To celebrate my going to see TAI… and Cobra Starship, I thought there should be picspam. Because we all love picspam.

So I finally got around to replying to everyone’s comments. For some people, it’s been a few months, um. Sorry?

This post has been sitting in my drafts folder for a while. I know it’s so stereotypical, and completely unoriginal, but I kind of love My Chemical Romance’s music, because I think Gerard Way can totally save my life. It’s not so much a secret that I’m slightly screwed up, and music is about the only thing left that I truly find pleasure in.

In the past, I’ve scoffed at MCR; thought that they were emo, punk wannabes, etc etc. To be perfectly honestly, this was purely due to ignorance on my part. I knew of them, but never really gave them any thought. Then, through the gateway drug that is Panic at the Disco, I discovered MCR in bandslash. It sort of gives me the creeps a little that these are real people, so I try not to think about it. And I didn’t want to know about the real people, for the same reason.

Eventually though, I got my hands on the albums: Three Cheers… and The Black Parade. First, I liked maybe 2 songs, so the albums went back to the depths of my iTunes folder. Then, around February/March time, I hit my low, and all I could think about was how crap everything was. Somehow, it occured to me that hey, The Black Parade! All death and depressing things! With my tendency to wallow instead of trying to make myself feel better, I put the album on repeat and fully intended to never feel good again.

Surprisingly, I liked it. Surprisingly, it meant things to me. My initial reaction was: fuck, what is this? Then I thought, if this is emo, I don’t particularly care any more. MCR’s lyrics to me are about growing up, about facing life and all the shit that it throws at you. About not letting it swamp you and take you over. We’re here, and we may not be so happy about it, but we should do everything we can to make it a good place, and live. Living is important.

I’d always laughed at the idea of Gerard Way saving lives, but now I’m all for it. Okay, so, he’s not the only reason why I managed an up slope for a while there, but he definitely contributed. Good music is music that can make me feel, that changes me when I listen to it. The Black Parade certainly changed me. What an album. What a band!

As someone who has spent many happy hours clutching novels that make her heart beat faster and many not-so-great hours reading texts that I firmly believe should never have been published, I can say that story-telling (both as a recipient and a deliverer) is definitely an important part of my life.

When it comes to books, I tend to not really care about reviews and awards that they have received. If it sounds like something I would enjoy, I’ll read it regardless of bad reviews. When it comes to online original fiction, however, I stick religiously to recommendations. When I actually had time on my hands, googling wasn’t such an annoyance, but now, I want results with minimal time wasted. So. When I get asked to rec some more, how could I refuse? Below is the first of a few.

One source of joy for me is the bi-monthly webzine: Shousetsu Bang*Bang. The authors who participate in this are absolutely superb. They make me smile, laugh and cry, on occasion. One particular offering that I loved (coincidentally named after one of my most favourite inventions of all time) is Guitar Hero.

This story is filled with rainbows, seriously. It’s light-hearted and fun, but there’s so much more going on underneath. The main character – Jeremy – is instantly recognisable; he is not-so-loosely based on Brendon Urie. I thought that would put me off, since I find Brendon so irritating, but how wrong I was. It’s a story about love, discovery, and … Greek gods?

• Finn rolled his eyes, like he found this incredibly juvenile. “Oh for the love of- You are not going to die.”
  

“All your other boytoys have!” Jeremy slapped the paper and made air-quotes. ” Accidentally. I’m not even the one doing the quote thing! Wikipedia is doing the quote thing! You and Wikipedia are ironically quoting me to death!”

Once you’re done with this, there are also extra stories that can be found at the author’s livejournal; my personal favourite: Synesthesia Magazine – Issue 89 Nov. 2008.

Go forth, read and enjoy.

Michael Rosenbaum. Leaving Smallville? kajhdjshagljfhg WHAT?

I finally managed to buy my own copy of Charlotte Gainsbourg’s 5:55 today. I’ve not had time to hear it all the way through yet, but gosh, it’s the prettiest thing I’ve subjected my ears to for a while! Her singing is really more like breathy melodic speech, and the music by the Air duo, and lyrics by Jarvis Cocker. My face is totally like while listening to it.

Here’s the video for the title song. Listen to it, and fall in love. Seriously.

Also, my second exam: Developmental Psychology went so much better than clinical. I could do at least 4/5 of the questions! A big step up from usual! So big sigh of relief that at least one of my papers will have some sort of a good mark.

I know that this is waaay old news, but I’ve not been keeping up with Korean stuff recently. Every blog I’ve come across has been a bit DX about this, but I am actually :

I honestly think that he is rocking that pink lipstick. Not many guys could pull this off, but he is not doing a bad job! The strategically exposed span of chest obviously helps in this case. (Although, there’s something wrong with his abs there…)

So, okay. I may have mentioned a few times that I saw Blonde Redhead Monday night… They were truly truly amazing. I’ve been a fan of their music since around September 2007, and this was the first time I’ve heard them live. They certainly did not disappoint! I was at the very front, on the right. If this were any other gig, my ribs would be broken, but the BR crowd were the most civilised gig-goers I have ever met. I wasn’t even elbowed. Not even once. And no one spilled beer on me! Score!

This is one of my favourite BR songs, Kazu Makino’s voice is lovely, and live, it just pierces through the wall of sound that came from standing right next to the speakers.

There were two support bands: Holy Fuck, and Devastations. I’d never heard of them before, and I have to say, Holy Fuck were brilliant live. The four-piece band basically rocked Shepherds Bush Empire even though no one was there especially to see them. I fell a little bit in love with the bassist because he was totally on speed; head-banged and spazzed for the whole thing. Brilliant. <3

Here’s a video of one of their singles. The theme of the evening seemed to be sound, so imagine this song, but all the way to 11, and so so much better.

It’s a shame that with the name, no mainstream radio would ever play them.

Now, Devastations. They were just … ergh. Serious ergh. I was right in front of the bass player/lead singer and spent the whole time wanting to throw hard painful objects at him. The whole Empire was silent through the whole thing and barely responded in terms of applause; a few people actually yelled for them to get off the stage. There was a point when the bassist began gyrating away to the lacklustre music and I may have had some sort of rage black out.  They were that bad. Everything was just so boring, and I wish that I could get that 30/40 minutes of my life back. And God, the lyrics. What the fuck?

Here they are in all their disastrous non-glory.

Meh.

Blonde Redhead. Fucking Amazing. The End. Maybe more when my ears stop ringing.

I feel a little bad for saying mean things about Panic, I really do. So I’m totally going to make up for it by posting pictures accompanied by much squeeage.

Stolen from various corners of the internet.

OMG OMG OMG Torchwood. WTF? No seriously. What. The. Fuck.

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