Here's to Never Growing Up

Singing Radiohead at the top of our lungs

with the boombox blaring as we're falling in love

Got a bottle of whatever, but let's get in this truck

Singing here's to never growing up

Call up all of our friends

Go hard this weekend

For no damn reason

I don't think we'll ever change

Meet you at the spot half past ten o'clock

We don't ever stop and we're never gonna change

Say - won't you say forever

Stay - if you stay forever

Hey - we can stay forever young

Singing Radiohead at the top of our lungs

with the boombox blaring as we're falling in love

Got a bottle of whatever, but let's get in this truck

Singing here's to never growing up

We'll be running down the street yelling "Kiss my ass"

I'm like "Yeah whatever" we're still living like that

When the sun's going down we'll be raising our cups

Singing here's to never growng up

Oh-oh, oh-oh

We live like rockstars

Dance on every bar

This is who we are

I don't think we'll ever change

They say "Just grow up!"

But they don't know us

We don't give a fuck

And we're never gonna change

Say - won't you say forever

Stay - if you stay forever

Hey - we can stay forever young

Singing Radiohead at the top of our lungs

with the boombox blaring as we're falling in love

Got a bottle of whatever, but let's get in this truck

Singing here's to never growing up

We'll be running down the street yelling "Kiss my ass"

I'm like "Yeah whatever" we're still living like that

When the sun's going down we'll be raising our cups

Singing here's to never growng up

Oh-oh, oh-oh

Say - won't you say forever

Stay - if you stay forever

Hey - we can stay forever young

Singing Radiohead at the top of our lungs

with the boombox blaring as we're falling in love

Got a bottle of whatever, but let's get in this truck

Singing here's to never growing up

We'll be running down the street yelling "Kiss my ass"

I'm like "Yeah whatever" we're still living like that

When the sun's going down we'll be raising our cups

Singing here's to never growing up

Oh-oh, oh-oh

TV nerdiness

I've been so busy with my dissertation lately that I haven't even had time to do all the fun stuff I usually do. I haven't even played The Sims since my last post. What I have done has mostly been to watch a lot of TV-series, cause that is what I do when I relax from reading and writing.

Friends. I'm at the 10th season again now and I don't want to watch anymore, cause if I do it'll end again.

Grey's Anatomy. I caught up only yesterday. I had half of the 8th season and half of the 9th to watch and I did it in three days xD Now I'm on the edge of my seat waiting for next episode.

Game of Thrones. Halfway through the second season I tired  of it. But when I heard that the third season was soon to start I just had to catch up. And so I did, I watched the last three episodes of season 2 and then I saw the first episode of season 3 and now I'm all caught up in it again. I need the next episode!!!

Call the Midwife. When I finished with Grey's Anatomy I felt kind of restless. What to do. But apparantly this series had aired both a Christmas special and a second season since last time I watched it xD So I've been starting to catch up on this series too.

Sometimes when I want to relax and reboot my brain I take a walk while listening to music, or I just dance around crazily in my flat along with my favourite Japanese pop songs. Just recently I got my hands on all the Pucchi Best albums from Hello! Project and I've been reliving some of my old favourites.

What I really want to though, is to get started reading and writing again. But for fun and not cause I have to. But the dissertation and the homework just makes me want to stay away from books in general after I'm done with those I have to deal with :/

Doing some geeking

Before you judge me - I've always said that The Sims 2 is what you make of it, if you have the imagination and know the cheats the game can become very funny.

These last few days my interest for The Sims 2 has re-awakened and I've started playing again. I'm working on that same old family again. Remember?

I'm gonna be geeking from this point on. Just a warning.

So, originally I created one girl and one guy. My story (I always start with a story) was that Sayumi met Bradley as a teenager. Bradley was an adult. Sayumi's parents did not approve of her relationship with Bradley and when they found out she was pregnant, they shunned her. She ran away with Bradley. They got married and built a great big house from scratch. Shortly thereafter Sayumi gave birth to twin girls. This was easy to fix. I made two adults and then cheated some with the aspiration points so that Bradley would have access to the Life Elixir. Using the boolprop-cheat I changed Bradley's age to one day before getting old and then got him to drinking the Life Elixir until he was only halfway through his adult stage. This made for him being much older than Sayumi. Using the boolprop-cheat again I made Sayumi pregnant with Bradley and then sped up her pregnancy, making for her to have been pregnant in her teens :)

And now the story starts. 

Sayumi and Bradley had seven children in total: Erina, Reina, Ai, Samuel, Momoko, Risako, and Jonathan, and then they became teenagers I got to have a lot of fun. I made Erina and Jonathan gay, Reina snuck out every night with her friends and almost always came back home in a police car, Ai feels misunderstood and runs away from home, and Samuel stops going to school in protest. Momoko gets pregnant (but miscarries) and Risako only love men twice her own age. They all grew up and moved out and started their own families (which meant I got to have fun and build houses). Most of them were having regular lives, however Risako married an old guy and started a family with him, and Ai and Samuel, who lived together, lived lives of passion and indulgence. Ai had Pleasure ambition and Samuel had Romance ambition. They both lived like tomorrow didn't matter and each had multiple lovers - Samuel being the worst since his lifetime want was to have 20 simultaneous lovers xD However Ai accidentally (not kidding, I didn't press Try for Baby) got pregnant, and started to slow things down. She later turned herself into a vampire. Samuel decided to get married in his old days.

Ai's story is actually kind of funny.

She got pregnant and her daughter kept nagging her about her father (not kidding she thought and talked about family all the time), and when Ginevra was grown up and had her own family Ai gave in and called her father. They met for the first time since Ginevra was concieved and they literally couldn't keep their hands off of each other. Once again they woohoo'd (didn't press Try for Baby) and Ai got pregnant again. Seriously wtf?! So I decided to marry them anyway and I made Brandon old just so it wouldn't be weird that he was younger than his daughter...

The houses I've built:

From left to right: The very first house, Erina & Reina's house, Ai & Samuel's house, Momoko & Risako's house, Adam & Bellatrix' house, apartment complex

Most of the strange families are in the third generation. Erina's and Willow's son Fenrir built a robot, which he fell in love with. Then he got abducted by aliens and gave birth to an alien baby at the same time he and the robot got married and adopted a child. Reina's and Erik's daughter Bellatrix' husband Clarence spent too much time in the garden and turned into a PlantSim. Risako's and Joe's son Charlie met a good witch and made himself a warlock. Jonathan's and Todd's daughter Evelyn made friends with the Leader of the Pack, got nibbled, and turned into a werewolf. Her husband was fascinated and on his request she made him into a werewolf too.

So I have a vampire, a robot, an alien, a plantsim, a good warlock, and two werewolves. All I need now is a zombie and an evil witch and I'll have it all. I've already chosen Roxie to be the evil witch when she grows up. The she'll have green skin (like the Wicked Witch in the Wizard of Oz), and she'll use her magic powers to resurrect her uncle Samuel and make him a zombie :)

This is the current family tree:

It's getting a little crowded in the fourth generation, but that's alright. They're no longer considered related by the game, so I'm gonna start connecting the branches again. Marissa will marry Maddox, Andromeda will marry Aidan, Roxie will marry Jimmy, and Joshua and Anthony will get to bring in "new blood" :P

And the fact that Imelda even exists is another accident. Jenna brought a guy home from work, she liked him and went on a date with him, which ended in her getting pregnant. They have sucky contraception methods obviously :P

I'm in control, I've got a bulletproof soul, and I'm full of self-esteem. I invented myself with no one's help, like a prototype supreme. I sit on my private throne and run my lifestyle all alone. Me, myself and I agree, we don't need nobody else. I never learned to bow, bend or crawl to any known authority. I really wanna build my statue tall. That's all. I'm just trying to be God. I only wanna be God. I just wanna be God. Why can't I be God? I got no time to take advice. I want to gamble with my eternity with a loaded dice. I don't need a preacher in my face when I'm the omnipresent ruler of the human race. Ain't gonna spend my life being no one's fool. I was born to rock and I was born to rule. But if I'm wrong on judgement day I'm royally screwed with hell to pay. I never learned to bow, bend or crawl to any known authority. I really wanna build my statue tall. That's all. I'm just trying to be God. I only wanna be God. I just wanna be God. Why can't I be God?

In the night

The reason I sometimes have sleep problems is that my brain can't stop spinning. Sometimes it's all about stuff I have to remember to do the next day, but usually it keeps making up stories. The source for all my writings is sleep-deprivation. I'm more inspired in night time than in day time. It's not even unusual for me to take inspiration for stories from dreams I've had.

Night time sharpens, heightens each sensation

Darkness stirs and wakes imagination

Silently the senses abandon their defences

Slowly, gently, night unfurls its splendor

Grasp it, sense it, tremulous and tender

Turn your face away from the garish light of day

Turn your thoughts away from cold unfeeling light

And listen to the music of the night

Close your eyes and surrender to your darkest dreams

Purge your thoughts of the life you knew before

Close your eyes, let your spirit start to soar

And you'll live as you've never lived before

Softly, deftly, music shall surround you

Hear it, feel it, closing in around you

Open up your mind, let your fantasies unwind

In this darkness, which you know you cannot fight

The darkness of the music of the night

Let your mind start a journey through a strange new world

Leave all thoughts of the world you knew before

Let your soul take you where you long to be

Only then can you belong to me

Floating, falling, sweet intoxication

Touch me, trust me, savour each sensation

Let the dream begin, let your darker side give in

To the power of the music that I write

The power of the music of the night

You alone can make my song take flight

Help me make the music of the night

- Andrew Lloyd Webber, 1986

Yes, I love lyrics. These just speak to me.

Confession: I'm a concert junkie

Toni just saw The 69 Eyes live in Stockholm and I'm starting to feel withdrawal symptoms. It's been too long since I've been to a concert. Way too long. I miss them so bad. I'm a concert junkie. In an attempt to cure this let's take a trip back in time.

I've been to concerts pretty much every year since I was about 10 years old. The annual local summer festival brought interesting bands even for a little girl. At Sommar Rock I saw some bands that I really liked and some bands that just happened to be on the stage at the same time I was hanging out there. Those I remember that I've gone there to see are Antique, Mendez, Bubbles, Style, The Ark (three times), Crashdiet, E-Type, Europe, Hammerfall, Joddla med Siv, Magnus Uggla, Markoolio, The Poodles, Perikles, Takida, Thin Lizzy, and Erik Grönwall. I also distinctily remember the time when Tomas Ledin played there and I got invited to the party afterwards but declined (I didn't feel like going to a party of a middle aged women's idol). Until last year I used to work there with my dad. Official website. Blog post. Blog post.

Then there's also the annual festival in Malmö, which isn't has cosy as the one of my hometown, since it's all over the city. And most of the years I haven't really gone there to see the bands. But I remember seeing Jay Smith and The Sounds there. And The Ark (fourth time). I usually just go there for the market, the food and the festival events, and forget all about the music :P Official website. Blog post. Blog post.

My first real concert was Lordi. Autumn 2006. I was 15 years old and they had just won ESC. I went with Kajsa. Mum wouldn't let us stand in the crowd so we had to get seats. Spent the entire concert sitting on the edge of my seat, waving my arms and singing/screaming my throat and lungs out. This is when I fell in love with concerts for real. Sabaton was the support and I hated their sound.

Second concert was Nightwish. Winter 2007. Went with then-boyfriend Henrik. It was Nightwish with Anette promoting Dark Passion Play. I really liked Anette at this concert. She was very friendly and interacted a lot with the audience. Indica was support and since then I never really could get them out of my head. It was just too bad that all their music was in Finnish until a couple of years ago when they released their first English album.

Third was Stephen Lynch. Spring 2008. Went with Kajsa. He was hilarious. At first it was sold-out, but by chance Kajsa managed to get a hold of two tickets next to each other really close to the stage. Happy!!!

 2009 was a big year for me. Edguy, Lordi and Metaltown. Back then Edguy was the best concert I'd ever been to, which was surprising for me cause I've never been that big a fan of them. But I remember I almost cried when they played King of Fools during the encore. All of those I went to with then-boyfriend Sebastian. For Lordi I also brought Zoy.

In 2010 all I saw was Disturbed in December. I went with Love and he's been their fanboy ever since. But despite it being a joint concert with Papa Roach and Disturbed being the last act (hence it took forever for them to get out on stage) the concert was epic. Blog post.

2011 was a big year. Stephen Lynch, Alice Cooper, Edguy and Within Temptation. To date I've never been as excited about a concert as I was for Cooper. I love him. Gimme more! I was so sad when I wasn't able to see him again in Gothenburg last year. But when it comes to concert feeling Edguy from 2011 still takes the price. Blog post. Blog post. Blog post. Blog post.

2012 wasn't that special in comparison to 2011. At least not concert-wise. Magnus Betnér (twice), Nightwish and Metaltown. Metaltown was easily that year's favourite. Blog post. Blog post. Blog post.

Mostly concerts are about feeling. Being able to scream-sing the songs you love back at the bands you love. Jumping up and down, waving your arms around in the air and headbanging, makes for an aching body but a greater feeling than any exercising could ever give me. The feeling when a song gives you goosebumps or bring you to the verge of tears. The feeling when all the lights go out and the arena is lit up by lighters and mobiles being waved back and forth in the air to a slow, beautiful song. The feeling of buying that perfect T-shirt as proof and memory of having been there. The feeling of buying a large soda and a random hamburger at the closest McDonald's open at night and eat the hamburger while walking back home. The feeling of going to sleep with the songs still ringing in your ears. The feeling of not wanting to wake up the next day cause it'll be soooo terribly long 'til the next time you'll get to feel that way.

Novella: Dawn

I published this on an old no longer existing blog before. But I really like this little novella that I wrote when I was 16 (can't believe it's already that long ago!) So I'll upload it again for people to read and, hopefully, enjoy.

--------------------------------------------------------

She paused, suddenly very aware that there was a scent of something in the air, telling her that something was going to happen and she knew she couldn’t do anything to break the way of destiny.

It was a cloudy, windy day in the early days of November. It felt like she could touch the wind when it blew between her fingers. Touch it, grab it and bring it home with her, something so highly impossible that seemed so possible. But the wind was lovely, even though its strength forced her to move forward. She couldn’t help it, she just smiled and couldn’t stop. In that minute she was undoubtedly happy. Happy enough to feel like she could do anything – and live through it.

The tensity in the air seemed to grow stronger the closer she got to the beach.

It was still dark. The wind had tempted her to go outside in her nightdress and coat, but she wasn’t cold, at least not noticeably cold. The wind was cold, but just the air itself was chilly, and the tensity thrilled her. Somewhere in her subconscious mind a voice told her that she was bordering on pneumonia, but she didn’t care, as long as she could have this time together with nature, she didn’t care what disease she pulled upon herself.

It was perfectly quiet, despite the wind’s howling. The birds hadn’t awakened yet and the dawn was very soon to start. The birds were late but this fact didn’t bother her. Perhaps they just didn’t want to fly and sing in the chilly wind? It was a perfect reason and in this she trusted.

When she reached the beach the wind seemed to calm down. The tensity was unbearable and suddenly it just bursted. A second later the sun started to rise from the horizon and the dolphins that had been hanging around the last few days began talking and jumping in the water.

She smiled softly as the sun’s first light struck her bare feet. The sun didn’t warm them, it was just the wrong season for that to happen, but it felt nice and she was happy.

The sight of the sun colouring the water red and orange was astounding and the most spectacular she’d ever seen and she wouldn’t trade this moment for anything in the whole wide world. This was her moment and she was going to keep it in her heart forever. Keep it and care for it in the deepest parts of her heart. She was never to let it go. This moment was hers.


--------------------------------------------------------

I had a thing for dolphins back then. A little too much perhaps. But I still do love the water. And I love being barefooted.

A very Japanese day

When the alarm went off at 6am this morning I didn't want to get up. Bed so comfy. So cold outside. And it had been snowing all night apparantly. But I did get myself out of bed in the end and although my brain hasn't been completely functional for the entire day, I did have one of the most memorable school days yet. Our first lesson on Tuesdays is pretty much reading comprehension. Immediately in the beginning of the lesson one of the administrative people of the Japanese department came in and reminded us of the Japanese professor that was going to visit today; Usuba-sensei. Our teacher also told us that he'd be in the cafeteria during our 3-hours long lunch break and that we should all try and talk to him.

So during our lunch break while we (the girls) were sitting together at a table and talking, our teacher comes along with the professor and the administrative person. The teacher leaves us with them and we start to talk in Japanese. He's a professor researching how manga and anime are used outside of Japan, so he asked us some questions about our manga and anime preferences and basically we just talked about random things until some other second years from our class and some first years showed up. They moved to talk to the others and we continued where we left off.

Then we had our last class and that class is always great fun. Especially cause the teacher is always so energetic and happy ^^ Since Valentine's Day is coming up she had a large box of chocolate that she passed around the classroom while we were working on our video projects for this semester :3 We were let go early from the last class so that we would have time to get to the official meeting with the Japanese professor. Basically we filled out his questionnaires and a bag of Japanese hard candies was passed around. After everyone had completed the questionnaire he showed us some forms of iai-kenjutsu, which was really cool! He even passed around the katana for us to hold and feel (the blade wasn't sharpened). After that we asked some questions and the bag of candies was passed around one more time.

All these questions gave me the itch to start reading manga again. Lots and lots of manga, and maybe start watching anime again... I kind of miss that. I don't miss having 12 tabs in my browser (excluding the ones I always have) of different mangas I'm reading. But maybe I should just go to mangareader and press 'random'...

Today's random singing moments:
"Japaner i pyjamas..." ♪
"Matcha matcha man..." ♪

So basically lots of conversation in Japanese, Japanese sweets, martial arts and a katana :3

Western vs Asian

Since Yohio advanced to the finals of the Swedish outtakes to Eurovision Song Contest there's been some rageing about it. How he dresses like a girl, how it's a freak show etc etc. Mostly I've encountered some hating against Asian music and the Asian scene overall and I must say that I don't get it. If Yohio had sung in Japanese in his song, people would've raged even more. But there's not a word about the guy who sung half is song in French, cause that's perfectly alright. Why? There wasn't alot of rageing against the girl from Norway two years ago who sung the chorus of her song in Swahili. That it's a European language is no excuse there. So why's Asia so bad? Is it cause the stage performances are different? That the stage show is different? That the fashion is different? Or has Asian music simply gotten a bad reputation here because of all the high-pitched anime intros? So I'll show you a few examples of how Asian music isn't that different from our music. That may get you to learn something or maybe even realise how wrong you've been to have prejudices against all forms of Asian music.

Bubblegum pop: Toy-Box vs. W


Pop: Katy Perry vs. Girls' Generation


Dance pop: Rihanna vs. Morning Musume


Crazy music videos: Lady Gaga vs. Kyary Pamyu Pamyu


Rock music: Coldplay vs. Bump of Chicken


Guys in make-up and strange clothes: Twisted Sister vs. Yohio


Extensive make-up on guys: KISS vs. Karasu


Heavy metal music: Soilwork vs. Dir en Grey


Rockballads: Avenged Sevenfold vs. Kamiki Aya


Pop rock: Avril Lavigne vs. SCANDAL


Boybands: One Direction vs. Arashi


All-girl groups: Spice Girls vs. Morning Musume

I chose this song from Morning Musume cause it's from around the same time as the song by Spice Girls, and this song sold over 1 million copies. Otherwise I would've gone with AKB48.

So how is Western music different from Asian music? Except that it seems more publicly accepted that a guy dresses like a girl in Japan - it's even considered something nice! In the Western music stage make-up on guys and flamboyant clothes seems to be a way of rebellion, while in Japan it's part of some musical styles that not only focus on the music but on the whole package too. Now, I wasn't around in the 80's, but there seems to have been more of the same kind of movement going on in Western music back then, both on the pop scene (Madonna) and on the rock/metal scene (every goddamn rock band of the 80's). Where did that go? And why don't we have that today? Why is it such a fright when a pop/rock artist makes a flamboyant performance? Why are only rock and metal bands (Alice Cooper, Lordi, Slipknot, etc) and some special few pop artists (Lady Gaga) "allowed" to have flamboyant performances in the West? Why is cross-dressing wrong unless you're gay? I've heard a multitude of straight guys complaining about how there are no fun clothes at the mens' department, and that sometimes they'd want to be girls just for the clothes. I think it's interesting how Japan can be so advanced and yet so outdated when it comes to sex and sexuality.

So no, I don't see much of a difference really. So what is it with Asian bands that make people so reluctant to like it the way they like any Western band? One of the best moments for me last year was when I was on the bus to school and the driver had the radio on and Gangnam Style came on. Hearing Korean streaming out of the speakers and actually hearing an Asian song on Swedish radio made me very happy, and I thought that maybe, maybe we were actually evolving towards accepting Asian music.

Defending Asian music Gangnam Style:

The musical year of 2012

Way too late, I know, but I had to come up with an alternate way to do this, since the way I did 2011 didn't really work with 2012. Because in 2012 I kept track of way more releases than in 2011. So I've come up with a way to do it easily and without so much text:

Group/artist name. Genre. Amount of releases. My overall grade of releases. Favourite song.

Seems easy enough, right? Let's go.

• Bump of Chicken. J-rock. Two singles. ♦♦♦♦ Song: "firefly"
• Kikkawa Yuu. J-pop. Two albums & two singles. ♦♦ Song: "17sai"
• SadDolls. Gothic metal. One album. ♦♦♦ Song: "Bloodred"
• Lamb of God. Groove metal. One album. ♦♦♦♦ Song: "Terminally Unique"
• °C-ute. J-pop. One album, two singles, one compilation, one collaboration. ♦♦♦ Song: "Momoiro Sparkling"
• Kitahara Sayaka. J-pop. Two singles. No grade. Song: None
• Dream Morning Musume. J-pop. One single. ♦♦♦♦♦ Song: "Shining Butterfly"
• Berryz Koubou. J-pop. Three singles & one album. ♦♦ Song: "Momochi! Yurushite Nyan♡Taisou"
• Nick Jonas. Jazz pop. One single. ♦♦♦ Song: "Haven't Met You Yet"
• Tommy heavenly6. J-rock. Two albums. ♦♦♦♦ Song: "Call Me Princess"
• Nightwish. Symphonic metal. One single. ♦♦♦♦♦ Song: "The Heart Asks Pleasure First"
• The Pretty Reckless. Hard rock. One EP, one single, one collaboration. ♦♦♦♦♦ Song: "Kill Me"
• miwa. J-pop. Two singles & one album. ♦♦♦♦ Song: "Kataomoi"
• Mano Erina. J-pop. Three singles & one album. ♦ Song: "NEXT MY SELF"
• Ramin Karimloo. Classic pop. One album. ♦♦♦♦♦ Song: "Cathedrals"
• Yohio. Visual-kei. One album & two singles. ♦♦♦♦♦ Song: "Sky☆Limit"
• Otsuka Ai. J-pop. One single. ♦♦ Song: "Gomen ne"
• Berryz Koubou x °C-ute. J-pop. One single. ♦♦♦♦ Song: "Chou HAPPY SONG"
• Marilyn Manson. Alternative metal. One album. ♦♦♦ Song: "The Gardener"
• Kamiki Aya. J-rock. Two singles. ♦♦♦♦♦ Song: "UNREAL"
• Children of Bodom. Melodic death metal. One compilation. ♦♦♦♦♦ Song: "Blooddrunk"
• Slash. Hard rock. One album. ♦♦♦ Song: "Crazy Life"
• 12 Stones. Post-grunge. One album. ♦♦♦♦ Song: "Only Human"
• ABCHO. J-pop. One single. ♦♦♦ Song: "Me wo Tojite Gyusshiyo"
• S/mileage. J-pop. Four singles & one compilation. ♦♦♦ Song: "Choto Mate Kudasai"
• MUCC. Angura-kei. (Only got the compilation). ♦♦♦ Song: "Tsubasa wo Kudasai"
• Linkin Park. Alternative rock. One album. ♦♦♦ Song: "I'll Be Gone"
• Girls' Generation. K-pop. One album & three singles. ♦♦♦ Song: "Oh!"
• Amy Lee. Folk rock. One song on a tribute album. ♦♦ Song: "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry"
• Seremedy. Visual-kei. One album ♦♦♦♦ Song: "No Escape"
• Buono!. J-pop. One album & one single ♦♦♦♦ Song: "Hatsukoi Cider"
• Miyamoto Karin. J-pop. Two singles. No grade. Song: None
• Melissa Etheridge. Folk rock. One album. ♦♦♦ Song: "4th Street Feeling"
• Moa Lignell. Pop. One album. ♦♦♦ Song: "When I Held Ya"
• Morning Musume. J-pop. One album & four singles. ♦♦♦♦ Song: "Renai Hunter"
• Within Temptation. Symphonic rock. Five covers. ♦♦♦♦♦ Song: "Somebody That I Used to Know"
• Plain White T's. Pop punk. One collaboration. ♦♦♦ Song: "Pet Sematary"
• The 69 Eyes. Gothic rock. One album. ♦♦♦ Song: "Red"
• Three Days Grace. Alternative rock. One album. ♦♦♦♦♦ Song: "Give Me A Reason"
• Corroded. Post-grunge. One album. ♦♦♦ Song: "Uncommon Sense"
• Stone Sour. Alternative metal. One album. ♦♦♦♦ Song: "Taciturn"
• All That Remains. Metalcore. One album. ♦♦♦♦♦ Song: "Asking Too Much"
• DIY♡/Peaberry/Harvest/Green Fields. J-pop. Two singles. ♦♦ Song: "Cabbage Hakusho"
• Stephen Lynch. Comedy. One double album. ♦♦♦♦♦ Song: "Let Me Inside"
• Miyavi. J-rock. One album & one single. ♦♦♦ Song: "Day 1"
• 3 Doors Down. Alternative rock. One compilation. ♦♦♦♦ Song: "Here Without You"
• Rabbit. J-pop. One album. ♦♦♦ Song: "UNLOVE" (Not on YouTube)

Because I decided to check out some bands I had only heard a few songs of before and H!P creating new units and Toni showing me bands... Well, the list somehow got bigger than last time xD

Anyway... 

• Most anticipated releases: Ramin's debut album, DoriMusu's first single, and Stephen Lynch's new album
• Best releases of the year: The Pretty Reckless - "Kill Me", Within Temptation - "Somebody That I Used to Know", DoriMusu - "Shining Butterfly", miwa - "Kataomoi", and MoMusu "Renai Hunter"
• Best song all-together: 

Les Misérables - the movie

Ever since the announcement for the movie was made I've been excited about it. Then I was annoyed. Annoyed with Sweden. The movie premiered on Christmas Day in the UK. Here it premiered on January 18th. It's funny. If it's a grand movie like Harry Potter we can have the premiere at the same time as the rest of the world without any trouble. But if it's not then it takes weeks or months before it shows up here. My country is retarded -.-

I had watched the trailers beforehand and I knew it would be grand. Still I was kind of worried that they somehow might ruin it. But I loved it! I'm definitely going to see it again!

The casting. 

• Russell Crowe was obviously just cast to be a headliner. He could do the stern face of Javert, but the singing was bad. Very bad. 
• Hugh Jackman impressed me. He managed to balance the book version of Valjean with the musical version very well, the acting was great and the singing better than anticipated. 
• Anne Hathaway was definitely the star of the film. Impeccable. My pet peeve with every casting I've seen of any version of Les Mis is that they never seem able to find a blond Fantine. She's blond in the book. Actually she looks a lot like Cosette. 
• Marius was cute, but he only managed to make weird faces on every close-up of him. 
• Enjolras was exactly like I pictured him in the book. 
• Gavroche was the star of the revolution. That little boy was amazing and he did my favourite character extreme justice. 
• Samantha Barks was great as Éponine. So glad they chose her instead of friggin' Taylor Swift. 
• I love that they had cast Colm Wilkinson as the role of the Bishop of Digne. The first West End Valjean as the Bishop in the movie. How very fitting. 
• I also noticed that one of the background students was one of the students from 25th. 
• I had heard both good and bad about Helena Bonham Carter and Sasha Baron Cohen as Mrs and Mr Thénardier, but I really liked them. Helena Bonham Carter was perfect as always (can she do no wrong?) and Sasha Baron Cohen had his own take on his role, which worked really well according to me. 
• Little Cosette was impressive. 
• Amanda Seyfried did the best of her role I think. Adult Cosette is such a bland character in my opinion. 

The scenography. No real complaints there. Just pet peeves from the book. The monastery isn't really in Paris. But otherwise everything looked like I might picture early 19th century France. Not that I'm an expert at 19th century masonry. I laughed out loud during the scene when people throw out furniture to help build the barricade. BANG! A piano comes flying. WTH?! xD And why is there a cow in the middle of the road?

The songs. I love the setting of the Prologue, Lovely Ladies, I Dreamed a Dream, Master of the House, Look Down, Little People and Do You Hear the People Sing. (25th Anniversary musical versions) They pretty much got all my favourite songs right. I was a little disappointed by how they did Red and Black, but I can't really pinpoint what was wrong with it... Do You Hear the People Sing is my absolute favourite song off the entire musical and how they did that song in the movie was amazing. Totally did the song justice! It was hard not to start singing along out loud xD

The story. I love how they incorporated some elements from the book that weren't in the musical. Those elements tie up some loose ends from the musical. For example they show the doll that Valjean buy to Cosette. The very lovely and expensive doll that every girl in that village wants. In the book it's in a more in-your-face manner towards Éponine, but still. Cosette's song Castle on a Cloud is called Poupée dans la Vitrine in French, which means Doll in the Window. I like how they show that Valjean and Cosette end up at the monastery with M. Fauchelevent, which gives the audience a hint as to how and where Cosette grows up. And the man Valjean saves from under the carriage isn't just some random guy, but actually important later on. I like that they show how Fantine sells her two front teeth for 40 francs (although she still has her front teeth later on... pet peeve). I also like that they add Marius' grandfather. I was just waiting for them to tell us about Gavroche being Éponine's little brother and that they had a sister and two more brothers too. (They didn't). Or tell us Cosette's real name: Euphrasie. (They didn't). The love story between Marius and Cosette is still too incredible in its shortened form. In the book they have months apart only thinking about each other and when they meet they have several nights together when Valjean is out of town. In the musical and movie their love story lasts for two days, then Marius is recovering from injuries and then they get married. I was kind of hoping they'd drag it out in the movie and show the true nature of their love story, but no :(

But all in all I think it was a great movie. A must-buy when it's released on DVD. Absolutely love it.

• First rant of Les Mis
• Second rant of Les Mis
• Little People
• Les Misérables in Malmö #1
• Les Misérables in Malmö #2

Love Never Dies - Australian version

I bought the DVD recording of the Australian version of Love Never Dies ages ago, but I never got around to watching it - until yesterday. The original London version never was a big success, but they released a soundtrack album from the show, which I've looped some songs from since I got my hands on it (hey, I had to - Ramin is the Phantom). I loved the album version of 'Til I Hear You Sing, Beneath a Moonless Sky, The Beauty Underneath and Devil Take the Hindmost.

Reason why the Australian version was recorded and not the original? Apparantly the Australian version was more the way Andrew Lloyd Webber had intended it to be. But really I can't understand why this musical got such poor reviews, accusing it of having to memorable songs... I think the problem is that it's a sequel, and not just any sequel, but the sequel to Phantom of the Opera (which in 2013 is going on its 27th consequtive year in West End), and thus people expected another fantastic timeless masterpiece like that. Unreasonable expectations ruined it, pretty much. But let's get on with it.

The scenography. I liked the dark setting and despite having exchanged most (if not all) the candles for electricity the general atmosphere was still darkness and night. I liked the three freaks Gangle, Fleck and Squelch. How can a person be as tiny as Fleck?

The Phantom. We all know I have a huge fangirl crush on Ramin's voice (not as much him as his voice) and the Phantom himself is one of my favourite fictitious characters of all time. So I'm quite picky. But Ben Lewis was great. His voice was dark, which is a great plus for someone playing Phantom in my book, not quite as powerful as Ramin's but still suitable for the role. I liked his take on the Phantom as someone less psychotic and hurt and someone stronger and more confident. Simply, the Phantom seemed to have grown up a bit. Ben Lewis' version of 'Til I Hear You Sing is not as powerful as Ramin's and you need to see the film to actually sense the feelings, while in Ramin's version all the feelings of anger, sadness and frustration are easily heard.

Christine. I liked Sierra in the 25th Anniversary, but not so much on the soundtrack to Love Never Dies. Her voice felt a bit flat on the soundtrack. Anna O'Byrne, however, made a stunning Christine. The most beautiful one I have ever seen and her version of the title song gave me goosebumps. It's one of the best songs in the Australian version. The title song is very operatic, but I still love it - which is a great compliment from me since real classic opera has a tendency to give me headaches and the more operatic the worse. But this song is just stunning.

Raoul. I like that Raoul has a bigger role and more of a character in Love Never Dies. Still I've always hated Raoul. In Phantom of the Opera he was a spoiled, stupid, arse, and in Love Never Dies he's an angry drunken gambler with sky-high debts, and a neglecting father and husband. Raoul, however, did get a solo in this musical: Why Does She Love Me?. Still I prefer his duet with the Phantom:

The score. The only thing I don't like about the music are the vaudeville parts (Bathing Beauty for example). Other than that the entire score is beautiful. Dark, mellow, symphonic, beautiful. I like how, just as in the Phantom of the Opera, the melodies are always present. For example, the melody from Devil Takes the Hindmost shows up several times, as well as the melody from Beautiful and Once Upon Another Time, and the one from the title song. Beneath a Moonless Sky is beautiful in the Australian version too. But my absolute favourite song of this musical, London and Sydney alike, is The Beauty Underneath:

I can't understand why this musical got such bad reviews. I can't understand what people can dislike about it. It's beautiful and mysterious and heartwarming and heartbreaking, all at the same time. 

Other Phan-girling escapades:

• Phantom of the Opera
• Music of the Night
• Love Never Dies

Skyrim, cinema, games and drinks

Lots have happened since last time.

Monday and Tuesday were regular days for me, meaning I pretty much spent them playing Skyrim on the computer (while Toni was working). Bothers me to pieces that I've come across a bug with the Companions that seem to be unsolveable :( Anyway some time ago I started playing Skyrim at the 360 as well. At the 360 I'm a Nord warrior (on the computer I'm a Dark elf (Dunmer) mage). It's interesting comparing the different treatments my characters recieve. The dark elf is a foreigner: foreign culture, foreign language, foreign customs, foreign looks, and is treated thereafter by the Nords - which sometimes mean really bad behaviour. While the Nord is well-treated in most cities, but sometimes met with suspicion from elves, Khajiit and Argonians. Anyway I've been practicing archery with my dark elf and I've passed level 90 in Archery by now. I'm just going to level my Sneak skill as well and then I'll give the main quest a try again.

Wednesday we decided to take a trip to Stockholm. First stop was the Sci-Fi bookstore where ofc I bought myself two books (The Complete History of Jack the Ripper and The Graveyard Book), "I have never..." card game, and the two first volumes of The Walking Dead comic. Next stop was a sushi restaurant Toni knew of, before we bought the mandatory sweets bag and went to the cinema to watch The Hobbit. I'm not a fan of Lord of the Rings. I think the first movie is boring as hell, the other two are watchable, but the extremely bad main character of Frodo (who would've died within 20 minutes if it wasn't for Sam saving his ass) makes some moments in those two movies really bad. I've tried reading the first book. I really really tried. But about halfway through I wanted to puke on it, burn it and throw it in front of the train. It was so boring. We walk and walk and walk. Frodo is stupid. We walk and walk and walk. Frodo is being more stupid. We walk some more. Frodo is stupid some more. We walk even more. However I did want to see The Hobbit. And I was pleasantly surprised. So much better than Lord of the Rings, along with the safety of some characters I already knew and recognised. The song sung by the dwarves in Bilbo's house was so incredibly powerful in the cinema. And several times throughout the movie I found myself with goosebumps.

Thursday was a not so special day. Mostly staying in, watching a movie and playing games. While Friday we had a friend over and played card games: two versions of Munchkin, Zombie Dice and I have never. All great fun. This clip somehow became a legend during that night:

Saturday started out with sushi in front of the TV watching Big Bang Theory, before going to Stockholm again to watch a show by a band by some of Toni's friends. After the gig we had a great time on the train back. Then we ended up going out to a bar and having some drinks and just having fun for my last evening there.

These were our last drinks - me and two guys xD

Yesterday I pretty much spent going home. I have realised that I prefer aeroplanes rather than trains. Trains are noisy and jittery. Planes are smooth and (compared to trains) very quiet.

I've been around...

Recently I've come to realise that I have travelled quite a bit in my life :P Pretty much every year since 1996.

1996, 1997, 1998: Tenerife. Three years in a row at the same hotel every time. I don't remember which one, but one of the times we celebrated my birthday there. I think it was my 7th, but I'm not sure. Anyway we went out for dinner as per usual and in the evening we went by horse carriage around the town. And I also got a hand painted spray coloured painting from a street salesman. I had it in my room for years (until I moved I think), but it got faded by the sun :( One year we also went up to the volcano, Teide, and brought home some lava rocks. I don't think I have them anymore, but those rocks are cool - they float on water :)

1999: Lanzarote. Next Canary Island. I don't have any specific memories from this one. I think it's the trip where the whole family got sick :P

2000: Fuerteventura. Third Canary Island. Think this is the one we rented a car and then got lost in the country side xD We went to a Bird Park here :)

2001: Lalandia, Denmark. Although I live close to Denmark this is quite far away :P Water adventure land, along with a play land for kids.

2002: Gran Canaria. Fourth Canary Island. This is the one with over 200 steps between the hotel and the beach. The one with pepper trees everywhere and a fallen lampshade from a street light looks like a dinosaur  egg (or I had just watched too much Jurassic Park). Here we went on a glass bottom boat and watched dolphins :) Dad also wanted to go shark fishing, but Mum said no.

2003: Lalandia, Denmark. Back again. The water land was still awesome, but I had grown too old for the play land :(

2004: Iceland. Geysirs, volcanos, hot springs, waterfalls and circle-shaped churches. And horseback riding on Icelandic horses. Iceland has been one of my favourite vacations and I really want to go back there sometime. One of the weirdest photos from the trip is my little sister in a big winter coat standing next to a banana plant. Iceland was/is self-supporting on pretty much everything thanks to their geothermic energy :)

2005: Berlin. Confirmation course trip. I didn't much enjoy Berlin, but maybe I wasn't there long enough. The trip to Sachsenhausen was cool though and left a deep impression.

2005: Amsterdam. I remember it was crazy trying to find your way in Amsterdam since everything is named after the damned canals xD Canal name + central/south/north/east/west = hard time. I loved the Anne Frank museum.

2005: London/Torquay/Exeter. My first trip alone and also my first language course. 14 years old and thought I knew English. I figured out pretty soon that I didn't :P But it was my first time in London (London Eye!) and I loved the bus trips we took through the Devon countryside. It felt so incredibly Celtic :3 The three weeks I spent in England were some of my most memorable weeks abroad.

2006: Tenerife. We took a trip back to Tenerife. Mostly, I think, because my little sister (born '94) didn't remember much of the place and we always talked about how fun it was. For the sake of it we stayed at the same old hotel. Went to a Butterfly house/Bird house and were generally nostalgic. The street salesman with the spray coloured paintings were still there :) One thing different was that we spent more time at the beach than at the pool this time. Probably cause it was easier for Mum and Dad to keep us in sight at the pool when we were little.

2007: Nice/Cannes. First trip to France with Mum and sister. We went to a Sea park and saw a performance by killer whales and dolphins. Favourite animals :3 Also remembered a waitress being impressed with me cause I ordered our food in French :P

2007: Alicante. First trip to Spain with my family. My dad has business contacts down there and combined a business trip with a family trip. Alicante is quite small, but it was a pleasant trip.

2008: Paris/Nantes. School exchange program trip to France. Bus down. Stayed in Paris for three days and did everything that you're supposed to do in Paris: Le Louvre, Sacre Coeur, Hotel de Ville... Then we went to Nantes and stayed with our respective student's family. The students were younger than us, which was noticeable... On our way back home we stopped in Paris for half a day and went up the Eiffel Tower. This is also my first trip with my digital camera :P

2008: Stockholm. My sister had never been to Stockholm so she pestered us about going there for summer vacation. Which we did. And we did everything: Old Town, Royal Museum, Gröna Lund, Skansen, archipelago tour, Globen, the guard shift at the Royal Palace...

2008: Edinburgh/Inverness/Drumnadrochit. Our three weeks long project work trip went to Edinburgh, along with a sidetrip to Inverness and Drumnadrochit because our project work was about Nessie. The Loch Ness museum in Drumnadrochit was boring, but despite the distinct smell of countryside I liked the Scottish countryside. And Edinburgh is one of my favourite cities of all time. Dying to go back there.

2010: Tokyo/Kyoto/Seoul. Best trip of my life. Dying to go back there. I loved everything about Tokyo (no shit!), the geisha show in Kyoto was very special to me and I loved the aquarium and the mountain in Seoul :3

2011: London. Went back to London and did everything properly. Westminster Abbey, the Dungeons, the Aquarium, St. Paul's Cathedral, Tower of London... I like London a lot, but I've been in better cities.

Can't really remember if the earlier years are correct. But I think it's something along those lines... Then there are also some small trips that we've made that I don't really know when we made them... Like the roadtrip to the north. First time using a kick-sled and drinking milk fresh from the cow (disgusting btw). On the way up we stopped at the candy cane factory (Gränna) and got to taste all the different stages of candy canes. Or the trip to a drive through zoo in Denmark, which was really cool. Tigers up close and feeding giraffes (they have blue tongues) :3 But hmm... I guess I've been around quite a bit?

Oh and then there's the trip to Disney World in Orlando, FL that my parents made together with Dad's best friend's family in 1991. Of course I don't remember anything. It was my first birthday on the flight home. 

Why I ♥ Japanese merchandise

I'm totally in love with Japanese merch and design. Why? Mostly, I think, cause it's not terribly gender classified or age classified. It's cool when a guy can look like a girl, like this:

Keep in mind that these boys aren't transgender or transvestites. 

They're just cross-dressing cause they like it.

Here everything is so divided. You'd never find Hello Kitty in the ladies' department and you'd never see Mickey Mouse on a grown man's sneakers. In Japan I was so happy to find purple sneakers with glitter and Disney themes on them in the mens' department. My feet are too big to fit into the largest size of ladies' shoes :( The fact that I could find those kind of shoes made the possibility of me actually buying shoes a little higher, and I wasn't restricted to black Converse. 

Other than that I love that themes from manga, anime, Disney etc aren't restricted to children. It's no big deal if adult girls have Hello Kitty or Disney straps on their mobile phones. It's no big deal if a man has a cool teddybear strap. It wasn't a big deal when I was completely fangirling when I found this section full of One Piece merch at Kiddy Land:

Shounen Jump Store was filled with teenagers and adults. Here that store would almost be equal to a toy store. Here I'm almost embarrassed to enter toy stores, in Tokyo Kiddy Land was filled with teenagers and adults. I loved to walk around inside the Disney Store in Shibuya and I loved that there were as many teenagers and young adults out on dates at Disneyland as there were children with their parents. I loved that not only children were hugging Donald and Goofy when they came around, but teenage girls too. 

Something else that I really like is that cartoons aren't just something for children. But in Japan there are cartoons (anime) for all ages and it's alright to be obsessed with a cartoon. In my first year studying Japanese at the university I met a girl who absolutely adored Moomin and wanted all the merch she could find with the characters. This girl was in her 20's and it was absolutely nothing weird about it. And when was the last time you saw a new cartoon being advertised like this in the busiest areas of the city?

But what got me into Japanese merch in the first place was that they had perfected something that really spoke to me: the creepy cute. I fell in love with the Gloomy bears. Cute teddy bears that kills and eats everyone who threatens the girl they belong to. I have two: a pink and a black one. I would love to expand my collection with a purple and a white one too, but the Swedish store that sold them has closed down :(

I also fell in love with Junko Mizuno's dolls and art. It's beautiful and creepy at the same time. I don't yet own something of hers, but I would really love to - very much.

Then there's Skelanimals (which I'm not sure is originally Japanese, but anyway they are obviously inspired by Japanese style and art) and there's also h.NAOTO's fashion, which is so cool and incredibly creepy cute. Enough to spawn a musical group with two of everyone's favourite ex-Morning Musume members. 

h.NAOTO also come in dolls as I discovered in Kiddy Land. I think of these dolls everytime I see a CM for Monster High here. And I wonder why such cool dolls didn't exist when I was a kid.

Other than the creepy cute, Japanese merchandise has proved that to be cute it doesn't have to be baby pink. I like when things can be cute, but not necessarily the colour of cotton candy. My favourite merch as of right now is that of Sentimental Circus and Mamegoma. Sentimental Circus seems very inspired by Alice in Wonderland (which also is a big hit in Japan) and I really like that :)

I guess that's pretty much it. I love it cause you can never really grow out of it. I love it cause it's available for me, although I'm above the age of 12. I love it cause it's different from what we have and yet it's still very much the same, but with a twist.