七転び八起き。

Dress up for birthday party!

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 17:03:34 GMT

Dear folks,
last weekend I was at a birthday party of my dear friend drowned_emotion. As always she decided to make a theme party, which I always support, because I like to dress up. We have kind of the same friends, so we took the train together. I have to admit that I didn't make many photos, just with the birthday child, my best friend pudor_verus and me when we were dressed up. There were others who took many photos though, so I snatched some of drowned_emotion's post on blogger about her birthday.

In the afternoon before we arrived we had some very tasty cake, then we changed for the party and gave the presents to the birthday child. pudor_verus and me gave her the wand of Severus Snape (Harry Potter)! I was really happy that she liked her present! Later on we started to play games like Tabu, activity and Singstar on Playstation. We had a lot of fun and stayed up quite long, so I was tired the next day. But I didn't really bother, because it was such a nice evening. <3
Here are the photos of my camera, on which you can see us all dressed up. The theme was a mix between 'fandom' and 'redlight'. The birthday child (on the right in the first picture) was dressed up like a japanese maid, next to her my best friend in a slutty Star Trek costume and I was dressed up as Starbuck (Kara Thrace) of Battlestar Galactica, but with the sunglasses and the cigar I also looked like a pimp. Ehem. But also a close up of the tattoo one of my friends painted on my arm for my costume. And I'm sorry for all the selfies, but actually I don't do that often, so I hope you don't mind.

Oh well, it was a very nice weekend, but since then I was sick and layed in bed. By now I feel a little better though and I hope tomorrow everything will be back to normal. For the end of this post, here a video I'm watching and listening to on repeat. Song by CocoRosie, video by Norman Reedus.

Cheers, nerds~

Easter in Schwerin - 2

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 23:17:12 GMT

So here is part two of my Easters posts. On my last day, which was a monday, I went for a walk around the castle of Schwerin with one of my cousins. I took some photos and also recorded a little. First I will show you the photos and then you can watch the video, if you are interested.

The lake around the castle was still frozen, but the sun was shining already with a lot of strength. Because of my filter on my lense I was able to create some effects with the photos. People can also get married at the castle and some of them put chains to a small bridge and binded them with a lock. As a symbol kind of, engraved with their names or something. In the last two photos you can see my cousin by the way.

The video is not in the format I wanted to have, but the Windows Movie Maker was a b**** and I was just able to create a slightly crappy looking video. I still like it, but I'm annoyed by the bars at the top and bottom. Maybe one day I will have a better programm, that can create videos also on a bigger format so that they don't loose their data quality. The song you hear is Salvation by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, the band I saw over a week ago. Please tell me what you think!

Easter from RaikaXY on Vimeo.

Cheers, mates~

Easter in Schwerin

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 14:40:44 GMT

A little late there is finally my Easter post (but I hope you all had a nice Easter!). It will be split into two parts, because there are a lot of photos and even a video I made. That is one reason why I needed such a long time to post, because I wanted to finish the video first. To cut a video together I need to be in the right mood and have the right song to do it. Today that was finally the case. This first post will consist of photos though.

Over the Easter holidays I was of course in Schwerin with my family. I spend there 5 days. I needed that time to recover a little from myself and it really helps me to be there, because I feel save to think about myself, if you know what I mean. The first days, thursday and friday, we didn't do much. Just a lot of puzzles in our pyjamas and we watched the TV Crime show Castle, which was great for me, because I'm a big fan of that show. I know already all episodes, but I didn't mind to watch them all over again.

On friday we painted the first easter eggs. Just with feltpens though and I wanted to show you some of the ones I painted because I liked them so much. On saturday we finally used the egg colours and made many colourful eggs. You can also see that we used some oil to make them shiny after the colouring was finished. One of those made by my smallest cousin looked especially artificial and her sister and me wanted to make a photo of it, because we liked it so much. I think it looked little like a soapstone. We also decided that this night we would be the ones who would hide the easter eggs and not my aunt, so that the next day my aunt, uncle and granny would have to look for the eggs in the living room.

So the next morning was Easter morning and they looked for the eggs. I still don't know if they found all of them. We had a nice breakfast and you can see what lied at my seat, some little easter presents.

On the late afternoon I went with my uncle to his sailboat harbour to make some photos. It was the perfect light and he wanted to show me some nice ice structures I took photos off as you can see. Of course the boats were all away or inside, because the Schwerin lake was still frozen during that time.

In my next post there will be the last day in Schwerin and a video I made.

Cheers~

Weakness just stray dog desperately searching for a home in you...

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 13:04:14 GMT

Yesterday I was at another concert. This time it was my beloved band Sizarr again. I just couldn't leave this concert out. I don't want to pressure everyone who is reading this another time to love this band deeply as I do, but... LOVE THIS BAND FROM NOW AND FOREVER!(/)%&%)(/$&)%(/

Sizarr were supported by the band MEHAWK. The vocal of that band comes from the same town like all members of Sizarr, Landau. My best friend, who was with me and I, we were not surprised that they were from the same town, because they are all kind of dreamy fellas. MEHAWK are electronica, but are using many other instruments on stage as well, which is kind of impressing, because this band consists just of two members. I'm quite relieved that when I'm listening to their music now that I still like them as much as I did live last night. Sadly there is not much to buy yet, but you can listen to one very good song here and they have another one on Soundcloud as well.

Sizarr were as dreamy and out of place as ever. I always have the feeling they are constantly stoned or something. When they talk they usually confuse the audience with their comments. But it doesn't really matter, because everyone loves them even more for that and that they are so talented. They use many different instruments, electronic devices and effects basically at the same time. They fit perfectly together and you really just smile along with them, when they do because they realise that it just feels everything so right.
Because I already talked so much about this band on my blog I will make this short. They played all songs from their album + plus the extra song FAKE FOXES which can be found as an extra song to PSYCHO BOY HAPPY on amazon. It used to be an extra just including when you buy the album on amazon, but now you can also buy only this song. But more importantly they played a new song. They didn't say what it's called though. But it had a little caribean touch and maybe they wrote it during their tour in America. But I don't know that for sure, it just reminded me of it. I'm really looking forward to this year and what it will bring for this band. I'm sure they have a lot more coming up when I look that their audience is constantly growing. The last time I saw them live it was at the Übel & Gefährlich Turmzimmer, which is quite small (maybe for 300 people) but was sold out, but this time they were at the Ballsaal (maybe for 600 people). It wasn't sold out, but still quite full.
Just for those who still didn't listen to any song of them, here are some examples again:
Purple Fried
Boarding Time
Run Dry (that's a new video!)

That's it from me today. Cheers, mates~

Open up your eyelids and let your demons run.

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 14:09:20 GMT

Usually I don't go unprepared to a concert, but yesterday that was the case. I went to the concert of BLACK REBEL MOTORCYCLE CLUB at Große Freiheit 36 here in Hamburg. Before I just watched a few videos on Youtube some weeks ago and I just remembered that these few videos already convinced me that I had to go to that concert even without knowing the music. A friend of mine had a spare ticket and asked me if I wanted to go, which moved my attention on this band.

Because I didn't really know their music, this concert report will be different than usual and I decided I just write a little about my impressions and what I can find in my memory and search the internet for you about videos and information. First of all they had a support band called TRANSFER. While we were wainting infront some minutes before entrance another woman told us that she had already seen the band in Berlin, so also TRANSFER and she didn't like them, because they reminded her too much of Scorpions. Because of that I was a little prejudiced, but when they started to play I couldn't find anything Scorpions-like about them. They were actually quite good, very thick and bombastic, also melodic sound. I was relived that it wasn't a unbearable support band. Of course on the record when I hear their music now I don't find them as a high impact as they were live. I almost expected that though. So for a support band they were great, but I won't buy their music. Two videos for you to get an impression:

1 & 2

TRANSFER's show was over very fast. I think they just played 5 songs or something. Not very long and then we had to wait a felt-like eternity until finally the mainact started. But I forgave them very fast, because they were just brilliant! The stage was almost completely filled with fog and they had a very dark light show (mainly with spots). The bandmember were wearing black clothes and one of the vocals (they had two, one was playing the bass and one the guitar) had also a hood put on, their hair was falling into their faces and they completely concentrated on the music. I actually prefer when bands don't talk much and play music. The less they talk the more they can play, I always say. Of course they said Thank you and that they really enjoy being here and that they have a new album, but that was about it. As I can see I didn't really tell you yet what kind of music they are playing. It's a mixture of rock, indie, alternative and rock'n'roll and country elements and this song BEAT THE DEVIL'S TATTOO was the reason why I immediately knew that I had to see them live! Another reason why I sympathised with them was because they have a woman as their drummer. She is amazing!! Although when they started their activities back in 1998 in San Francisco, they first had a male drummer, but as far as I understood with the time they had a lot of troubles with him over the years and then he quit. After some time they found her. Their newer stuff also sounds less rhythmic, and more melodic, but in a really good way and not boring. Although at the concert they also had an unplugged part. I guess the rest of the audience liked it, although western people tend to chat when the music gets a little calmer and I always ask why they are at the concert? They can chat at home, outside or at a bar and don't have to pay 25€ for it. Anyway! I was really more into the loud and rhythmic stuff than in the calm stuff, don't know why. I guess it's a reason why I tend not to go to folk concerts, because I like concerts more where I can move and dance. SPREAD YOUR LOVE. The audience was in a very good mood, jumped, poged and danced at the front, but we were upstairs (where I usually am at Große Freiheit), beer was thrown around, as well as scarfs and jackets, sometimes it smelled like swimming pool (I think that was from the aircon). I liked to watch the man reponsible for the light show. To make a real good light show you put everything in live while the concert is running and I liked to see how he switched the different lightning styles during the show, dancing behind his mixing desk to stay in the right rhythm for the lights. In the breaks he always lit a cigarette, just like the drummer. She came on stage at the encore with a cigarette in the corner of her mouth. MAMA TAUGHT ME BETTER. Also the audience was quite mixed, old and young with different styles. Very interesting to watch.

I will put here some more videos with music for you to listen through if you are interested. In my opinion all their albums are highly recommendable, but maybe that is just me and my silly love for rough guitars, expressive vocals and a lot of rhythm.
STOP
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO MY ROCK'N'ROLL
666 CONDUCER
CONSCIENCE KILLER
MARTYR

What do you think?

Cheers~

On a day in spring...

Sat, 06 Apr 2013 15:49:57 GMT

... although spring seems to not having arrived yet in Germany, some weeks ago was one warm sunny day and I went out for a walk around where I live. I know I havn't updated very much lately, but now at least I have a little bit to show.

As I said I went for a walk to take photos, but also to record some videos and cut them together some days later. First I show you the photos.

As you can see the filter of my camera was very sueful again, because the light is very warm and not overexposed by the very strong sun. Next I show you the very first videos I made erely out of fun and because I wanted to see what I can do.

Airplanes from RaikaXY on Vimeo.

The Walk from RaikaXY on Vimeo.

The first video has an airplane theme with music of Battlestar Galactica, while the second is really walk themed and what I was seeing that day. The song is by Daughter. Maybe some of you havn't seen these videos yet and want to tell me what they think?

I post some more soon about my Easter I had with my family, but first I have some editing to do...

Cheers, mates~

It's kind of a funny story by Ned Vizzini

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 17:38:11 GMT

I finished this book quite a while ago, but lend it to a friend, because I really liked it. Not just because it's very easy to read. You could finish it in two days if you want to. At first I was skeptical, because my mum gave it to me last year I think and because of the topic and without me hearing of this book somewhere or seeing it in the book store. But then I read it two months ago and I was very convinced that this is indeed an important book! Text on the back:

“Ambitious New York City teenager Craig Gilner is determined to succeed at life – which means getting into the right high school to get into the right college to get the right job. But once Craig aces his way into Manhattan's Executive Pre-Professional High School, the pressure becomes unbearable. He stops eating and sleeping until, one night, he nearly kills himself.

Craig's suicidal episode gets him checked into a mental hospital, where his new neighbors include a transsexual sex addict, a girl who has scarred her own face with scissors, and the self-elected President Armelio. There, Craig is finally able to confront the sources of his anxiety.

Ned Vizzini, who himself spent time in a psychiatric hospital, has created a remarkably moving tale about the sometimes unexpected road to happiness.”

As I said, I read this book around two months ago and my memory is not so fresh about it as it was right after I read it of course. Usually I write a review about a book right after I read it, but that time I really wanted to give it to my friend. She liked it, by the way. Anyway... I remember when I read it, that it was for an emotional roller coaster, because in many things I could identify myself with him. For example is he someone who is catastrophizing a lot, his head is always cycling around. That is something I do a lot as well and it usually makes everything worse to me. I totally could understand why he developed this anxiety to face the world.

But although this all sounds very depressing, this book is also one of the most funniest I've ever read! It's almost completely written in youth language, especially in the dialogues he has with his friends. So it's also possible that one finds himself or herself in this book with a lot of giggling around because it can be quite hilarious! As the name says... “It's kind of a funny story”.

Let me see if I can find a good text example...

“Dr. Barney stared at me, his lips puckered, What was he so serious about? Who hasn't thought about killing themselves, as a kid? How can you grow up in this world and not think about it? It's an option taken by a lot of successful people: Ernest Hemingway, Socrates, Jesus. Even before high school, I thought that it would be a cool thing to do if I ever got really famous. If I kept making my maps [as a kid he used to draw maps of cities], for instance, and some art collector came across them and decided to make them worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, if I killed myself at the height of that, they'd be worth millions of dollars, and I wouldn't be responsible for them anymore. I'd have left behind something that spoke for itself, like the Brooklyn Bridge.
'I thought . . . you haven't really lived until you've contemplated suicide,' I said. 'I thought like it would be good to have a reset switch, like on the video games, to start again and see if you could go a different way.'
Dr. Barney said, 'It sounds as if you've been battling this depression for a long time.'
I stopped. No I hadn't . . . Yes I had.
Dr. Barney said nothing.
Then he said, 'You have a flat affect.'
'What's that?'
'You're not expressing a lot of emotion about these things.'
'Oh. Well. They're too big.'
'I see. Let's talk a little about your family.'
[…]
'We're going to get through this, Craig. Now, from a personal standpoint, why do you think you have this depression?'
'I can't compete at school,' I said. 'All the other kids are too much smarter.'
'What's the name of your high school?'
'Executive Pre-Professional High School.'
'Right. I've heard of it. Lots of homework.'
'Yeah. When I come home from school, I know I have all this work to do, but then my head starts the Cycling.'
''The Cycling.''
'Going over the same thoughts over and over. When my thoughts race against each other in a circle.'
'Suicidal thoughts?'
'No, just thoughts of what I have to do. Homework. And it comes up to my brain and I look at it and think 'I'm not going to be able to do that' and then it cycles back down and the next one comes up. And then things come up like 'You should be doing more extracurricular activities' because I should, I don't do near enough, and that gets pushed down and it's replaced with the big one: 'What college are you going to, Craig?' which is like the doomsday question because I'm not going to get into a good one.'
'What would a good one be?'
'Harvard. Yale. Duh.'
'Uh-huh.'
'And then the thoughts keep turning and I lie down on my bed and think them. And I used to not be able to lie down anywhere; I used to always be up doing something, but once the Cycling starts I can waste hours, just lying and looking at the ceiling, and time goes slowly and really fast at the same time – and then it's midnight and I have to go to sleep because no matter what I do, I have to be at school the next day. I can't let them know what's happening to me.'
'Do you have difficulty sleeping?'
'Sometimes not. When I do it's bad, though. I lie there thinking about how everything I've done is a failure, death and failure, and there's no hope for me except being homeless, because I'm never going to be able to hold a job because everyone else is so much smarter.''

Sometimes you tend to think that such thoughts just happen in your own mind and that you are alone with it. But this book is another example that you usually are not alone with the problems. That there are actually more people in this world who think the same sad thoughts. Maybe it's also no wonder that even children have burnouts these days...

So, if someone reads this, who is really really sad, don't give up, read this book and try to talk to someone about your feelings and thoughts!

Others who are just interested in a good read that deals also with actuality and kind of a generation sickness, read this book as well!

Cheers~

What makes you happy?

Sat, 02 Mar 2013 19:48:26 GMT

I'm sorry that I don't update my blog lately, but somehow I have really a lot on my mind I have to cope with. And I don't really want to talk about it here. So I will just tell you about my week, because I was in Schwerin again. Two times actually just in one week. I went from last friday till sunday, then went back home for an oral exam in Theory of Philosphy (passed it with 1,3, yay!) on tuesday, and then took spontaneously the train on wednesday back to Schwerin. Mainly because one cousin had holidays (he works in Schwerin) and other two were visiting, so we had a really great time with a lot of talking, cooking, drinking and just be together as a family. It was something I really needed and showed me how good I feel when I'm there. On thursday I did an early walk in the morning alone through Schwerin and took some photos I wanted to show you. Actually just one more time to give some reasons why Schwerin is one of the most beautiful but also very interesting and exciting cities in Germany... well, at least in my opinion.

As you can see I was able to express my love for faces of buildings and architectual combination again. And I really hope that this gives you an interesting impression like how it would be if you would walk through the streets of Schwerin yourself.

I really try to post more again. I want to do some music reviews and I hope someone will be interested in that.

Cheers~

And they will all agree, that I'm a suffocator...

Fri, 08 Feb 2013 12:47:09 GMT

Daughter - Smother

I'm wasted, losing time
I'm a foolish, fragile spine
I want all that is not mine
I want him but we're not right

In the darkness I will meet my creators
And they will all agree, that I'm a suffocator
I should go now quietly
For my bones have found a place
To lie down and sleep
Where all my layers can become reeds
All my limbs can become trees
All my children can become me
What a mess I leave
To follow
To follow
To follow
To follow

In the darkness I will meet my creators
They will all agree, I'm a suffocator

Suffocator
Suffocator
Oh no
I'm sorry if I smothered you
I'm sorry if I smothered you
I sometimes wish I'd stayed inside
My mother
Never to come out

My analogue camera collection.

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 16:36:34 GMT

I wanted to show you my analogue camera collection. From the left:
- Agfa Clack
- Yashica Mat - 124
- Agfa Color - Agnar
- Canon EOS 1000S
They are so beautiful, but the only one I'm able to use is the Canon. About the others I'm not sure yet, how and if they still work, but the Yashica is in a perfect condition and I really want to try that one.

Cheers~

My Timemachine.

Wed, 16 Jan 2013 17:59:36 GMT

Now I want to introduce a project of mine. I call it my timemachine. It is actually a single-use camera. I kept one for the last two years and occasionally took a photo with it. Sometimes I even carried it with me when I went somewhere. The actual idea about it is that I sometimes forget about it and then remember and take a photo. After quite some time I forget what kind of photos I made with it and when it's full, I develope the photos and remember again.This is my timemachine.
So just last week I developed a bunch of photos and scanned them to show them as well on my blog. Just up front I didn't change anything about them, just simply scanned them as they were.

1. my mums birthday two years ago. She always gets peonies on her birthday. 2. my window bench two years ago. It's blurry but I don't mind. Most of the stones and shells are from Scotland, 10 yen from Japan, a dried rose. My window bench doesn't look like that anymore. 3. The winter after that. The view out of my window. 4. The summer after that. View out of my window.

5. View out of the door of my dads house. 6. My bedroom with my old decoration style of my wall. 7. In Bad Hindelang when I had my internship. The view out o my window when the first snow came in November. 8. In Bad Hindelang. The mountain right infront of my balcony.

9. Same, just slightly to the left on a more sunny day. 10. Again Bad Hindelang. This time comepletely view to the left to see the rest of the mountains. 11. At my grannies after my internship. When she made my teddy new. 12. At my dads last summer, when he lost control over his plants and had kinda a jungle.

13. I have no idea where that is, but I guess it must be some airport, Düsseldorf or Vienna. 14. Vienna Hotel room, ceiling. The princess room I shared with my cousin. 15. Also the hotel room, the window when the sun was shining in and the curtain was swining a little. 16. London, Sarahs room with her little Peter Rabbit merchandise.

17. Flight back from London, view out of the planewindow. 18. At my aunts house in Schwerin. Sun and curtains.

I hope someone liked to see all this. For me it means a lot to see these pictures and I also find them very beautiful in their own way.

Cheers~

Nici's Birthday!

Sun, 13 Jan 2013 20:17:46 GMT

Last weekend was the birthday of hizushi. We were first invited over at her place to eat cake and play some games and then we would take the bus to some secret place. She didn't tell us, where we would go exactly, but said that we should maybe wear something with the colour white. (Please don't wonder about the filter of the next pictures. GIMP now has version 2.8.2. and I played with the filters a little. Also most of the photos I will show today are not made by me. Mainly tsukasa_kenji made them with my camera.)

In the first picture you see the birthday child. That was the only decent photo we got that day and I hope she won't mind me posting it. The next one is of pudor_verus and the last is actually of me. So we took the bus and when we arrived we saw we would go to black light mini golfing!! It was a really cool place there and we first had some pizza, before they told we could go into the black light area.

Here are some photos of us wearing 3D glasses we would need later in the black light area. There is also one, were I'm very much in the close up. I somehow like it, although my skin looks shiny. In the last you see us getting the pizza. I found that picture so funny, because it seems we were all pretty hungry...
And well then it started. The mini golfing area was sorted in different kind of worlds and the first world was under water. There were also many other world you will see on the pictures, like jungle, dinosaurs, pyramids, even a huge Stargate (which was my personal high light).

In the end the birthday child and me won the battle of mini golfing with the best points.
Some last pictures are about the blind room. In that room you couldn't see anything and had to feel your way through that room. There was a night camera installed and from the outside you could watch the people in that room. Pretty creepy and pretty funny!

Really a very fun day! Thank you all! Cheers~

Christmas and New Year are already over? jeeez~...

Thu, 03 Jan 2013 20:05:34 GMT

So yeah, basically I think the time is running right now and I don't know where my head is at, but I try my best to sort everything. I really should now that the new year started.
I wanted to tell you about my Christmas and New Years Eve, so here we go:
On Christmas Eve I was with my mum, her partner and my brother. We had a big dinner, played cards and of course lovely presents. I really liked that we took time to do all that and made really an event out of it, so that it stayed as something special. Our Christmas tree as you can see in the first picture was very small and more like a green ball than a tree but somehow it was very cute. My brother and me decorated the tree. In the next photo you see my Christmas Outfit. I bought that dress at Primark you may remember and the blazer is from H&M. The shoes I bought in London at New Look.

On Christmas Day my dad, my brother and me, we drove to my family in Schwerin. My grandmother just moved there as well, so we had a big Christmas dinner at her place. I made some photos on that evening as well and you can see the Christmas Tree we had there... that's what I'm talking about!!! In the pictures you some of my family, not all of them. Like my auntie and cousins, daddy and granny.

In this photo you see my presents. I was really happy about the 2 DVDs (Into the Wild, Perfect Blue), a CD (Babel by Mumford & Sons), some clothes, but especially perfumes!! My favorites: Eve by Jil Sander and Chloe!

~
I also want to put in this post my New Years eve I spent with my dearest pudor_verus!
First we met in the late afternoon to eat some dinner and then she had to work for two hours at the Polittbüro, which is a small but very good theatre here in Hamburg. I waited in the foyer with a book I actually finished there and some red wine. After that we took the train home to her place where I was for the first time. In the first picture you see their Christmas tree btw. THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!!! We watched Dinner for one (the german custom) and ate bismarcks (Berliner - a german custom as well) and to continue with the german New Years Eve customs we also did some lead-pouring. In one picture you see my results! We had a table firework as well were we got some black crowns out of it and in two pictures we made of us you can see them.

When it was finally the time we went outside in the garden and lit up some fireworks. There will be more and slightly different firework picture on my photo tumblr. After that we freshed ourselves up and took the train to the Reeperbahn and stayed there until seven in the morning! It was a great night! 8D~

I hope you all had some great holidays with Christmas and New Year!

Cheers~

Merry Christmas!

Mon, 24 Dec 2012 13:03:54 GMT

Merry Christmas everyone! ♥
I hope you will all have some wonderful days with your loved ones, good food and maybe some meaningful presents!

Cheers~

'I don't know where I'm going, so everybody follow me!'

Sat, 22 Dec 2012 14:33:03 GMT

Bonaparte, 19.12.2012 Hamburg Große Freiheit 36

At first I didn't think I would want to write a concert report. I just didn't think about it, that I usually do that, but it came to my mind shortly before the concert started. Those who have seen Bonaparte live, would agree with me that it is not the easiest thing to write about, because there is so much happening on stage, that it's quite impossible to remember everything of it. At least I wanted to try.

So, I got my concert ticket for my birthday in September and then forgot a while about it. In the end I asked everyone too late and I had to go alone to the concert. It's not like I haven't done that before, just like going alone to the cinema, but still usuall pudor_verus is coming with me to the Bonaparte concerts, but she didn't get a ticket anymore. I was quite exhausted of the days before somehow, so I decided to go upstairs at the venue Große Freiheit 36 and find some place to sit. I had the perfect view of the people downstairs and I was able to see everything on stage. I was there around 7:45pm and the Support started with his programme around 8:15pm. I was expecting something weird and out of place to be the support, which was really the case.

The Support was Tim Fite and via satellite Sexy Leroy. Has anyone heard of those before? Well, I didn't and at first I wasn't sure what to make of this, to cry of shame or laughter. In the end I laughed. His programme looked like this: The stage was already set up for Bonaparte, but there was a small table with a Laptop right at the front next to a microphone. In the background was a video produced with a beamer, which was similar to a Power Point presentation including videos. So there was this guy, Tim Fite, alone in the spotlight and with some kinda cool, rockish electronic Sound. In the background were always videos running of him playing a guitar as well as doing background vocals and in the corner you were seeing Sexy Leroy like he would be there via Skype singing together with Tim Fite. It's kind of hard to describe. Between the songs he was always doing a fun programme, like teaching him some German or how to wave in the right way. He was very funny looking as well, how he was jumping around there on stage... sometimes some people were throwing things at him, like a plastic cup or something and I was wondering if they didn't like him, although they were all taking part in his programme and answered to him. Here is a video of how to wave, teaching German, and there was one song I quite liked called Big Mistake.

Tim Fites show took half an hour and we didn't have to wait so much time, until finally Bonaparte came on stage. It was around 8:55pm, which surprised me, because... it's Bonaparte. They usually come too late a little.
Okay, let me think how I can write this without confusing everything. I guess I will try as much as possible to remember the songs and what happened, although some things might be hard to describe, so if I'm out of words I will use lyrics and videos to give an image. Huh, this is like I always do that though. But no one really seemed to mind.
The stage, where a podium with two stairs was build on, went dark and filled with fog. They showed the video of 40°49'05.02 S 172°56'39.07 W, followed by the intro THE SHIP IS THINKING of the latest album SORRY, WE ARE OPEN. The ship horn was droning so heavily that the ground was vibrating. You could see one of the female members (I have to admit I can't tell them apart, they are changing so often their clothes in one evening I sometimes even don't know if it's a woman or a man... I also don't know how many members they have, because you have to differ sometimes between those who are at the instruments and those who do the 'dancing/theatre/circus'-programme.) coming on stage with a long white gown, stepping up the stairs of the podium. The gown was spread before her like a river of white fabric. She had a huge white curly wig on and something like a mask must have been before her mouth, which was glowing red in the blueish dark, looking like a robot. After the intro the song QUARANTINE started, when the Vocal/Guitarist (his name is Tobias, that's all I know. Although it seems like he doesn't really care about his name. He is a very tiny human being.), the bassist, drummer and DJ came on stage. All were wearing costumes of course. New ones I haven't seen before, but I expected that because they have a new album, so there must be a new show than at the concerts I have been at before. I can't really describe their costumes, though the bassist had is usual rocket hat on. I really like the starters of the lyrics in this song. 'I made one mistake in my life. I should have burned Berlin down. And now the drugs are slowly wearing off, and your smile looks more like a frown.' Do I have to mention that the room was of course overflooding with the emotions of the audience? This was also that I realized that throwing plastic cups at the band must be some kind of a sign of love for the Bonaparte fan. The next song was ANTI ANTI. One of the most loved songs on Bonaparte lives. Although on CD it sounds very harmless, it can be very loud played live by the band. While the members at the instruments were doing their thing, there were of course always the dancers around them in different costumes, for example a tree of Hawaiian flower necklaces, a robot, or a kind of Moulin Rouge dancer costumes made of feathers and so on. When you watch the videos I'm linking here you get an example of how they were dancing and what sketches they were performing. I remember a lot of glitter, a shower of glitter to be exact. Following where songs L'ETAT C'EST MOI ( – this is a link to a live record which is very good by the band staff recorded on 16mm!) and MY HORSE LIKES YOU. The second one is also highly loved by the audience. But most of the dancers were changing backstage and no horsehead this time, which I was missing.

But that one was just a little late actually, because when they played SORRY, WE ARE OPEN the Horsehead appeared on stage, everyone was cheering including me, in some new shoes to conduct the band with a drumstick, waving the drumstick hysterically. 'If I'm gonna rise my voice, because it's my weapon of choice. The end of entertainment is the beginning of war.' From that song I also chose the title of this entry. Somewhere there were also the songs FLY A PLANE INTO ME and EGO. I think. What I more remember was Mañana Forever. A song I really love of the new album, but the only decent video of this song is minimalist song with an Ukulele. The DJ was doing the 'No you can't'-part and the Vocal of course the 'Yes I can'-part. which you also have in that video. When they started BONAHULA they also got some drums for the bassist, who put the bass aside for that song. Just by now I kind of realize how much happened on stage I can't really put it together. I'm really sorry for that, but I hope you still find this interesting.The trumpet in that song always reminds me of The Jungle Book. Then we had a little break which was sweetened by a advertisement clip made by the band for an Aerobic Show of Amie Starlight (who is one of the female performers I still can't tell apart. She usually wears the pink wig. Maybe that helps.). After that advertisement Amie Starlight came on stage and two other performers in 80s sports dress to do some Aerobic with us. The rest of the band slowly dropped in on stage while they were doing that programme. It was quite hilarious and can be watched here. When they finished, it went dark again and on the background was another video, this time of the song ALLES SCHON GESEHEN and those who know that album know that it is featuring Deichkind ( – this video is not just with Deichkind, but also with Die Ärzte live performed. Haven't seen this before and could cry now. Funny fact: Bela B. was at this concert of Bonaparte were I was!) Usually they just play this song at concerts in Germany and Austria because it's in German obviously. After that I'm not so sure anymore. As far as I know somewhere there must have been C'EST À MOI QU'TU PARLES? and my favorite WIR SIND KEINE MENSCHEN ( – this is also my favorite live video. I posted this so often by now.). 'Wir sind keine Menschen, wir sind Tiere. Tiere sind wir, Menschen gibt es nicht.'

Some people tend to call this band trash... Yes, they are kind of trashy, but I think they are that in a very talented way. For me it's not something negative to be trashy, because it's important what you make of this. Bonaparte have been my most precious live experiences and I never want to miss their concerts when they are in town. I remember it now. I know what they did around that time they played that song. Two of the dancing queens showed up half naked with a sign in their hands that they support PUSSY RIOT and the audience cheered frantically. Me too. But more because of the reason that I like when musicians show a stand in politics and things that happen in the world. To express your opinion in this matter can be as well risky, but I admire them for that. I have to tell you that they must have played over 20 songs that evening, maybe around 24 songs. So for the following there was also included the classics like COMPUTER IN LOVE ( – The electronic stuff they do in that video they do quite often now live, mixed with some Dubstep. It's amazing!! But just because I love Dubstep...) , TOO MUCH ( – the audience was able to sing the whole song without the vocal, but he didn't let us though! SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM~...), TECHNOLOGIYA, WHO TOOK THE PILL? as well as of the new album A LITTLE BRAINDEAD and QUICK FIX. 'Who needs history if you can have hype? Who wants a clean vest if you can have stripes? Who needs a shrink if you are never gonna grow up?' Did I mention the Circle Pits? There were quite often very violent Circle Pits, which are very cool to watch, were I actually would never go in. Once a girl was doing crowd surfing and just there was a Circle Pit and she just fell down on the ground. Those who expected to be someone there to hold her, just looked shocked at her on the ground, but after a second she stood up and went into the crowd again.

All the time I saw the photographer Melissa Hostetler, the one who now released a photobook about the last three years of Bonaparte. She was running around on stage taking photos again with different types of cameras, sometimes even just a mobile phone. If you want to check out some of Photos by her, go here!
Then there was the first Encore, were one of the members wanted to start that by taking a bike and cycling it through the audience, before they started to play again. Most of the members were all already rid of their costumes, because everything was heating up. There was HIGH HEELS TO HELL, I CAN'T DANCE ( – this song has a certain charm I think. Because we all think probably that we can't dance and always feel like a dork when we do that.) and my personal favorite GIGOLO VAGABUNDO. I think. I'm not sure about the right order anymore. Then there was a break again. One of the staff members was encouraging the audience to cheer louder so that they once more would come on stage. Which songs are left that I remember? Oh, BOYCOTT EVERYTHING ( – tweet, tweet, tweet.) and WRYGDWYLIFE?. Again, I'm not sure! 'You ask, what am I gonna do with my life? I could be your lover or the one of your wife. Say what, what am I gonna do with my time? I could be your enemy and you could be mine.' In between there was some DO YOU WANT TO PARTY WITH THE BONAPARTY?, but that was it then. The end at 10:45pm. As you can imagine I couldn't write the half of what I have seen that evening, but the videos all give a good impression. Although I don't think anyone will do this from the beginning until the end with all the music. Although those who know the music, might have it easier.

I was very happy I was able to go there, although this week I feel especially tired of everything. Bonaparte helped to give me back some spirits!

Cheers, mates~

Getting into Christmas mood!

Fri, 21 Dec 2012 13:26:14 GMT

From Monday to Wednesday my friend Sarah from London visited me. She wanted to see all the Christmas markets and also for the concert of the Japanese Band BLACK LINE where she had to write a concert report about. She arrived Monday early in the morning and after we left her suitcase at my home we headed straight to Bremen. Sadly all the snow had melted away over the weekend and it was merely a rainy weather than anything else. So we decided to go to Primark first and later to see the Christmas Market, because then it would be darker outside and everything would look far more pretty.
To go from Bremen Central Station to Primark is quite some travelling in my opinion, but it was fine when you were chatting all the time. We had there some lunch, before we went into the shopping madness. In the end I bought two things. Of course a dress (because I can never go out of Primark without buying a dress) and a sleeveless blouse with an metallic shimmer to it.

When we came out if the shopping mall it started to rain. That was really annoying and we took the train back to the centre of the city. When we stepped out of the train it was just raining slightly, not heavily anymore, so we stayed at the Christmas markets and had a little look around. A friend of a friend told me that the prettiest Christmas Market in Bremen is the 'Schlachtezauber', a medieval Christmas Market. And indeed it was really such a pretty market. We drank some hot mead with Christmas spices and had a little look around. Sarah found some Christmas presents for her family.

After that we went home, because we didn't want to be in bed too late. The next day we kinda had a slow start into the morning and went in the afternoon into the city of Hamburg to see the Christmas Markets there. Sarah was quite amazed and told me that in the UK they are arranging journeys to Germany to see the Christmas Markets, because they believe in Germany the real Christmas Feeling comes up. I found that very cute and I was happy to give Sarah some decent Christmas Feeling! I bought an angel pendant for our Christmas Tree.

In the evening we went to the BLACK LINE concert (the vocal Mikaru I found out by now was the vocal of Dio - distraught overlord - . Ha. Something I know!) in the headcrash on the Reeperbahn and I was there to make the photos again, while Sarah was writing the report about the concert for ROKKYUU. The light was even worse than last time, but I can give you a little preview of the photos.

It was a nice concert for a band I didn't know the music and although I'm not really into VK at the moment. The guys were nice to look at and most of the time the music was heavy. I like it heavy with screamo and not too much melodic stuff. Around 22:15 it was over, very long, because they also had a support band called KLINK CLOCK. A french band with a garage rockish style. I liked them so much, that I bought their first EP. Sarah as well.

Early in the morning of Wednesday Sarah had to fly back home already sadly. It was so good to see her again and at the moment it looks like that I might be able to visit her again in London next year! In the evening of Wednesday I was at the BONAPARTE concert in Hamburg. A Concert Report will follow soon!

Cheers, mates~

Creepy Post

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 21:12:38 GMT

Last weekend my dearest friend pudor_verus was visiting me again, like we got used to that. We didn't do much actually, until my mum came up from the cellar with a box. The box was filled with my Barbie dolls from my childhood. We couldn't resist to search through that box, through the Barbie clothes and all the dolls and change them all into some new outfit. In the end we made a group photo and I also did some details. Oh well, I don't know why I'm showing this here, because it's kinda creepy, but we had really so much fun. We sorted a little through the stuff and I also throwed some some away. But anyway...

... after that we baked some cookies, which is less creepy. I wanted to bake some cookie the whole month since some neighbour brought us some christmas cookies and we were kinda good with the amount of cookies we managed to make. Some American Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies and some usual Christmas Cookies I don't have a photo of because we already almost ate them all.

I will post some more soon.

Cheers~

Bachelor Degree

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 11:14:39 GMT

Just for those who don't have Facebook or didn't add me there, I have my Bachelor of Arts Degree (in Musicmanagement) since November. We had a formal celebration ceremony, where they gave us our paper and a lot of speeches were hold. I found it a little pathetic, because in my opinion a Bachelors degree doesn't mean anything really, although some might disagree with me there, but it's just my personal feeling, that even if you have a good Bachelor (like I do), doesn't mean you can actually get a good job. By now that is even not what I want anymore, so mabye that's why I think that way. Anyway... just two photos my mom took at the ceremony. On the group photo you see some of my closest friends I got in university. From the left: Dannika, Andrea, Jessica, Carina and me. In the other one it's the whole students of the Wintersemester 2009 trowing up our hats.

In the evening my mum and me had a very good red wine and some chinese food and just yesterday a very nice photo reached me, which shows me, Dannika and Carina. Carina said we look like the three angels for Charlie. 'Hi, Charliiieee~!'

Well, that was ashort update, but there will be more soon!

Cheers~

Oh so very British...

Sat, 01 Dec 2012 21:22:50 GMT

I had a very british day today! Ha!

With my dearest friend pudor_verus I went to a British Christmas Market here in Hamburg. It was just a small market and all for charity, but they had many cute things, especially interior and food! Also many british people there... I love to hear English again and see some people in british costumes of the 19th century.

Here on the pictures you see how the market looked like. It was indoors, but we didn't mind, it was raining anyway. (Today I heard a joke: When Germans talk about weather, they mean the temperature of the rain.) After that we went for some tea and apple pie to my favorite café.

Yes, there is also a photo of me for a change... and the next is a photo of the stuff I got this day. So much jam!! Christmas Jam, Blueberry & Apple Jam, Jam made by pudor_verus and cookies as well, of course my PG Tips tea and some Dairy Milk Chocolate!

I actually don't have so much to tell you though... I'm going to university and I'm pretty much occupied with reading philosophical texts and think about them. I never thought it would feel so good to be allowed to think, you know?

Soon I will uplaod a book review and CD review again... but I need to write them first. haha. I don't know if anyone is interested at all, but I don't care!

Cheerio, Miss Sophie!

Lady Chatterley von D. H. Lawrence

Tue, 20 Nov 2012 16:29:55 GMT

Sorry, german.

Es fällt mir schwer einen Blogeintrag in Deutsch zu schreiben. Vielleicht weil ich es einfach gewohnt bin so vieles auf Englisch im Internet zu schreiben. Ich versuche jetzt allerdings dies so klar wie möglich zu formulieren. Auch wenn es die wenigsten interessiert, mache ich das ja auch mehr für mich, als für andere.

Ich habe gerade Lady Chatterley beendet, wofür ich allerdings auch ein wenig gebraucht habe. Allerdings nicht so lange, wie für das Buch Nemesis von Philip Roth. Briten kennen dieses Buch oftmals wenn man davon spricht, doch Deutsche eher weniger. Ich kann euch den Klappentext leider nicht abschreiben, weil es keinen gibt, da das Buch aus einem Antiquariat stammt und keinen Umschlag mehr besitzt. Diese Ausgabe stammt aus 1960 und ist noch ziemlich gut erhalten, mal abgesehen von den leicht gelblichen Seiten mit ein paar Flecken. Das Buch wurde erstmals 1928 veröffentlicht, allerdings zunächst privat. Im groben geht es um Lady Chatterley, wie der Name sagt, und ihrem Geliebten, der allerdings nicht aus ihrer damals so wichtigen Klasse stammte. Wikipedia fasst es zusammen mit diesen Worten (auf Englisch, weil ich immer nur auf dem englischen Wikipedia bin):

„The story concerns a young married woman, Constance (Lady Chatterley), whose upper-class husband, Clifford Chatterley, has been paralyzed due to a war injury. In addition to Clifford's physical limitations, his emotional neglect of Constance forces distance between the couple. Her sexual frustration leads her into an affair with the gamekeeper, Oliver Mellors. The class difference between the couple highlights a major motif of the novel which is the unfair dominance of intellectuals over the working class. The novel is about Constance's realisation that she cannot live with the mind alone; she must also be alive physically. This realisation stems from a heightened sexual experience Constance has only felt with Mellors, proving that love can only happen with the element of the body, not the mind.“

In dem Verlauf der Geschichte werden immer mehr Diskussionen der damaligen Zeit aufgegriffen. Nicht nur die Unterschiede zwischen den Klassen (also: Klassendenken), sondern auch Industrialisierung, Krieg und die Beziehungen zwischen Mann und Frau. Teilweise auch Gleichgeschlechtliche Liebe, allerdings nur kurz. Es geht hierbei nicht nur um die Körperliche Liebe zwischen zwei Menschen, sondern vielmehr geht es darum, sich komplett und ganz zu fühlen und um das Suchen danach. Das Gefühl der Vollkommenheit muss nicht zwangsweise in einem anderen Menschen gefunden werden, sondern kann auch in anderem gefunden werden, bin ich der Meinung. Dennoch steht in der ganzen Geschichte im Mittelpunkt, das eine Lady sich einen Liebhaber aus einer niederen Klasse genommen hat.
Bei Wikipedia steht, das es nicht nur um diese Standpunkte Diskussionen gab, die in diesem Buch vor kommen, sondern auch um den Gebrauch der Sprache, der teilweise recht vulgär ist. Worte wie 'ficken' oder 'Fotze' waren damals kaum vorstellbar in einem Roman. Das Buch selbst ist noch heute in Australien verboten, war es noch lange in Kanada und den USA (jetzt aber nicht mehr). Auch in den Indien und Japan gab es Fälle, die mit dem Verkauf diesen Buches zu tun hatten. Man merkt, das Buch hat damals für einigen Wirbel gesorgt.

Hier ein Textbeispiel, von Gesprächen, wie sie in diesem Buch stattfinden können:

„Sie wartete auf ihn oben auf der Auffahrt, dort, wo der Buchenwald anfing. Mit kränklicher, schwerfälliger Wichtigkeit tuckerte der Stuhl ihr entgegen [der Ehemann sitzt im Rollstuhl aufgrund der Kriegsverletzung]. Als Clifford bei ihr ankam, sagte er:
'Sir Clifford auf seinem schäumenden Schlachtross!'
'Es schnauft jedenfalls!' lachte sie.
Er hielt an und sah zurück zu Fassade des langgestreckten, niedrigen, alten, braunen Hauses.
'Wragby [deren Anwesen] verzieht keine Miene', sagte er. 'Aber warum sollte es auch? Ich reite auf den Errungenschaften des menschlichen Geistes, und die haben das Pferd überrundet.'
'Ja, wahrscheinlich. Und die Seelen bei Plato, die in einem zweispännigen Triumphwagen gen Himmel fahren, würden heute einen Ford benutzen', erwiderte sie.
'Oder einen Rolls Royce – Plato war ein Aristokrat.'
'Genau! Kein schwarzes Pferd mehr zum Prügeln und Malträtieren. Plato hat nie daran gedacht, dass wir einst weiter sein könnten als er mit seinem schwarzen und seinem weißen Ross, und dass wir überhaupt keine Rösser mehr haben würden, sondern nur einen Motor!'
'Nur einen Motor und Benzin', ergänzte Clifford. 'Ich hoffe, ich kann im nächsten Jahr ein paar Reparaturen an dem alten Kasten machen lassen. Tausend Pfund, denke ich, werde ich dafür erübrigen können. Aber Handwerker sind so teuer', fügte er hinzu.
'Oh, gut!' sagte Connie. 'Wenn es bloß keine Streiks mehr gibt.'
'Was könnten die schon erreichen mit einem neuen Streik – sie würden höchstens die Industrie ruinieren, oder was davon übriggeblieben ist. Das kriegen doch allmählich die Dümmsten mit.'
'Vielleicht ist es ihnen egal, ob sie die Industrie ruinieren', meinte Connie.
'Ach was! Rede doch nicht wie ein Waschweib! Die Industrie füllt ihnen die Bäuche, auch wenn sie ihnen die Brieftaschen nicht ganz prall erhalten kann', sagte er und benutzte dabei Redewendungen, die merkwürdig nach Mrs. Bolton [Cliffords Pflegerin] klangen.
'Aber hast du nicht neulich gesagt, du seist ein konservativer Anarchist?' fragte sie unschuldig.
'Und hast du nicht verstanden, was ich damit meinte?' fragte er zurück. 'Alles, was ich damit sagen wollte, ist, dass die Menschen sein können, was sie wollen, und fühlen, was sie wollen, und tun, was sie wollen – ganz für sich, wohlverstanden -, solange sie die Form des Lebens und überhaupt den ganzen Apparat intakt lassen.'
Schweigend ging Connie ein paar Schritte weiter. Dann sagte sie störrisch:
'Das klingt, als wollte man sagen, ein Ei kann ruhig faulen, solange es seine Schale heil lässt. Aber verfaulte Eier gehen von ganz allein entzwei.'
'Ich bin nicht der Meinung, dass Menschen Eier sind', sagte er, 'nicht einmal Engelseier, mein süßer, kleiner Evangelist.'“

Ich kann nicht sagen, das ich von den Vorkommnissen in diesem Buch sonderlich geschockt war, doch das liegt eben daran, das heute heute ist und nicht damals. Aber ich kann verstehen, dass es viele Diskussionen ausgelöst haben muss. Ich empfand es an manchen Stellen very British, während es anderen dann durch die kontroversen, neuen Ansichten für damals dann deutlich fortschrittlich war im zwischenmenschlichen Denken. Zusätzlich war ich überrascht, dass das Buch von einem Mann geschrieben wurde, der so deutliche Einblick in das Leben und Empfindungen einer Frau geben konnte. An sich ist das Buch allerdings auch wieder nicht etwas für jeden Geschmack. Wer zunächst erst einmal den subtilen und teilweise langsamen Stil britischer Autoren nicht mag oder kennt, könnte es als schwerfällig empfinden. Außerdem muss man auch den erotischen Passagen etwas abgewinnen können, die kommen auch recht häufig vor.

Ich hoffe, wenn jemand das hier liest, es nicht als allzu große Zeitverschwendung angesehen wurde, dies hier zu lesen.

Cheers~

I was in Schwerin again...

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 16:54:41 GMT

... but this time together with dearest pudor_verus! We had a wonderful weekend together at my families house and I was happy that we were still able to do that. At first we had to cancle our plans, but could resume through some circumstances.

The first night we saw some theatre in the bar around the corner, the next day we took a walk through the city and a cup of noodles at the Pfaffenteich (which is a big pond). In the afternoon we baked some applemuffins after a recipe from the cookbook of Game of Thrones, called A Feast of Ice and Fire. The muffins were so tasty! In the evening we cooked a pumpkin soup, which we did on our own kind of without help, because everyone else went to church. We actually did it! We were so proud. The soup was made with pumpkin (of course), carrots, cream, orangejuice, paprika powder, Tabasco, onions, ginger and salt & pepper.

The next day we had a long walk around the castle of Schwerin. We were lucky with the weather and I was able to shoot some nice photos. As you can see following.

That day we also made a chain of lights decoration, which looked so pretty!

On monday we took the train home again. When I arrived at home, a package from the USA had arrived with some Game of Thrones themed bracelets for pudor_verus and me. The 'moon of my life' one is for me. I bought them here on Etsy!

ALSO... I'm wearing glasses now. Before i was more the contacts-person, but now I'm wearing more my new glasses. I just have some webcam pictures of me wearing them yet. Maybe soon there will be more.

So yeah, that's it for today! I quite busy with university, which is funny because I'm not supposed to take this one seriously... my perfectionism again.

Cheers~

'I still am the only one to know where I go.'

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 16:58:31 GMT

Last monday I was at concert by the band Sizarr with my dear friend pudor_verus and my fellow student friend Dannika. This band is kind of the discovery of the last months for me and I can barely stop listening to their music. I read about them in the october issue of the musikexpress (a wellknown german music magazine) and what made me turn my head was that the combination of their music style and the fact that they are german. Their music is very british for me, but that they are german was something entirely struggeling for me. Usually I don't believe that germans can make good music in the alternative pop scene.
The band consists of three guys who come from Landau (aus der Pfalz...) and they started their activities in 2009. With just 6 songs they already played on the Melt! and Dockville festival and where Support for Brocken Bells and Kele. They needed around 2 years to complete their album 'Psycho Boy Happy' which came out this year.

What intrigues me about their music? Well, first of all you have to listen for yourself, but it's probably the combination of dreamy electronic sounds, melancholic guitar and this broken longing voice of the vocal. It's hard to find something from them on Youtube though, so let me do that for you... although by now there is some more than the first time I searched for them. When I bought the album on itunes, they gave me to the download their official videos of Boarding Time and Purple Fried. A friend told me that these videos where developed in corporation with Sony Music, so I had to look up which label they are on. Thank God, it's Four Music. Okay, Four Music partly belongs to Sony, but at least they might have the chance so unique as they are. I was afraid that they might have to change with the time, when they have to be with Sony, or are not allowed to change, depends on what really works for the audience. Sony is a Major Label for those who have no idea what I'm talking about. Major Label usually have a bad reputation in how they treat their artists and that they just want to press money out of them. That's why I'm a little sensitive about that with this band.
When I look at the videos, they are brilliant. Especially Purple Fried is my favorite. It's a little Björkish in my opinion. Especially the girl at the beginning with the courtesan outfit reminds me of Björks albumcover of Homogenic. But maybe that is just me and it is also nothing bad that it reminds me of Björk, because she is one of my favourites. Anyway, please have good look at the video of Purple Fried. It's just amazing! The other one as well, but I like this one more and I show it to everyone who wants to see it or not.

As I said I was at their concert they had this week on monday in Hamburg (Übel und Gefährlich Turmzimmer). They actually sold out for the very first time and I was very happy for them. They were obviously happy as well. I won't go into too much detail, because I also havn't seen quite a lot, so I mainly shut my eyes and danced. But what I remember was that the vocals (his name is Fabian I think...) voice was as perfect as on the record and they had a very good ability to actually be on stage. Their heads might be also a little in the clouds... One other member called Philipp had birthday that day and the audience sang a song for him. Also they played a song that was new to me, mainly because it was just on the Amazon download album version, called Fake Foxes (the video is of 2010!! jeez~).

To wrap it up, because I want to sell this band to you, I wanted to show you my favorite tracks (next to the ones who are actually linked as videos already), BUT this is not possible because I can't find them in the net, so I will just show you some other videos as well with their music:
Icy Martini
Word Up
.... when I look at these I just think how talented they are. I could cry over this. And over the fact that I couldn't find more videos.

What else? Oh, yes! They had a support musician called I Confess. He has nothing out yet, but here is one song on his Soundcloud. I really liked his style which was even more interesting live and I hope there will be more soon. Dannika, who started recently now in the Booking Business, wanted to book him immediately for the Ponybar in Hamburg and probably will.

So, I hope you liked this post! I really enjoyed to write it!

Cheers, mates!

What did you get for Halloween, Charlie Brown?

Tue, 30 Oct 2012 11:42:44 GMT

Last weekend my dearest friend pudor_verus visited me again. There were some trouble with the trains on friday evening, so she came a little late, but that didn't keep us from eating pizza, watching Game of Thrones and drinking way too much wine.The next morning we were quite tired and I was a little hangoverish. But not so badly, so we were still able to prepare, because in the afternoon there would be a birthday/Halloween party of tsukasa_kenji and we baked some Halloween Cupcakes. Here you see them:

They look more delicious than they tasted, because the green cream had Bubble Gum flavour. But still they look really good don't they? Also we wanted to wear our Game of Thrones shirts we made the last weekend before and took a photo. We were not able to get the perfect one, but on this we look very giddy and happy about our shirts. Which was just possible because of naihishinsho. Again Thank you, dear!

When we arrived at the party there were some amazing Halloween preparations. Like an eyeball bowle and a graveyard cake and many other decorations like candles, baloons and sweets everywhere. tsukasa_kenji gave me a Halloween Mickey Mouse costume she bought in Tokyo Disney World. And some of the others were as well dressed up. At first we wanted to play games, but in the end we ended up eating and talking for the rest of the time. The bad thing for me was just, that there was a cat and because my allergy became more severe this year I was mostly occupied with tissues and sneezing. Next to the cat there were also two bearded dragons (zu Deutsch: Bartagamen, aber der englische Name ist cooler.) Of course I wasn't allergic to them and some of the others were petting them a little. At least one of them, because the other was asleep. Sometimes pudor_verus had my camera and took also some of the photos I'm showing here.

Later many of the others like drowned_emotion, hizushi, visual_sunrise, tsukasa_kenji and pudor_verus were wearing those kigurumis. You can see them in the last group picture. I would never wear those, but I have to admit they all looked very cute.

When I came home I was sick and still am a little, but not so bad that I have to stay in bed all the time. I was just a little annoyed that I couldn't go to sport today because of the asthma and sneezing. Yesterday I was at a concert of the band Sizarr. It was great and I will soon post a little about that band, because I really like their music.

Cheers~

A weekend in autumn

Mon, 22 Oct 2012 13:40:33 GMT

Last days I had the most lovely weekend with pudor_verus.
But first on friday afternoon I met a new friend of mine, drinking a coffee at the Alster in Hamburg. The weather was so nice and he gave me a late brithday present which I definately didn't expect.

Do you remember the picture I bought in London from the artist Kitty Valentine? Well, he bought two of her pictures on Etsy and also this wonderful frame to it. I was really surprised to see art by that artist again and also very happy. It's such a great present. Thank you, dear!

After that I met pudor_verus and we took the train to my home. In the evening we ate pizza, drank mead and watched Game of Thrones, Kit Harington interviews and True Blood. The next morning we went to our new shopping mall where I live, just around the corner and went shopping a little. I needed some new pants, also bought two tops and a blouse. One of the tops we picked both in grey and very wide, because later we had a project with it. After that insane shopping hours, we went home, baked a buttermilk cake and watched True Blood again. Then we started our project, which was to make a Game of Thrones shirt ourselves. We wanted the print to look like here and I asked my dear friend naihishinsho to make the design, because she is very good at that. And it looked exactly like the original. I still want to kiss and hug her for that, because I would have never been able to do that. pudor_verus still had some sheets we could use for ironing on shirts. We printed the motif on them and then had to cut out each letter with nail scissors. After that, because the black wasn't blackish enough of the normal printer, so we used a felt pen to make it more black. Then we had to iron each letter on the shirt. The process and result can be seen here.

We actually needed over 6 hours to do this and then it became so late that pudor_verus stayed one more night. We had some light dinner, honey sweetend wine (of the Game of Thrones cookbook) and watched Harry Potter and Sleepy Hollow. The next day we had cake for breakfast, watched True Blood again and then changed to make a walk through the fields around my town to enjoy the warm sun and the autumn lights. Here I wanted to show you, how my new filter for my camera works. It's a polarising filter, which is good for landscapes and sky, to get more intense colours and less let it be taken by the bright sun. The filter can be shut very tight or slightly opened on the lense to let less or more light in. Here you see some examples.

Filter on the lense Filter not on the lense

Filter on the lense Filter not on the lense

The rest of the photos is made with the filter on the lense. We walked down the walk with many trees and people passing us with dogs or maybe on bicycles.

After some time we came to a horse meadow and pudor_verus loves horses so we spent some time there and used the time to make photos.

When we were about to leave, we started to hear noises from far away. It was hysterical dog barking, they came closer and then suddenly 20 dogs were running up the field behind us. Grown up, repectfully hunting dogs, hounds, in search for something and right after them between 30 or 40 riders with black or red jackets. They were blowing a horn. The horses on the meadow stated to panic and developed the old instinctual herd behaviours, like wild horses.

They started to run all over the meadow in circles, always looking into the direction of the hunting party. Some other people who went for a walk had also stopped, like us, and we all were in the middle of all that, not knowing what was going on but observing. It was like a real adventure. When the horses calmed down a little, we went home absolutely stunned, but happy about such a great day and weekend!

Cheers, mates~

2nd Blog & Roadtrip

Fri, 19 Oct 2012 10:04:48 GMT

First of all I wanted to tell you, that I opened up a second blog on blogspot. But don't worry, I won't go away from here, I will post on both the same stuff. I mainly want to try, how I reach a wider audience with my posts, because LiveJournal seems to die out, but I don't want to delete my profile just yet.

&

So now... last weekend I travelled with a fellow student of mine, Dannika, to Maastricht in the Netherlands. There was the Masters Open Day of the Maastricht University and we are thinking about applying there for next year to do the Master in one year. But on friday we first visited Dannikas sister in Düsseldorf. She moved there just recently, still had to get used to the enviroment and also lost her cellphone a week ago. That's why she was happy, that we came. Unfortuenatly she had to work that evening in a bar. But Dannika and me stepped by there as well and had a strawberry cocktail and watched some soccer, although we were not interested in that at all. After the cocktail we left again and wanted to sit by the Rhine river. But before we got far anywere Dannika got a call of her mother who told her that a Kebab diner called her to say that the cellphone of Dannikas sister was found by one of their customers. So we went back to her sister and told her that. She immediately ran over to the diner, because it was just close by her work and got her cellphone back. I'm telling you this in all detail, because I really loved to see how she huged nearly everyone of the staff in that diner because she was so happy. The staff all grinned and was happy to help.
After that Dannika and me finally went to the Rhine with an Heineken beer (to come in the mood for the Netherlands) and talked. I made photos.

After an uncomfortable night on an air mattress on which I mostly was freezing instead of sleeping, we got up early, took a shower, had a small breakfast and then continued to Maastricht. It's just 1 1/2 hour from there. We found the University very fast and had a warm welcome by the staff and watched some presentations about the possibilities you have on that University. Dannika and me are now very interested in Media Cultre and Arts and Heritage. All the fields of studies are in English, what I really like. But also because of that we have to make a TOEFL-test, which makes me a little nervous. Another thing that is needed for the application is a motivation letter, which they said is most important for the application. If they don't like that letter you will be declined. I'm thinking all the time 'What if I am not good enough??'. That really bothers me...

The University was very pretty and after the programme we drove to the place were we wanted to do Couch Surfing. It was my and Dannikas first time Couch Surfing, so I was a little suspicious at first. The house we arrived at was an old empty Hotel, which was occupied by students. It's called a 'Squat'. Maybe you have heard of that movement which started in the 70s mainly in Germany, but even more in the Netherlands. In Hamburg for example is the 'Rote Flora' one of those german squats. Anyway, we were at this old Hotel, which was... kind of rotting down, full of garbage, dust and way too many people. Some of those people didn't even live there, they just came by, drank a coffee and talked with the people there and left again. Probably to their real apartments. I was quite shocked at first, but then I think I made the best of it. It was fun to meet all these people and to be in a real life. When I'm at home I mainly hide in my room and be very insocial. So this was good for me. On the photos you see the room were we slept in. We were a little happy that we had our sleeping bags with us. Although we spend much time in them, it was very cold in that house because of no heating.

After we checked out the house (and found a marihuana plant in the staircase hanging there for drying), we went into the centre of the city, which was just around the corner. It was raining pretty much, so we skipped after eating at a diner from shop to shop. We also bought something, which wasn't the plan, but we couldn't help ourselves. We also bought some food for the breakfast the next day and then went back to the Hotel again.

That evening there was a party with Jazz life music (the band of our host Johannes played) and some people playing old Nintendo games screening on a canvas. Some people were telling us stories in the kitchen. Like one told us about a carnival time they had, and because this house is well known for their parties this just could happen there, that he was alone at night when carnival was because he was sick. In the middle of the night he woke up and heard noise downstairs. He came down and found 100 people searching for beer. They just broke in to make a party there!! Or another one was telling us about were he lives. When he just freshly moved in with his roommates into the apartment (and he was wondering why it was so cheap and close into the centre of the city), they lived there like for 1 week or something, they were all in the living room, but he heard noises from his room. So he went there and found two guys with kepis who came into the room through the window, looking at him for a second and then ask 'Do you still sell drugs?' and he was all like 'O_____O NO!! I never sold drugs!!'. But then he knew why the apartment was so cheap. Just 2 months ago there has been a razzia in that house because of that. I think we were awake until 3 am in the morning and then went to bed for a cold night, but we were so tired that we managed to sleep until 10:30. We had our breakfast, brushed out teeth in the kitchen and then waited for our third driving mate. Just the day before we were asked by a Spanish girl from Madrid Alex, who studies at the University in Maastricht Arts and Cultre, if we could take her with us to Hamburg because she wanted to visit a friend there. We said yes and took her with us. Also to my grandmother who we wanted to visit on our way back. That was funny somehow, because grannie didn't know who I would all bring to her house, but then she was very cool and nice and also interested. We had her famous cheese cake. That day Alex met half my family: my grannie, my cousin, my dad and my brother. When we arrived at my place Dannika and her were going to our toilet, before they continued to Hamburg. Thats when they met as well dad and brother.

Long story short: We now want to try to get into Maastricht University to do the Master (Media Cultre OR Arts and Heritage) in one year!

I hope you found this interesting!

Cheers~