Elder Scrolls Online: Markarth DLC

After two long years I suddenly find myself back in Tamriel and I have so much to catch up on! They've added a bunch of new features and entirely changed the champion point system. 

When I started I first spent a couple of hours putting my character back together since they had reset all the CP and all the skills ^^; Trying to remember what skills I favoured was an uphill battle, but I got there in the end. 

Then I did the prologue quest for Markarth DLC with Gwendis and then got going on the DLC proper. Time to finish the Dark Heart of Skyrim chapter :3 In my first post about this chapter I was hoping that Verandis would make a return. And I absolutely called it!!! :D

I confess I might be a bit too attached to Verandis, and I may like him a bit too much, but I was running around the later half of the DLC main quest mumbling "if you do Verandis like you did Tharn I'll be so upset". And for a minute there I thought they did, but only almost... I'll take it! Stop with my favourite characters already. 

Overall this DLC was amazing. I loved finding out more about the Reach and the Forsworn. Even finding out the backstory for Rada al-Saran and how he connected with Verandis, was almost like finding out Vanus Galerion's backstory at Artaeum and how he connected to Mannimarco. I just really liked this story. 

Harrowstorms are still a lot of fun. 

There were a lot of cool places in this DLC, I especially appreciated the slip of land that had been severed from Coldharbour. The final fight against Rada al-Saran was really cool and the area where it was was very plane of Oblivion-esque, but so very fitting. 

Markarth is the City of Stairs. 

My favourite side quest was probably the one with Eslyn and Madearn and the clan feud that they were asked to solve by getting married. It was a fun quest that didn't end in a way I expected it to. I also liked the one where you helped Adusa-daro recruit someone to the Ravenwatch clan. 

Dark Heart of Skyrim has been the most fun I've had with a chapter since Morrowind. Maybe because I absolutely love the vampire theme, or maybe because it's Skyrim. I dunno. But getting to Markarth and Solitude and immediately knowing my way around was a nice change of pace from trying to find my way in every other city in ESO :P

Time to go to Blackwood :3

And since it's been so long since I've been in ESO here are my other ESO related posts from newest to oldest:
• Greymoor chapter
• Harrowstorm DLC
• Dragonhold DLC
• Elsweyr chapter
• 5 year anniversary
• Guild trial madness run number 2 - level 5 characters in MoL, AA and CR.
• Murkmire DLC
• Summerset chapter
• Guild trial madness run number 1 - level 15 characters in SO
• Clockwork City DLC
• Horns of the Reach DLC
• Morrowind chapter
• Morrowind CE unboxing
• First ever Jester's Festival
• When housing first came to ESO
• First ever New Life Festival + Shadows of the Hist DLC
• First ever Witches' Festival + Dark Brotherhood DLC
• Thieves Guild DLC and Orsinium DLC
• When I joined my first proper guilds
• When I returned after ESO made the sub optional
• First post after initial release in 2014
• Imperial Edition unboxing
• Post-beta post

I've been around from the start and at this point whenever I start the game it just feels like coming home.

Elves (Nisser) S01

This show was my pick. A creepy-cosy Christmas story with murderous elves. Sounds good for middle of summer, no? xD 

So the there were two kinds of elves in the Nordic folklore. The farm elves that make sure your farm is prosperous as long as you take care of your elf and bring it food every night. If you fail to take care of your elf it will bring the farm to ruin with disease, fire and economic ruin. The other kind were the forest elves that were tricky and cunning little bastards who protected the forest at all costs. If you didn't ask permission to take something from the forest then you'll suffer for taking from it. 

This show is a twist on the latter kind. 

Josefine and her family arrive at the remote Danish island of Årmandsø. They live in the Copenhagen area and are always busy so they decided they'd rent a house out on the countryside and just spend time together as a family over Christmas. A family get-away. 

Their visit starts off badly as they hit something with their car. The something runs away and the family shrugs it off while Josefine is concerned for it. Despite her parents telling her no she returns to the place where they hit the thing and she takes it with her to care for it and nurse it back to health. Soon enough her brother gets involved and when the girl he likes tells him about the island's history and what the big ass fence is for, things start to get a little bit dangerous.

The elves are creepy and extremely dangerous, and a whole lot of people will die before the season is over.

Each episode is only 20-25 minutes long so it's a quick and easy watch. Toni grumbled a bit because it was in Danish and he'd have to read the subtitles :P Tbh I had to read the subtitles too. I usually don't have a problem with understanding Danish but a lot of the time they talked quietly or murmured or slurred or talked crazy fast so even I had trouble keeping up. Didn't have that problem with The Rain. 

Both of us agreed that this wasn't the best thing we've watched, but it wasn't bad either. I enjoyed it, but it never got to the point of omg I need to find out what happens next. It was just an easy and enjoyable watch. 

Game completed: Assassin's Creed Valhalla - Dawn of Ragnarök (+ Mastery Challenge pt 2)

I finally got around to playing this. I started with the second part of the Mastery Challenge because I figured why not do everything I can in the real world before I head off into a fever dream? 

Challenge stuff isn't my thing in any game, but finishing quests is and since these challenges come with a quest I needed to do them :P The challenges themselves seemed easier this time around, got a lot more silver medals in this batch than in the previous one. The final fight was really cool. I wonder if there'll be more things featuring Hildiran in future content, because I feel like there are some question marks that still need straightening out. 

But on the the main part! 

It took me a while to get into the story, mainly because I find Havi to be unlikeable whereas I love Eivor. Of course, knowing the actual legend I figured out what Baldr's fate would be even without playing the game lol. And knowing Baldr's legend I also knew what would come after... 

As soon as I was given free reign I started to explore the world rather than do any main quest, as per usual. I picked up all the wealth, mysteries and artefacts, fully upgraded the Hugr-rip, completed all the fishing deliveries, and did the two side quests before properly starting work on the main quest. 

I was so sad to discover there was another hut with more fishing deliveries in Svartalfheim. I put so much work into completing the ones in Ravensthorpe and I was so proud when I did it. First I decided to not do them, but then I managed to get on every single infuriating Monolith and figured the fishing deliveries couldn't be so bad, so I did them too. The powers of the Hugr-rip took a while to get used to but once I did I used them all the time. Eivor looks really cool as a muspel. 

I did enjoy all the glimpses into stories from the Nordic mythology.

Then I got moving on the main story and Havi does get better with time. I really liked Eysa. Every fight with Surtr and Sinmara was tedious, but the fights against Sinmara's Chosen were cool. And going through the portal to fight Riekr was also really cool. The sequence when you run across the bridge to reach the tower while being chased by Surtr and muspels was a lot of fun. I want to know more about the elves. 

The end is everything I thought it would be and it also hints toward another DLC for Valhalla...

After I finished the entire story (including the cutscene back at the Hodda shelter) I went to Kara the Valkyrie and did all the stories with all the boasts so that I could get enough tokens to buy every single reward from her. And then I returned to Ravensthorpe to get the final cutscene there too.

Afterwards I just walked around the town to see if there was anything I had missed and also changed some of the decorations to things I had found in Svartalfheim. As of now, the only thing I have left to do in the game is upgrading the Armory, which would require me to do more River Raids, and I'm not feeling up for that. 

This expansion was really cool once I got into it. 
Also I never noticed before how absolutely Swedish Ivaldi's voice actor is xD

Love, Death & Robots S03

My initial impression of  the third season of Love, Death & Robots was that it wasn't as good as the previous two seasons. But giving myself time to reflect on it while writing this blog post has convinced me that this season was just as amazing as the first season. The second season was okay. 

Here are my favourites from this season:

Three Robots: Exit Strategies: The three robots from the first season are back and continue their tour of the post-apocalyptic human world. Lots of dark humour.

Bad Travelling: Beautifully made and with a Lovecraftian vibe. This is probably my number one fave from this season.

Night of the Mini Dead: This was probably the funniest episode in the entire season, but only for the sped up filming and how preposterous the whole thing looks when filmed like that. Shit went downhill quickly. 

Mason's Rats was nice and could probably work as a video game. A Scottish man finds rats in his barns full of GMO. The rats are evolved and can now use tools, rudimentary weapons, and wear clothing and trinkets. He goes on full out war with them, only to discover that they aren't so far from humans. 

In Vaulted Halls Entombed. Cthulhu, is that you? This episode is like a lovestory to the Cthulhu Mythos. 

The rest of the season was mostly a long string of wtfs and this shit's weird. 

The Very Pulse of the Machine is a hallucinogenic fever dream on one of Jupter's moons. 

Kill Team Kill is a war story with a cybernetically enhanced grizzly bear. Just one long fight sequence.

Swarm was weird. Humans doing human stuff and plotting to enslave the swarm of an alien hive mind. It doesn't go according to plan.

Jibaro literally had me gaping at the screen while it played because it was so weird. It's filmed as if it was a silent movie from the 1920s but with colour and sound. Lots of sped up and janky movement. It's very artistic, which I appreciated, but it was so weird. The time and resources it must've taken to make this episode is mind-boggling. The animation is so smooth that I for a moment thought this was filmed with actual people. 

While Jibaro wasn't a favourite of mine, it definitely stayed in my mind for a really long time. It's extremely memorable and easily sticks with you. 

Station 19

After I finished watching season 18 of Grey's Anatomy I still didn't feel done. So I decided to watch the currently on-going spin-off of that series: Station 19. 

The first season didn't have me hooked, but just a couple episodes in on season 2 and I was so invested. This show is better than Private Practice ever was and I adore Addison. 

I've cried so much to this show to the point that Toni keeps walking in and wondering why I keep watching this show that's making me sad. It keeps breaking my heart but it's soooo good. 

Ben Warren is the entire reason this show exists, but he's also the least interesting character.

 Andy was pretty one-dimensional up until season 4. Same goes for Jack. Their characters really get to explore themselves in season 5 and I'm all for it.

Maya is extremely unlikeable in the first three (ish) seasons, but she gets better with Carina around. By the time season 5 came around she had become one of my favourite characters. 

I liked Sullivan from the start and I really dislike his whole addict storyline, because I feel it was unwarranted and unnecessary. 

Travis has been my favourite since the beginning. Funny, loyal, just the right amount of flamboyant and with very strong values and opinions, which always come from a good place but are sometimes detrimental to his relationships. Travis is so real and I love him. 

I wish Vic had been allowed to be happy with Ripley. I loved their romantic relationship and nobody has been good enough for her since. Sorry, Ruiz. 

Dean tried really hard in everything he ever did. And yet I find myself remembering him as an afterthought. All the things he did, and he's still forgettable. 

The best part about bingeing this whole show was that I got to revisit a whole bunch of Grey's Anatomy episodes. Seeing Andrew DeLuca again felt like a gut-punch and re-experiencing that whole ordeal was really hard. I had forgotten about that one time a car crashed into Joe's and that was really cool to see again. 

I might just go binge How to Get Away With Murder to get more Shondaland in my life.

Harry Potter on HBO

So since HBO got the rights for all the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts movies they've started to add a bunch of new Harry Potter related content, and I took today to watch through all of it :)

Harry Potter: The Reunion Return to Hogwarts 20th Anniversary. Ofc I watched this when it was brand new, back on January 2nd. But after having watched it and spent almost 2 hours being teary-eyed I still felt like I had to watch it again. So today I re-watched the whole thing and just like anything Harry Potter it filled me with such a warm cosy feeling. Harry Potter has been part of my life since I was nine years old and it still remains a big part to this day and I really deeply feel all those feelings the cast talked about. I remember back in 2000 when they were doing the casting for the first Potter movie and I was following it more closely than I've ever followed the casting for anything else. I remember searching online for rumours for the fifth, sixth and seventh books (with the msn search engine because Google was barely a thing back then) years before they came out. In the Reunion Robbie Coltrane talks about the massive lines of kids who'd queue for blocks to get the new book on the midnight release. I only got to do that once, for the last book when I was 16, and I had finished the book by the next day even though I tried to go slowly. I've read those books more times than any other books. I've watched those movies more times than I've watched any other movies. Harry Potter is more a part of me than any other series or franchise ever will be. I can't find the words to convey what this franchise means to me, but the actors in the Reunion did a pretty good job trying to convey the special feeling that is Harry Potter. Having been in it from the very beginning, having grown up with it... I wouldn't trade it for anything. The quote from JK Rowling on the premiere of Deathly Hallows part 2 in London still makes me very emotional to this day: "Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home." And that's what this Reunion is all about. Aside from me wishing they'd include more of the actors, this was absolutely perfect. 

Harry Potter: Hogwarts Tournament of Houses. I had heard a lot about this and thought it seemed foolish. But I decided to watch it anyway. It was kind of entertaining at times, although mostly cringe, and the majority of the questions were too easy. The only questions I struggled with where the ones that asked for specific details in movie scenes, because I always look at the whole and not the details. Watching all four episodes I also realized that I'm way more confident in the first four books/movies than I am in the later ones. I haven't watched OotP, HBP and DH1 as much as I have the other films and OotP is probably the book I've read the least amount of times, so that makes sense. It kind of bothers me that the show's host, Helen Mirren, proudly says they have contestants from all over the world and then it turns out that every single one on the teams is either American or living in the US, and only two of those 12 people on the teams were originally from other countries but living in the US. Not very "all over the world", is it? It was very cringe to watch the players come up with an argument or explanation for how they arrived at their answers, when most of them probably just did like me and looked at the question and thought "That one." This entire season I was sat either nodding at the screen when both me and them got a question right, sighing in exasperation when they got a (to me) obvious question wrong, or frowning very hard trying to come up with the right answer when it was one of the more intricate movie questions. As cringe as this was, and as ridiculous it sometimes seemed, I had a pretty good time watching it. I may have been talking to the screen a lot.

Fantastic Beasts: A Natural History. Every Harry Potter fan knows Stephen Fry as the guy who narrated the British audiobooks. In this kind of documentary he explores the myths behind some of the magical creatures that show up in Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts. I studied these old legends a lot when I was a teenager and had the book called The Magical Worlds of Harry Potter. This book is over 20 years old now but it taught me all the basics. This documentary was very interesting and also very cosy. It poses questions around storytelling and why humans tell stories and where do these magical creatures actually come from? He presents different theories, but of course nobody knows for sure. What I do agree with Stephen Fry and J.K. Rowling on is that it's incredibly fascinating that people all over the world share a lot of similar myths and similar magical creatures, no matter how different the cultures. We'll probably never know when or why it started, but it's interesting to think about. I really enjoyed this trip into the land of legends and shared history. 

Fantastic Friends. This is only related to Harry Potter in the very loosest sense, but since a lot of the actors from Harry Potter shows up in this, it's been on the radar for a lot of fan groups. So this is a show where James and Oliver Phelps (better known as the Weasley twins) take friends on trips around the globe. This was a very wholesome show to watch. My favourite episode was probably the one on Iceland with Bonnie Wright (Ginny Weasley), but the one in Dubai with Luke Youngblood (Lee Jordan) was a lot of fun too. More than anything this show was a great way to get to know the twins as individuals and not as a set. Looking forward to more of this show because it was a lot of fun. 

I spent the whole day today watching Potter stuff, starting around 8.30am and finishing around 11.30pm, but it was so worth it xD

The Umbrella Academy S03

After Stranger Things season 4 we needed to catch up on Umbrella Academy. Season 2 ended with a cliffhanger that promised a really cool story for season 3, and season 3 didn't disappoint. 

The Sparrow Academy people were mostly meh. Didn't care for their powers (mostly), didn't care for their personalities... They were just very blah. 

I did enjoy New Ben's redemption arc, though.

Every interaction between Sloane and Luther had me rolling my eyes like "You've known each other for less than a week!" And half of that time was spent trying to kill each other. Get a grip. 

The kugelblitz and Project Oblivion were both really cool and entangled storylines and I enjoyed seeing it all come together. 

Did not expect that revelation about Reg. 

I hope the rest of the Umbrellas don't try to get Allison back. She can stay housewife for all I care. Probably my least favourite character. 

Viktor and Five are the best siblings. Although every scene featuring Klaus promises to be hilarious. I also like Lila. She can stay. 

I really, really hope there'll be a season 4. 

Game completed: Assassin's Creed Odyssey

When I decided to take a break from the Elder Scrolls Total War mod I started AC Odyssey which I've been curious about for a while. My curiosity peaked when Kassandra showed up in Valhalla. So off I went. 

When I was growing up, and especially as a teenager, I had a very intense interest in Greek mythology and Ancient Greece, so it was a lot of fun to experience that old passion as a living world. Sokrates is just as annoying in-game as he is IRL. Philosophy is not my thing. 

Kassandra, however, was an extremely loveable character and I enjoyed playing her way more than I thought I would. Her entire quest to save her family was really captivating, but I did it the long way around. After I found Myrrine and she said "I'll see you in Sparta" I went off and completed the entire world; every location, every side quest, every available achievement, and even Legacy of the First Blade DLC. And then I went to Sparta to finish the main quest xD She really had to wait a long time. 

Legacy of the First Blade gets a lot of flak for not suiting Kassandra, but she does mention more than once throughout the game that she wishes for a normal life away from mercenary work. And so she tries that. Makes perfect sense in my book. It goes to poop, but sets the stage for Origins (which I'll play at some point). 

I got very attached to Brasidas and was so sad when I couldn't save him. Even googled if it was possible to save him, but it's not. I never liked Alexios and I blame most of it on the fact that I think they gave him the wrong voice. 

As usual I had a lot of fun flirting and sleeping with every available character. Kassandra gets around xD Especially the side quest with the two brothers both vying for her love was a lot of fun to play. And the side quest where literally everything that can go wrong does go wrong is also hilarious to play. 

It took me a while to get used to warring at sea, but once I got the gist it was a lot of fun. And I spent a substantial amount of hours on the seas.

After I finished the main quest and did the side quests that popped after the main quest was completed I decided it was time for Kassandra to face her destiny and started up the Fate of Atlantis DLC. Elysium was a pretty meh experience imo. Iirc there are two tales of how Persephone became Hades's wife and they chose to go with the least flattering one. In the better of the tales both Hades and Persephone were smitten with each other and Hades gave her an apple as a gift, which Persephone then ate as a rebellious act against her mother, Demeter, which bound her to the Underworld forever. But Ubi just up and chose the more well-known version where Hades thinks she's hot, kidnaps her and then forces an apple down her throat so she can't leave. Lovely. Anyway, working with Hekate and Adonis to bring Perspehone down was a lot of fun.

Then came the Underworld and I just loved Hades. His look, his voice, his antics... He's amazing! Every cutscene featuring him had my finger hovering above the screenshot button so I could take as many shots of him as possible ^^; The Underworld was gnarly though, and it's supposed to be so that was good. Meeting Phoibe again was heart-warming. Charon was a cool dude. Kassandra's sense of humour in this dreary place was on-point.

Finally we arrive at Atlantis and it's absolutely beautiful to look at, but there's some really nasty stuff going on. I decided to run around and complete all the places before I did the quests and then do the side quests before the main quests, just to make sure I wasn't missing anything. 

And then the game bugged out on me. After I deposed Atlas the next quest just didn't show up. Tried reloading an older save and redo the whole previous quest, but that didn't get it to work. Tried restarting the game, but the quest didn't pop. Tried restarting my whole computer because sometimes that does the trick, but no dice. Tried verifying my files on Steam, had no effect. Tried fast-travelling back and forth, still no quest. Tried portal-jumping from Atlantis to the Underworld to Elysium to Atlantis, but the quest still refused to pop up. Having exhausted all of my options that didn't require me to restart the whole DLC and lose all of that progress I decided to just watch the end on Youtube. I had about one hour of playthrough left. 190 hours in and 92 out of 93 achievements. Literally everything on every map completed and I can't finish the game. 

I found one old thread on Ubisoft support forums mentioning this problem, but it was from September 2021 and left unsolved. I made a thread on the game's Steam forum and Ubi actually replied to it asking me to verify my game files and provide a video showing the problem. I did all of that and they haven't got back to me yet. It's been three weeks.

So yeah, my amazing stint in Ancient Greece ended as a flop instead of with a bang. Today (well, yesterday now) I decided to give up and uninstall the game. 

Total War shenanigans part 2

So after my last post I took a break from the Elder Scrolls mod and went to play some AC Odyssey. But it crapped out on me in the very last episode of the very last DLC so I decided to fuck that and angrily went back to play Total War.

My issue last time was that I figured I'd somehow shot myself in the foot when I accidentally made Dagon join my side ^^; I did some googling (nothing newer than 2017 ffs) and apparently there's supposed to be a whole script featuring Bruma and the final showdown in IC. But none of that happened. So when I started up the mod again I found the Champion of Cyrodiil and Emperor Martin and had Dagon suicide against them. When that did nothing I took the three other Dremora I had bribed to join me and suicided them too. No continuation of the Oblivion Crisis script and both the Champion of Cyrodiil and Emperor Martin just stood around and did nothing. So I decided to see if me killing them would make the game count as me having defeated the Cyrodiil Empire faction. It did not, but now all the players of the Oblivion Crisis were gone, but the game still continued counting them as living factions. 

This meant that I wouldn't be able to complete the requirements for victory as the Aldmeri Dominion, as one of the requirements was to wipe out the Cyrodiil Empire, and according to the game they were somehow immortal. So I went for victory by domination instead. And started taking over every region in the game. Great Houses Dres and Redoran proved especially annoying and the Kingdom of Daggerfall had a penchant for assassins. I kept murdering their preposterous amount of priests on my territories and they retaliated by assassinating my generals. Unfair, yo! 

By the time I got into Morrowind Dres had obliterated Black Marsh and made a vassal of Hlaalu. Redoran had taken out Dagoth and occupied all of Vvardenfell and were making advances into mainland Morrowind. Telvanni had retreated to Solstheim and Ascadian Isles and kept on their end. To keep the Dunmer at bay I had originally allied myself with Black Marsh and Telvanni, but Dres and Redoran just gave fuck-all about that and continued their respective expansions. 

Kingdom of Daggerfall helped me obliterate the Clan of Forebears and most of Orsinium. Once Forebears were gone, though, I went after Daggerfall. And once Dres obliterated Black Marsh, I went after Dres and their vassal Hlaalu. 

Morthal was an annoying city that kept rioting for no reason I could figure out. Even at 105% happiness they were still rioting like wtf. 

But in the end I took every single region in the game. Masterfully ending the game by stabbing my only remaining ally (the Undead of Volkihar) in the back and taking their island. 

Stranger Things S04

We had waited so long for this season and we were so excited when it finally came around! But ofc we had to finish Black Mirror first, which turned out to be a good thing because we finished volume 1 of season 4 just as volume 2 released. Perfect timing!

This season, though? Amazing! I loved seeing how the three storylines came together in Russia, Hawkins and... er... pizza van. 

We both loved Eddie and I wish he'll somehow be in season 5. Both of us were in denial about anything serious happening to Max until the very last moment. 

And ofc they went the religious route, because it's the 80s and inspired by 80s pop culture so ofc we need a religious nut job in the mix xD How people actually take them seriously, I'll never understand. 

And how has nobody heard of Running Up That Hill before? It's a classic! 

Grey's Anatomy S18

I've been watching this show since it started in 2005 and I was barely 15, I couldn't stop now even if I wanted to and I really don't xD This season took me forever to get into mainly because the last season was really slow, but also because Hayes was out. I really liked Hayes. 

Anyway, Hayes is out and Nick is in, and I had to dig really, really deep to even remember who Nick was.

I'm not a huge fan of the whole Minnesota storyline, and I'm really not a fan of the residency program getting shut down. Ffs everything was going well and then everything went to shit in the blink of an eye. 

Why can't we just let Mer be happy? Just for once? 

Kai is probably the best thing about this entire season. And Jake's performance as Levi is top notch. Favourite resident? Move over, Taryn, Levi's in the house! 

And Addison's back!!! :D

That season finale though? Oof. Everyone just "Fuck this shit I'm out" and left Mer all alone. And it also celebrated 400 episodes of Grey's Anatomy so all the flashbacks just made me cry my eyes out T_T

This season just... Whew!

Black Mirror

We finally got around to watch this series after having heard so much about it. Every episode had us sat like what the fuck, but in a good way, and we could never watch an episode without talking about it first.

So every episode starts out deceptively normal, but the viewer soon realises that it takes place in some not so distant future, becuse the tech they're using doesn't exist yet. 

My favourite episodess are usually connected to social media or personal tech that can only be described as cybernetics. And what I also really like is that a lot of those episodes have small hints that suggest they all take place in the same world. Like that one song.

In season 1 my favourite episode was Fifteen Million Merits, which is about people living closed off from the world spending their days cycling and earning merits and constantly consuming content. The cycling powers... something, and the merits can be used to buy your way out of cycling. But it doesn't really go the way you plan. This episode is the first time that song shows up, and then it just keeps popping up in several episodes throughout the series. 

Season 2 was incredible all around and I can't pick a favourite. Be Right Back is heart-breaking and we're still talking about it. White Bear created a discussion on morals and ethics and none of us saw that twist coming. The Waldo Moment could be contemporary for how it portrays politics, and it's scary how possible, even probable, it all seems. White Christmas is etched into my mind and the tech used for the interrogation comes back in another episode. Jon Hamm is in this one and he's just as amazing as usual. The eye-camera tech in this episode is pretty terrifying. 

Season 3 is also incredible all around, but if I have to pick favourites I'd go with Playtest and Hated in the Nation. Playtest is the most horror-ish episode of them all and that twist at the end is perfect. Hate in the Nation is pretty much a crime thriller, but with a tech twist and some environmental disaster warnings in it. That said... The social media aspect of Nosedive was really interesting and also kind of scary. Shut Up and Dance could be completely contemporary, probably the weakest story this season but still so good. The digital afterlife of San Junipero was a really cool concept. And finally, that twist in Men Against Fire was on point. 

In season 4 my favourite was hands-down Black Museum. Mainly because it takes elements from a whole lot of episodes and makes something new with it and I love when they do that. USS Callister is a pretty terrifying mix of online-gaming and digital cloning with a Star Trek twist. I laughed so much. Arkangel and Crocodile were both really on point with the scary future tech. Hang the DJ was cool and we talked about that one for a couple days. Metalhead was probably the weakest story of the season, but it was by no means bad. 

In season 5 they dropped the ball. Smithereens was probably my favourite episode, but all three stories in this season were pretty weak. Striking Vipers puts a future tech twist to VR gaming that didn't do it for either of us. Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too felt like a Disney Channel movie from 15 years ago. Smithereens deals with the attention-span deficit everyone suffers from due to social media, and it got a bit preachy. 

There seems to be a new season in the works, which I'm looking forward to. I just hope they can get back to the brilliance that was season 2-4. 

Sweden Rock Festival 2022

At 4.15AM on Tuesday morning we started packing up the car and at 4.30 we drove off to pick up the last person. Around 5AM we finally rolled out of the city and headed south towards a week of fun, music and friends. If it wasn't for covid this would probably have been mine and bf's 9th time at Swedish Rock Festival, instead it's our 7th time. The best part about this festival is how happy and carefree everyone is, and that ambience was extra strong this year. AFter two years of not being able to come here everyone was so exalted to be back. The crowd was happy and merry even with the not-so-perfect weather and even the bands on stage seemed extra excited to be back on stage facing the screaming crowds. It was amazing. Even more amazing than usual. 

We kept the tickets that were supposed to be for 2020, felt a bit odd to use two-year-old tickets to exchange for our wristbands, but hey! Thanks for keeping them valid for these two years!

Going to Sweden Rock Festival

We arrived around lunch and started building our camp. We're always in the same spot on the same camping. And it was so great to see all of the people again! We usually oonly meet once a year at SRF and two years without seeing each other was just too damn long! In the two years since we could last see each other the camp had gone from being (mostly) in our 20s to being a whole bunch of 30+ people, several of whom had become parents in the meantime. Crazy!

After the camp was built, bf and I went to exchange our tickets to wristbands, buy this year's merch and procure soda to make rum&coke in camp. Our mission was successful!

Wednesday was the first proper day of the festival, but me and bf had no bands we really had to see until in the evening when we went inside the concert area and watched Raubtier. I don't know a lot of songs by them and the one I know the best, they didn't play, but damn the energy they brought and the crowd had just made the whole experience magical! 

Thursday was our busiest day! We started the day with Alestorm. After a short break with food and drink in the camp we went back inside. Everyone but me was going to see Devin Townsend, but I went to see Eluveitie and that's probably the best concert of the year. The band was so extatic to be back on stage and the crowd was so excited to be there! It created a magical experience where I spent equal amounts of time jumping, screaming, clapping, singing, and thrashing around in the mosh pit. Eluveitie also taught me I'm too old for mosh-pits now. Everything hurt afterwards! xD

In the evening we went back inside to see Dropkick Murphys, Volbeat and the one band I had looked forward to for years! Nightwish! To my eternal sorrow I was only 14 when the band broke with Tarja and so I never had a chance to see them live with her, but I saw them twice with Anette and this was my first time with Floor. And wow, did she deliver! The whole band did. It was amazing and the experience was only marred by the guy who kept jumping like crazy (both into me and on me) every time they played a song newer than Imaginaerum. On the other hand, every song older than Imaginaerum had me scream-singing in his ear so I guess we're even xP

Friday was a calm day spent mostly in the camp where we got to partake in the traditional activity of "decorating" the first person to pass out in the camp. In the evening we went to see In Flames, which, surprisingly, I haven't seen before. Surprsing considering how many times they've been at SRF and Metaltown. 

On Saturday we were all pretty miserable after four days camping and drinking and head-banging. All around happy, but oh so done with sleeping in tents. That morning we were invited on a backstage tour of the festival thanks to one of our camp members being an ambassador for Hi-Fi Klubben. It was a very cool tour and we got to go up backstage on the second largest stage while Honeymoon Suite were playing. And we got to take a look at the backstage area where the bands hang out. Nothing so glamorous as a green-room on a festival, but it was still a pretty cool experience. 

We decided to leave on Saturday evening instead of Sunday morning. So for our last trip inside the festival area of 2022 we saw Hardcore Superstar and then Within Temptation. I've seen both of those bands before, three times each. But they were just as good. Hardcore Superstar has some crazy on-stage energy. Within Temptation is always extremely powerful. If I could sing like Sharon I'd never shut up. 

The band that would close the entire festival was Guns 'n' Roses. None of us are super fans of the band, and some of our camp members who've been to SRF more times than us told us about the last time Guns were at SRF and they didn't go up on stage until they were almost an hour late. They wanted to see the first few songs and give Guns a chance to redeem themselves. We decided to get in the car instead and start the 7-hour roadtrip back north. While in the car I kept talking via Messenger to the people who stayed for a bit, and found out Guns were 30 minutes late to go on stage this time. Our friends didn't even stay to hear one song. Such a shitty attitude from Guns to end an otherwise amazing festival. 

We started the drive around 10.30pm and arrived home around 5.30am. That shower after you come home after a week of camping is divine. Sleeping in your own bed is like a piece of heaven. 

Going home from Sweden Rock Festival

For more pictures and videos check out my Instagram :)

Atlas Rock 2022 @Gävle

On Friday we got on the train to Stockholm and from there changed to a train to Gävle. Neither of us had ever been to Gävle and so it was nice to discover a new city, except for the fact that as soon as we stepped off the train the sky opened up and poured heavy rain on us, which was soon joined by thunder and lightning. We sheltered in the station building for a while, to see whether the rain would calm down, before we decided to brave the weather and find the bus to the hotel. We found the bus stop with ten minutes to spare and a nice little bridge to hide from the rain under. The bus trip took about 10 minutes to the hotel where we checked in without issue. We got up to our room on the top floor (cosy forest view) to discover the most extensive staff welcome gift I've ever seen. We unpacked and chilled for a bit before we went back down to have dinner at the hotel restaurant. Burger for me, steak for him. After dinner we went back to our room to freshen up and then we asked the reception to call us a taxi to the city centre. We had googled to try to find a rock bar in the city and the only thing we found was this weekend only thing at an otherwise mainstream place. So we went there but couldn't find it. Asked the bartender who told us that they closed down the rock bar part of the establishment after the basement flooded some nine months ago. Somewhat disappointed we decided to stay there anyway and have some drinks and just chill. Around 10pm we left to find a taxi and return to the hotel. Some channel zapping on the TV later we both went to bed. 

After an amazing breakfast we went up to our room to chill a bit, have a nap, and start to get ready for the day. Just after lunch time I went back down to reception and asked them to call us a taxi for 2.30pm to go to the festival area. We got there, exchanged our tickets for wristbands, got patted down, and then we were IN! First festival and concert since 2019 and we were both feeling it. 

Not too long after we got there we realized something was wrong. The band that was supposed to be on stage at 3pm (Lucifer) didn't come on stage until 3.30pm and there was no explanation as to why. Worse yet was that they offered to information on what would happen next. Would they try to regain the lost 30 minutes? Would they ask the bands to shorten their gigs? Would they postpone someone to the next day? By the time Ugly Kid Joe got on stage they were around an hour delayed. And I decided to call the taxi company and push the pick-up time for our pre-booked taxi back to the hotel that night from 00.45am to 1.15am. Just in case. 

The first show we properly attended without walking off was Uriah Heep. Neither of us knew more than one song by them (Easy Livin'), but damn did they have stage presence, and damn could that old man sing! 

Next up was Powerwolf. Toni was super excited to see them live for the second time, and I was also really looking forward to my first time. They were great! Amazing even! I knew and/or recognized all of the songs they played even if I didn't know the lyrics to most of them (aside from a few words here and there), but the band were all amazing at getting the crowd going and making us feel a part of the performance. Perfect!

Next in line was Black Label Society. Neither of us particularly care about Black Label Society and feet were getting tired so we decided to have a sit-down in the serving area while we waited for the last act of the day. 

And then it was finally time. My sixth Alice Cooper concert. The entire reason I discovered this festival. My whole reason for going to a town 200 km away over a weekend. And I can't really put into words how absolutely stoked I was to see him live again and how happy I got when he walked out on stage and started singing. I love his entire stage persona, and his music, his theatrics, his singing voice... Everything is perfect to me. I was scream-singing along with every song, and I loved how the entire crowd sang along to No More Mr Nice Guy, Bed of Nails, Hey Stoopid, He's Back, I'm Eighteen, Poison, Billion Dollar Babies and School's Out entirely unprompted. It was magical. I had a blast. 

After the concert was over I left with a shot back, aching feet, sore throat, ringing ears, numb palms, a stupid grin, and a solid reminder why I love concerts. 

I woke up today with a medley of Poison, Bed of Nails and Fallen in Love stuck in my head on a loop. After more hotel breakfast we packed up our room, checked out and headed to the train station. Throughout the entire train ride to Stockholm I was listening to Alice Cooper songs and updating IG with pictures and highlights and checking out other people's pictures using the hashtag for the festival. Tired but happy. We're back in business. Live music has returned!

Here's a playlist I made on the setlist of Cooper's concert! Every song in the order he played them! Enjoy!

Trailer for his 2019 tour (I saw him on the Stockholm date) to give an idea of what the gig was like :3