I'm having such trouble finding things to blog about. It may be because my mind is otherwise occupied. Occupied with my essay mostly. But I feel like I should give you something to read. So here's a really short novella I wrote on the bus trip to France in 2008. Originally in Swedish, but easily translated.
--------------------------------------------
In a dark room, around the midnight hour, a young woman was asleep - uneasily. She turned suddenly several times and cold sweat broke out on her forehead. She whimpered and breathed heavily. In the mists of her dreams she was running around in a long corridor covered with mirrors from floor to ceiling. She felt chased and turned hastily off from her road several times, but after almost every turn there was a dead end covered with mirrors. Everywhere her terrified expression was reflected and all possible angles of her body. Many times when she tried to turn she hit a wall of mirrors.
But then the dream changed and in every dead end covered with mirrors was a man - well-built but with something grotesque. His face was covered in a sleek, white mask with holes only for the eyes and mouth. His rattling breaths echoed across the neverending corridor and he seemed to having harder to breathe the more she ran.
In a surge of sudden bravery she reached out to take off the mask. Quick as a flash he grabbed her arm and forced it backwards. The pain paralysed her and her newfound courage disappeared as fast as it came. Speechless by fear she stared at his expressionless face that was reflected from all around by the surrounding mirrors. The reflections enhanced the image of horror even more and she turned around and continued to run with the man's rattling breaths pounding in her head - but only in her head. Around her words echoed "When you see my face you'll die..." Gasping she closed her eyes and continued running. Suddenly she hit something. But her eyes closed she felt her way and heard something fall to the floor. She opened her eyes and looked up. The man looked down at her. It was the mask that had fallen to the floor. The eyes looking down at her were drenched with blood, two trickles of blood was running from them. The face was sticky with dried blood and when he smiled blood started flowing from the corners of his mouth. The woman screamed from the top of her lungs and in a bed far from there, she took her last breath.
----------------------------------------------
I couldn't think of what to write at the moment so I asked my teacher. He said something with mirrors and masks. This is what I came up with. It took me about 15 minutes to write. What do you think? I'm not entirely satisfied, but this was more unconscious than conscious writing...
Tuesday, 20 March 2012
Wednesday, 29 February 2012
Nerdiness of February
Medieval II Total War. The Sims 2. George Carlin. Call of Cthulhu. Magic: The Gathering. Harry Potter. Mad Men. Star Trek. Puss in Boots. How to Train Your Dragon. Japanese. Writing. Les Misérables. Pirates of the Caribbean. Neil Gaiman. David Eddings.
In no special order.
Medieval II Total War. I've been playing it every day for the last five days. I restarted as France and it's going really well. I manipulate everything with diplomats and assassins with high skills, and I see everything using spies.
The Sims 2. Well, since I started playing Medieval I haven't really played any The Sims. But! I created a new family, a Japanese one, in a new neighbourhood, but decided that it was too boring to restart completely in a new neighbourhood and had them move to the other neighbourhood where I have my Teague family. They get along very well and I'm planning on making my new Japanese family into an equally large family as the Teagues.
George Carlin. It's not that long ago since I first showed his comedy to a friend. And this time I showed him Losing Things. Then we watched the very old performance of Words we Use, and re-watching his reality check. Then some video from 2005 about being old. This man was a genius!
Call of Cthulhu. Two RPG meetings. The last one ending with the whole group minus one dying. Great ending to a great night :D My favourite RPG this far.
Magic: The Gathering. I'm not overly interested in this yet, but I'm considering learning it properly. Since I'm discovering that more and more people around me actually play this and I understand nothing when they talk about it... Gotta fix that!
Harry Potter. Well, you didn't actually think that there would be a month when I wasn't obsessed with Potter? My Valentine's is proof of that ;) And these two images that I shared on Facebook:
Mad Men. I can't see a package of Lucky Strike without immediately relating it to this series. Is that obsessed enough? And I've been blogging about it a few times. Finished the fourth season last week and can't wait for the 5th season to come around!
Star Trek. After Mad Men it was time for Star Trek: The Original Series. It's from 1966 and it's not that great. Anymore. That anymore is very important! Cause to me of today's generation it's slow and boring and the special effects are hilariously bad. The plot of each episode is always interesting, but the realisation of it is sooooooo slow -.-' I'll continue watching it though. If I'm gonna complain about something I wanna know what it is I'm complaining about, and beat the fans at their own game ;) A possible setback from this experience may be that instead of disliking it I come to like it. But meh, then I'll just be even more geeky. Wouldn't be that bad.
Puss in Boots. Went to see this movie at the cinema in 3D and it was great! I'm a big fan of the first three Shrek movies and this was nearly just as awesome! I love the addition of Humpty Dumpty and Jack & Jill. The Magic Beans that grew up to the giant's castle in the sky. All of the Shrek movies and this one is like a fast forward through every fairtale there is! :D
How to Train Your Dragon. Watched it for the first time after a friend recommended it about a hundred times. It was great. All there is to say. Simply amazing.
Japanese. Went through first grade kanji yesterday and I'm planning on doing more rehearsing of kanji. This webpage is very useful! I should add that I study kanji because it's fun...
Writing.There hasn't been a lot of it this month, but meeting up with Kajsa always sparks my imagination and wish to write and that's obviously what happened after the book sale :) So I have been writing some and I know what will happen further on in the story. I'm still planning a lot even if it doesn't get down on paper.
Les Misérables. Partly studying. Partly nerdiness. I'm going to write my exam paper this term and what I chose for subject is; Les Misérables. I'm reading the 2000 pages novel right now - in French of course and I like it a lot! I feel like I met the characters briefly in the musical and now I get to know them better :)
Pirates of the Caribbean. When do we not quote any of these movies? I had a really boring day two days ago and went on a YouTube trip watching clips with Captain Jack. Tonight we'll watch one of the movies while having dinner :D 1 or 3, which one should we watch?
Neil Gaiman. I haven't started reading the book I bought at the book sale yet. But the fact that I bought it is enough. I'm still stuck in Good Omens (in my head) and I keep going back to Smoke & Mirrors and Fragile Things reading a short story there and another one there. Simply because he's that good.
David Eddings. I started reading The Treasured One, but it was hard to get into. Mostly because I was still stuck in Good Omens in my head and kept comparing them (not a good idea), but now I'm more into the new book and the humour typical for Eddings has shown up again. Now I'm back. Everytime I'm reading Eddings I feel like I'm 13 years old again, cause that's how old I was when I discovered Belgarath :)
In no special order.
Medieval II Total War. I've been playing it every day for the last five days. I restarted as France and it's going really well. I manipulate everything with diplomats and assassins with high skills, and I see everything using spies.
The Sims 2. Well, since I started playing Medieval I haven't really played any The Sims. But! I created a new family, a Japanese one, in a new neighbourhood, but decided that it was too boring to restart completely in a new neighbourhood and had them move to the other neighbourhood where I have my Teague family. They get along very well and I'm planning on making my new Japanese family into an equally large family as the Teagues.
George Carlin. It's not that long ago since I first showed his comedy to a friend. And this time I showed him Losing Things. Then we watched the very old performance of Words we Use, and re-watching his reality check. Then some video from 2005 about being old. This man was a genius!
Call of Cthulhu. Two RPG meetings. The last one ending with the whole group minus one dying. Great ending to a great night :D My favourite RPG this far.
Magic: The Gathering. I'm not overly interested in this yet, but I'm considering learning it properly. Since I'm discovering that more and more people around me actually play this and I understand nothing when they talk about it... Gotta fix that!
Harry Potter. Well, you didn't actually think that there would be a month when I wasn't obsessed with Potter? My Valentine's is proof of that ;) And these two images that I shared on Facebook:
Star Trek. After Mad Men it was time for Star Trek: The Original Series. It's from 1966 and it's not that great. Anymore. That anymore is very important! Cause to me of today's generation it's slow and boring and the special effects are hilariously bad. The plot of each episode is always interesting, but the realisation of it is sooooooo slow -.-' I'll continue watching it though. If I'm gonna complain about something I wanna know what it is I'm complaining about, and beat the fans at their own game ;) A possible setback from this experience may be that instead of disliking it I come to like it. But meh, then I'll just be even more geeky. Wouldn't be that bad.
Puss in Boots. Went to see this movie at the cinema in 3D and it was great! I'm a big fan of the first three Shrek movies and this was nearly just as awesome! I love the addition of Humpty Dumpty and Jack & Jill. The Magic Beans that grew up to the giant's castle in the sky. All of the Shrek movies and this one is like a fast forward through every fairtale there is! :D
How to Train Your Dragon. Watched it for the first time after a friend recommended it about a hundred times. It was great. All there is to say. Simply amazing.
Japanese. Went through first grade kanji yesterday and I'm planning on doing more rehearsing of kanji. This webpage is very useful! I should add that I study kanji because it's fun...
Writing.There hasn't been a lot of it this month, but meeting up with Kajsa always sparks my imagination and wish to write and that's obviously what happened after the book sale :) So I have been writing some and I know what will happen further on in the story. I'm still planning a lot even if it doesn't get down on paper.
Les Misérables. Partly studying. Partly nerdiness. I'm going to write my exam paper this term and what I chose for subject is; Les Misérables. I'm reading the 2000 pages novel right now - in French of course and I like it a lot! I feel like I met the characters briefly in the musical and now I get to know them better :)
Pirates of the Caribbean. When do we not quote any of these movies? I had a really boring day two days ago and went on a YouTube trip watching clips with Captain Jack. Tonight we'll watch one of the movies while having dinner :D 1 or 3, which one should we watch?
Neil Gaiman. I haven't started reading the book I bought at the book sale yet. But the fact that I bought it is enough. I'm still stuck in Good Omens (in my head) and I keep going back to Smoke & Mirrors and Fragile Things reading a short story there and another one there. Simply because he's that good.
David Eddings. I started reading The Treasured One, but it was hard to get into. Mostly because I was still stuck in Good Omens in my head and kept comparing them (not a good idea), but now I'm more into the new book and the humour typical for Eddings has shown up again. Now I'm back. Everytime I'm reading Eddings I feel like I'm 13 years old again, cause that's how old I was when I discovered Belgarath :)
Sunday, 26 February 2012
Call of Cthulhu RPG #5 - ending
The house is in a very bad state and looks to have been empty for a very long time. We're being hit in the face by the garden. Trips, falls, swears, and have to walk in a line alongside the wall of the house. Charlie opens the first door and enters. The rest of us follows. We're in a dark corridor and use a lighter to see. One door on each side. The first door leads to a bedroom. Sophie finds a hand mirror with gold edges that slides into her bag. We make a torch. Walks into the next room. The floor is made of dark stone. The walls are made from wood with things carved into them. An altar. The carvings are of monstrous misshaped people and creatures. Very professionally done. The altar is covered by very old dried blood. We continue to follow the corridor and arrive at a three-way crossroad. There's a door to the right. Ordinary bedroom. Make another torch. Follow the first corridor. Another bedroom. Charlie finds a misshapen children's skull. Packington establishes that it's a real skull. An extreme underbite and polished teeth. Fangs. The child would've only been a couple of years old when it died. Sophie puts the skull in her bag and gains suspicion from Packington. The next room is a broken toilet. The next is a study. The walls are covered by shelves. On the desk there's an old paper with text written in old English. Y'Gollonac. Image. Sophie connects "image" to the carvings in the altar room. We look for references in the shelves. Find nothing. Amanda leaves to open the entrance doors wide and puts them open to let the daylight inside. Garden furniture on the deck. She calls for us. In the corridor to the right in the hallway there're traces of the explosion. Furthest down the house has fallen in. We start checking out whole rooms. Mostly bedrooms. We find a few more children's skulls and establish that they don't have baby teeth. Meaning they aren't that young. We go back and check the bed with all the rats. Find nothing. Take the corridor north. There are several locks on the door. The room has three cells with leg-irons in them. A number of skeletons in different sizes. Seems to be normal humans. All of them are fretted at. The next is a nicer bedroom. Desk. There's a gust of wind when Packington walks towards the desk. The torch goes out. The room is completely quiet when we walk inside, but as soon as we notice it it goes normal. On the desk there's a paper. Recently written. But in an oldfashioned language. The text describes in more detail how to worship Y'Gollonac with sacrifices etc. Feeling of discomfort. Cowell walks to the study and starts to read. Charlie, Amanda and Sophie go to the next room. Packington tags along. The next room is a nursery. A normal baby skeleton in the crib. Next we arrive to the kitchen. There are steps down into a cellar. All the food except the cans are torn to pieces/chewed at. We go into the cellar. There's a furnace and a large crate of coal. There are dynamites taped to the wall. Packington finds a trap door. It looks like it's dug from the underwork. Puts up the hatch. Packington grabs two dynamites. When everyone have entered the hatch falls down with a great bang. Packington panics and starts to crawl along the walls to find a way out. The passage is darker than it ought to be considering the torch. It's so narrow we have to walk in a line and some of us have to crouch. Somewhat claustrophobic. We can hear water and sounds behind us. Seems like someone is walking beneath us/above us. The sounds are very strange. The passage opens up into a cave. Amanda says that she saw a small creature run on the other side. We think it's one of the strange creatures. We follow it. We see Charlie jump and look around himself. We continue walking. Very close to each other. Very quiet except the sound of something slithering in front of us and the sound of water dripping. We arrive at another cave. Something's scraping. Continue onwards. Find a somewhat larger cave. Dynamite on the ground. A small creature jumps up on Packington who shoots. The creature runs off. Amanda shoots after it. We follow it. The new passage is long. Very creepy. Arrive in a cave that's more like a room. More dynamite. 10 creatures ahead of us. We hear a shot. A person with a cut off shotgun. He introduces himself as Philip Baucher. We mention Y'Gollonac and he starts to transform. Amanda shoots and nothing happens. Packington lights a dynamite and throws it. We run for it. But the entire cave, the passage and the house collapse. The entire group is suffocated to death. Cowell survives as he's out by the car at the explosion.
- The End -
Wednesday, 22 February 2012
Mad Men and book sale
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... :)
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... :)
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
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)