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

Total War shenanigans

I was going to play Thrones of Britannia, but it ended up just annoying me. No matter the faction I started with I always got assaulted by an enemy army more than twice the size of anything I could even manage financially at that point. Lost more than one of the few zones I had in the very beginning (again no matter the faction). All this basically due to the fact that the game had already decided who your allies and vassals and enemies were before you even started. And after that it just became a game of playing catch-up to an AI that seemed to have played halfway through the game already whereas I was just getting started. 

I like to take my time. I want to start out just building things. Build my towns. Build my armies. Build my coffers. Take a couple of rebel settlements along my borders. And then bam! launch my armies in every direction at the same time and come upon every faction like a wave and disintegrate them. But in this game I had no chance to do any building. Not only because the enemy armies came and stole half of my zones, but also because the timer for recruiting and building was too damn long. Everything took way longer than it needed to for no obvious reason. 

Instead of immediately dropping it I decided to mod it. I went to the Steam workshop, which was admittedly pretty inadequate. But I found a few mods that seemed to be what I was looking for. A few balancing things, without being a total overhaul. 

I gave the game two more attempts as two different factions and noticed the mods didn't do much of a difference. 

At this point I had installed the latest main game; Three Kingdoms, but I was so annoyed with Thrones of Britannia that I decided to just go fuck it.

And so I returned to my favourite ever Total War game; Medieval 2. I've completed campaigns as Venice, Milan, France, England and Holy Roman Empire before. But since I hadn't yet completed a campaign on this version of the game I didn't have all the factions available to me. So I decided to go with England. 

Medieval 2 is one of the few Total War games that has a cheat console. One of my favourite things to do is to recruit a shitload of diplomats and send them out into the world and with my unlimited money (cheat code) I'd let them buy settlements and bribe generals until a faction was left with nothing but their capital, faction leader and faction heir. Those that can't be bought or bribed. 

Of course I'd also do the traditional fighting and beseiging with my own armies and generals. The most nerve-wrecking wars of the campaign this time was my last war against Hungary (when it was pretty much just me, Sicily, The Papal States and Hungary left on the map). Those poor cities were beseiged so many times and switched hands every couple rounds (Budapest/Vienna/Bucharest/Constantinople). No wonder the people rioted, revolted and threw us out *cough* Budapest *cough* (once Hungary, once me); and my war against the Timurids. When they showed up late in the game I had taken over most of the middle eastern parts of the map and was slowly working my way up into Russia and was just waiting for the Byzantine Empire to backstab me so I could devour them. The Timurids showed up much like the Mongols and started to just sack settlements without settling in them. I sent a horde of diplomats and assassins after their nomadic group of armies and the generals I didn't bribe into joining me I killed with my assassins. When the Timurids finally settled we were in full out war due to all my assassins and I was hard pressed to keep my settlements in Russia and Ukraine/Moldova. 

Hungary killed the most of my generals. I had two fleets on the way from Europe to the Middle East transporting seven generals because I had way too many generals in Europe and not enough in the Middle East. Hungarian fleets attacked and attacked and attacked my poor fleets and finally sank them before I even reached Greece. Killing seven generals in almost one fell sweep. Middle East had to keep managing without generals. And I bought three of Hungary's settlements as revenge. 

I always keep playing this game even after I've technically won the campaign. I still have turns left to use. So I play until I run out of turns. When I finished my turns in this campaign the Mongols had one settlement, the Timurids had two, Russia had one, the Moors had one, Sicily had two, Hungary had six, the Papal States had five, and the rest belonged to me :3

After I had finished the campaign on Medieval 2 I was leaning towards starting Three Kingdoms, but instead I downloaded and modded Medieval 2 with a complete overhaul mod that I first heard about a couple years ago. The Elder Scrolls: Total War. Since it's modded on Medieval 2 it's an engine I'm 100% familiar with and when I managed to load it up and start playing I was just giddy

I decided to go with the Aldmeri Dominion as my faction and the 3rd Era as my time and holy shit this mod is so well done. So much going on! So many things possible! If you take over Rimmen and build a specific building you can recruit the Tsaesci left there by the Akavir. If you take over all of Valenwood and build an altar in either Falinesti, Elden Root or Silvenar you can start the Wild Hunt and ally yourself with Hircine. Mannimarco shows up pretty early on and you can choose  to ally with him which will give you the option to dig up graves in every settlement and use them for necromancy to bolster your ranks with skeletons, liches, draugr etc. If you build a specific building in a port in Summerset, Valenwood or Elsweyr you can ally yourself with the Maormer. I did all of those things.

I even allied myself with Hircine so hard that he was adopted into my royal family, got married and had babies xD

The winning conditions for the long campaign in this game are pretty extensive, but I was well on my way there. I had taken over all of Valenwood, Anequina, and Pelletine. I had the Empire on the run and had taken over all their settlements, but the Emperor was on the run and couldn't be found so couldn't end the Empire, and I was slowly working my way into Skyrim and also taking over settlements from the Clan of Forebears. I was allied with the Clans of Black Marsh and the House of Dagoth, and then...

The Oblivion Crisis happened. You can choose before the game starts whether you want the Oblivion Crisis to happen or not. I decided I wanted it, but I thought I'd have more time. Out of seemingly nowhere I was suddenly thrown out of Kvatch, which became a Hordes of Oblivion settlement, and armies from Oblivion showed up on several of my doorsteps. They took Shimmerene and started to go from Kvatch towards the Imperial City, Anvil and Arenthia. They also showed up in Morrowind next to the Velothi mountains, among the forts on the Empire side of the same mountains, and in the middle of Elsweyr. Suddenly all my armies were hard pressed to repel the invaders. I managed to get Shimmerene back (but lost royal family member Ancano in the process) and assassinated and bribed my way through a bunch of armies, and yet I couldn't get Kvatch back no matter how many armies I threw at it. Martin and the Champion of Cyrodiil showed up as fully decked out generals outside Cloud Ruler Temple, but they were no help at all as they just stood there doing nothing. And in the midst of all this the Nerevarine prophecy was fulfilled xD Messed up timeline!

I got pretty sick of throwing all my guys at Kvatch so decided to take a break and play something else. It was only during that break that I realised I may have shot myself in the foot. The notification you get when the Oblivion Crisis starts says to defeat Mehrunes Dagon and repel the invaders. I was working hard at repelling them... But I also managed to bribe Dagon to join my side. Which means I can't defeat him. I may have to use him as the general of my repeated attempts to take back Kvatch and maybe he will be killed by his own hordes...

But that's a problem for when I come back to Elder Scrolls :) I'm nowhere near done with this mod, but I had to take a break. 

Doctor Who S13

This is probably the best season Jodie has done for Doctor Who. Too bad it was her last proper season. 

The entire six-episode season spans the same storyline without interruptions. It starts out confusing as there are several enemies, characters, storylines and timelines seemingly happening separately but they all come together at the end to form one giant cohesive story and it's brilliant. 

I'm still not a fan of the whole Timeless Child story and I kind of wish Russell T Davies will retcon the whole thing. 

The Village of Angels episode could've touched more on and built upon the fan theory that Weeping Angels are disgraced Time Lords. It kind of grazed it, but there could've been so much more. It's been a fan theory since Tennant's last special End of Time where Time Lords were standing in the Weeping Angel pose behind the Lord President. Just make the theory canon, goddammit!

Otherwise? Absolute banger of a season. Dan is an amazing new companion and I love seeing him with Yaz. 

AND THE RETURN OF UNIT! I was so excited when they mentioned Lethbridge-Stewart in the 1967 episode! I was hoping they'd bring in an actor to portray the late great Nicholas Courtney as a young Lethbridge-Stewart as he looked in Classic Doctor Who, but no such luck. He just got a mention. 1968's Web of Fear episode is Lethbridge-Stewart's first Doctor Who appearance :3

Arcane S01

This show...

I had heard it was good, but damn...

It's breath-takingly amazingly awesome!

I don't play LoL. I have never played LoL. Couldn't care less about LoL. But that doesn't matter when it comes to the show. The story, characters and universe get introduced and represented very well on their own without the crutch that is the game. If the game title wasn't on the show's title card then nobody would have guessed the show belonged to the same universe as the game. 

The first few episodes before the time-skip foreshadow a lot of darkness to come, but the foreshadowing doesn't even begin to cover it. 

But the characters are oh so amazing, and characters I thought I'd hate ended up being some of my faves. Silco, Viktor, Jinx... The darker and morally grey characters ended up my faves (so not a surprise in hindsight)

Not much else I can say without spoiling the whole thing. But it's perfect. Animation is on point. Voice-acting is top notch. It's probably the best thing I've seen so far this year. 

Fan made music video below contains spoilers.

My last 5 books: One good thing in a sea of meh

1. Frostbitna, av Lena Ollmark. Det är fem år sen jag läste förra delen av Firnbarnen och den här har antagligen suttit i min bokhylla lika länge. Jag gillar skarpt hur kusliga alla böckerna är och flera gånger blev den här delen så pass kuslig att jag satt med rysningar. Jag kommer aldrig se nattfjärilar på samma sätt igen. Frostbitna utforskar ursprunget till ondskan och barnen (speciellt Natta) tar reda på vad som hände för att lärarinnan skulle hamna där hon hamnade. Jag uppskattar hur författaren skriver barnen. De är tolv år gamla och hon gör det så tydligt att de står med ena foten i tonåren och den andra kvar i barndomen. De vill så gärna bli tagna på allvar av de vuxna i sin närhet och inte bli sedda som "bara barn", samtidigt som de kräver stöd av sina äldre. Barnen beskriver den nya läraren Viktor som så mycket äldre än dem, men samtidigt som mycket yngre än de andra lärarna, vilket får mig att tro att Viktor inte ens är trettio år än och hans beteende genom hela boken är något som jag verkligen kan relatera till. Natta försöker desperat upprätthålla sin image som den duktiga, Teddy försöker desperat att bli sedd som en person utöver det vanliga, och Leo försöker desperat att bryta från sin ligistimage. De är barn halvvägs ur barndomen och författaren beskriver de så väl. Teddys suck och stön över att de vuxna inte förstår är något som jag fortfarande kan relatera till. Under bokens gång får läsaren "höra" diverse olika spökhistorier och de hänger alla ihop med ondskan. Jag läste den här boken mitt i natten med minusgrader utomhus och jag rekommenderar starkt att alla gör likadant. 

2. The Shape of Water, by Guillermo del Toro & Daniel Kraus. Four years ago I saw the trailer for the movie and thought it looked cool so decided to pick up the book. I still haven't seen the movie. Not sure I want to now. As much as I love the creature and his childish amazement throughout the book, it doesn't take away from the fact that this book is entirely predictable and full of terrible people. Strickland is the worst, but it isn't his fault. It's obvious that he suffers from several layers of severe untreated PTSD that's slowly making him lose his mind completely. Reading about Lainie made me worried her stupidity was catching. She's a sheltered housewife yearning for independence. I can get behind that. But not when her sheltered-ness leaves both innocence and naiveté behind and just rushes forward to dumb. Not sure if she's a result of her times or if she's just *that* dumb. Zelda mostly makes me sad. She has settled throughout her entire life and she can't seem to stop. I really wanted to like Elisa, her being the protagonist and all, but everything about her was predictable and that predictability made it so that she had no personality. She liked shoes. Preposterous shoes. The ending? Saw that coming from a mile away.

3. Pottungen, av Anna Laestadius Larsson. Det är flera år sen jag läste Barnbruden, men varje del i den här serien är tillräckligt fristående för att det inte ska vara några problem. Den här andra delen i trilogin berättar om händelserna efter Gustav IIIs död. Gustav III hade gjort sig själv enväldig, och efter honom följde en rad av lynniga kungar, och som vanligt är Sophie och Charlotta mitt i smeten utan att kunna  påverka någonting. När jag var klar med boken kändes det som om ingenting alls hade hänt under hela boken. Ingenting hände, men på ett intressant sätt. Om Barnbruden var uppkallad efter Charlotta och hade henne i fokus, så var Pottungen uppkallad efter Johanna och hade henne i fokus. Och jag kan inte bry mig mindre om Johanna. Eller Nils. Filip gör mig bara irriterad. Vad är poängen med den lilla familjen alls? Boken var lättläst och gick relativt fort att ta sig igenom. Men det var dödfödd läsning. 

4. Räfvhonan, av Anna Laestadius Larsson. Sista boken och tydligt uppkallad efter Sophie som står i fokus. Sophie är en sån som gärna gnäller men som inte like gärna försöker göra någonting åt problemet. Charlotta försöker göra något åt problemet och blir skrattad rakt upp i ansiktet. Trevligt, Axel. Den här boken berättar om startskottet för den svenska omvälvningen från ståndssamhället till arbetarsamhället. Det är tydligt att den gustavianska adeln fruktade att det skulle gå lika illa för dem som för den franska adeln bara dryga trettio år tidigare under den franska revolutionen, och visst blir det farligt för dem. Speciellt för Axel men han gjorde sig själv till en vandrande måltavla genom att vara en ständig påminnelse om franska revolutionen och därmed en ständig påminnelse att folket kan ställa sig över överheten. Författaren har ändrat slutet på Axels historia och flikat in Nils där. Men det var väl ett ganska påtvingat slut för Nils för att räta ut historien. Räfvhonan var bättre än Pottungen, och den innehöll mer action, men samtidigt kändes hela läsupplevelsen väldigt... meh. 

5. The Orange is the New Black, by Piper Kerman. I only picked this up because I loved the TV show. But compared to the show the book was very mediocre. I enjoyed reading it, but it was nowhere near the level of the show. The book was pretty impersonal and it was clear that Kerman tried to describe it all in as general a manner as she could manage, which meant that a lot of the people, places and happenings lacked personality and character. Time and time again she repeats how lucky she was/is and it gets pretty repetitive. This is by no means the common experience of a prison and she makes a tremendous effort to point that out. Everything is from her perspective (and understandably so) but she is a clear outsider in this world and so her perspective isn't a reliable description of prison life. This book is just too smooth for the places and people it deals with, and it's flat. 

Doctor Who S12

We were both very disappointed in series 11 and so it took us way too long to get around to series 12. I had heard good things about series 12 though, so I was cautiously optimistic. 

Already the first episode promised a much better season than series 11 and it felt good to be excited about Doctor Who again.

I still miss Capaldi from time to time, but it happened more than once through the course of series 12 that I was sat thinking "13, your 10 is showing" and I loved it. 

My only gripe is that Jack didn't get to see the Doctor even after all that. 

Loved the new incarnation of the Master, but Cybermen? Again? Wasn't that Missy's deal? (First Capaldi season). Although the Lone Cyberman was really cool. 

Favourite episodes this series are probably the historical ones Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror and The Haunting of Villa Diodati. I also really enjoyed Praxeus (although it got a little preachy) and Spyfall was a great two-parter. 

I feel like The Timeless Children kinda sorta gave the Doctor over to godhood and I didn't like that. It was too much. The Doctor is supposedly an unassuming wandering rebel among his/her own people. So why add an origin story like that?

Anyway, series 12 was great and now I'm really excited about series 13 and the specials leading up to regeneration :3

The End of the F***ing World

This show was my pick. I seemingly really enjoy shows about troubled teenagers and this was no exception. I thought it would be quirky and funny, but it turned out really deep and meaningful (as well as quirky and funny).

Alyssa is a bitch, but she knows. 

James is odd, but he knows.

And somehow they work.

The first season tells the story of how they run away and get up to all sorts of shit that gets the police involved.

The second season deals with the aftermath of what happened in season one.

Both seasons are really good, although (as always) the first one is better.

Lost in Space S03

We had waited and waited for this season. The last one. The climax. The resolution. And just with the previous two seasons every episode was so good. Every episode feels like a movie and the quality is just staggering.

I loved finding out the truth about SAR and Scarecrow and Robot. Loved seeing the kids figure everything out while the adults struggled with fear and paranoia and what-ifs. 

And Will has come such a long way. From the hesitant, sensitive little kid to a literal hero trying to save humanity in space while also trying not to sacrifice himself, but absolutely not ruling it out and is up to the task, should it happen. I'm just so proud of him. 

And that ending is just the best possible ending to the entire show. When the whole thing was over I just felt happy and content. This was so good and it was perfect. 

This show is completely worth every minute. Watch it.

Dealing with backlog: The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing - Final Cut

I played the first and second Van Helsing games in 2013 and 2014 respectively. The first game was probably one of the first games I ever bought on Steam. Then the third installment completely fell off my radar and I discovered this Final Cut several years later. Final Cut is a compilation of the three installments with a few things added and some other things removed to spice it up for returning players.

So this is a Diablo-esque action RPG in a gothic noir setting and I'm all for it. You know every monster and legend and weird science in the gothic stories of the 19th century (and the early 20th century)? You'll get to immerse yourself in a world full of them; fight most of them and help some of them. There are mad scientists and steampunk-y cyborgs and legends come to life. The humour is sarcastic and witty and the game is full of references to pop culture. I love everything about this. 

As for the classes you can be a gun-toting hunter or a sword-wielding knight or sorcerer (scientific sorcerer) or summoner. I played this as the classic gunner and based my own build on poison damage with ice as back-up in case of poison resistance. With a bit of summoning on the side.

As for the story it's a simple monster slaying story with the gothic noir twist I love. You are Van Helsing, son of the legendary Van Helsing. Your father was sent a message asking for assistance from the country of Borgovia, but since he doesn't take cases anymore you get to go off on this adventure, and with you is Lady Katarina - a ghost bound to serve the Van Helsing family. 

In the first installment you fight the mad scientist Fulmigati and his minions created by weird science. Alongside them are several different kinds of mythical creatures and if you pay attention you get to pull the Excalibur out of the stone, you get to fight the murderous rabbit from Monty Python's Holy Grail (this rabbit show up in every installment), and a whole lot of other things.

In the second installment you create the Resistance and fight General Harker and his cyborg minions. You have an unusual ally throughout this part. The Resistance offers war table missions, which I'm all for. If you pay attention you can find Gandalf, and Sherlock Holmes' home among other things.

In the third installment you fight Koschei the Deathless and this part binds all of them together beautifully. This installment takes you through the Underworld and you also find out Katarina's backstory. Here you can, among other things, find out the truth about Hansel and Gretel.

After I had finished the mainstory of the Final Cut I went back and played the third Van Helsing game separately. There's also a game called Deathtrap that's based on the Van Helsing game but only the Tower Defense parts of it. So Deathtrap is simply a Tower Defense game in the same style and universe as the Van Helsing games. 

I started to write this review when I felt done with the Final Cut, but having written this... I kind of want to go back and play through the whole thing again. This gothic-noir action-RPG with tower defense elements is one of my absolute favourites. 

My last 5 books: Fantasy, comics and some real-life advice

1. Rule of Wolves, by Leigh Bardugo. This book is just... I can't even... Wow. I love Nikolai. I love Aleksander and I adore Kaz Brekker and they're all in this together and I can barely contain my joy. I've never liked Zoya (although the author makes it clear time and again that she does) but in this book Zoya kind of grows on me. I never enjoyed Nina's POV in Six of Crows but in King of Scars and especially in Rule of Wolves she really grows on me and she has gone from being one of those character POV that I just had to get through, to being one of my favourites. Shu Han becomes an actual place in this novel and stops being a mythical land. I had so much fun reading this book and I really didn't want to put it down ever. There were so many instances when the real battle started that I thought that Nikolai wouldn't make it, we were getting close to the end of the book (and duology) after all... I was just sat there... "If Nikolai dies, I'mma riot." The ending was just perfect. Redemption for the Darkling. Nikolai gets to keep the throne without being on the throne. My lovely, relatable Hanne gets to live her best trans-life in the best way possible and Nina gets to be the queen she deserves to be. We've come a long way from the Little Palace, haven't we? I can't wait for the next Grisha-book. 

2. The Lives of Saints, by Leigh Bardugo. A little anthology of fairy tales. This is the Istorii Sankt'ya from Shadow and Bone. I kind of expected more, but at the same time it's exactly what I expected. Mostly it's a bunch of tales about how much humanity sucks and how we always manage to make the choice that will end up being the worst for us. Most of the stories were only two pages long and this book is a great example of how you can say a lot with few words. My favourite stories were Sankt Nikolai, Sankt Vladimir, Sankta Yeryin, Sankt Lukin, Sankta Magda, Sankt Dimitri, and The Starless Saint. Absolute favourite would probably be Sankt Dimitri because of the pure preposterousness of that ending. The only one of these stories that made me chuckle. Definitely recommend if you're a fan of the Grishaverse, but only if you have read the rest of the books up until Rule of Wolves because the last story in this book could be considered a spoiler. 

3. The Wisdom of Crowds, by Joe Abercrombie. I did not see that coming. But my boy Glokta is still my boy. Not so much boy anymore, though, but don't you dare kill him! How to talk about this book without spoiling everything? There's so much death and one, specifically, felt like a gut-punch. Honestly, after the events of this book I wish Orso had gone through with the execution at the end of The Trouble with Peace. It would've saved him so much trouble. Already before Savine pointed it out herself I noticed how she had ended up married to her father in a way. But Leo is a washed out, diminished version of the gloriousness that is Sand dan Glokta. What this book does, and does brilliantly, is pointing out that the people, the masses, don't really know what they want. They clamour for freedom, but once they get it they need someone to hold their hand and tell them what to do. People as an entity need their leaders and their government, people as individuals need their freedom and differentiating the two is a delicate balance - which Orso and Pike and Judge and so many more all find out. The irony of the title is that crowds don't have any wisdom. This book is full of references to the original trilogy and now I feel like I need to re-read it. It has been like ten years after all... I need to rediscover the origins of Old Sticks. I need to re-experience the sarcasm of young Inquisitor Glokta. The trilogy of this new generation has been a wild brilliant ride and it will take me weeks to get over this.

4. Very Good Lives, by J.K. Rowling. This short little book is just the commencement speech Rowling gave to Harvard's graduating class of 2008. I finished it in something like 15-20 minutes. It's very short and half of it is pictures. But what struck me in this (and what always strikes me in anything non-fiction she does) is how eloquent she is. She knows precisely which words to use and if words is a superpower, she definitely has it. And she makes a very good point throughout this whole speech, without being the boring adult who tries to tell a group of fresh graduates that she knows better, she tells them to live their best lives and not be afraid to fail. Reach for the stars and don't be afraid to fall. A lot of adults will tell you what you can't do, that some things are meant to remain as dreams and not reality, but how can you know without trying? One part of this speech struck a very personal chord with me: "I was striking an uneasy balance between the ambition I had for myself and what those closest to me expected of me. I was convinced that the only thing I wanted to do, ever, was write novels. However, my parents, [...] took the view that my overactive imagination was an amusing personal quirk that would never pay a mortgage or secure a pension. So they hoped that I would take a vocational degree." This is only 80 pages (and half of it pictures) but it still managed to make me smile and chuckle and even brought a tear to my eye at one point. If you want to truly discover Rowling's masterful way with words - this is it. I would very much like a collection of essays and non-fiction writing from Rowling in the future. 

5. The Sandman vol 7: Brief Lives, by Neil Gaiman. It has been way too long since I read the previous Sandman volume. Years and years ago, but in true Gaiman spirit the story is simple enough to be easily remembered but intriguing enough to never get old and still intricate and complicated enough to generate so so many questions. Layers. The master of layers. I love Delirium in this. Everything she says is like talking to a small child; you know all the words but they don't fit together in your mundane adult mind the way they do for a child. And in this volume in every interaction between Dream and Delirium Dream is a perfect personification of how I feel interacting with children. They are colourful and whimsical and quirky and I'm mellow darkness. The end to Orpheus's story was fitting. Delirium and Dream set out to find Destruction, but in the end, what Dream discovers on their journey is that even if they are Endless they aren't static and change is inevitable. Dream and Death remain my favourites, but Delirium was an absolute delight (pun absolutely intended) in this volume and Desire was just *chef's kiss* Barnabas's claim that dogs don't make fools of themselves made me chuckle all the while remembering how the old family dog used to trip over her own feet while trying to catch a thrown stick before it hit the ground. I had a great time with this volume. 

Allt För Sverige S10

This show has been one of my guilty pleasures for the past eight years. For people who don't know (and I can't find any information on whether this show is actually broadcast in the US - although I feel like it should be) this is a Swedish reality show based on ten Swedish-Americans coming to Sweden to find their Swedish roots and the big prize at the end of the competition is a family reunion with the Swedish side of their family. It's great to watch the Americans find out about their history. It's also a lot of fun to watch their reactions to things that I find thoroughly normal but that they find super strange. 

They usually film it during early summer. Around June mostly. and then broadcast it during the autumn scheduling. But in 2020 the show was cancelled completely due to covid. And in 2021 they had to postpone it and so this season was filmed in August and the broadcasting ended just yesterday. 

Before this season started broadcasting it was announced as the last ever season of this show. Made me sad. But with the state of the world, I guess it's understandable. The world is a very different place now compared to when the show started in 2011. 

But then I read a post from the host's Instagram where he states he hopes for another season. So maybe it's not completely dead and gone? Fingers crossed for more.