day I just have to add this:
Remember, remember
the fifth of November
The gunpowder treason and plot
I know of no reason
why the gunpowder treason
should ever be forgot
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