Laputa - Linna taivaalla (Hayao Miyazaki)
Naapurini Totoro (Hayao Miyazaki)
Kikin lähettipalvelu (Hayao Miyazaki)
Sydämen kuiskaus (Yoshifumi Kondo)
Henkien kätkemä (Hayao Miyazaki)
Liikkuva linna (Hayao Miyazaki)
Hellsing the Series (Tomokazu Tokoro)
Ergo Proxy the Series (Shukou Murase)
Requiem from the Darkness 1-2 (Hideki Tonokatsu)
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The layout if this place has changed since the last time I visited the site. I kind of like the news caption in the sidebar (bloody Russia...). The 'Most Recent Entries' column seems a bit odd at first since it can have several entries from one blogger instead of the latest before but I suppose I'll get used to it at some point. Nice to have a new look, though, from time to time. :)
Splenetic
1
Did something very unexpected and daring today. You know these people in larger towns who collect donors for Unicef or SPR or Pelastakaa lapset ry or WWF etc.? I was approached by one of them today. We talked, I signed up and then -without giving it much thought- I said: "This is really irrelevant but I have to say that you have beautiful eyes." And she did! Light turquose, a bit greenish ice. In my opinion it was kind of like saying something nice to someone but I have to admit it did have a little -not much even though she didn't wear an engagement or wedding ring- sexual undertones in it, just a little. I do know I'm not sexually attractive (except to certain type of straight men) and today most certainly not but.. somehow I had the courage to say what I thought and feel good about it and myself even though I know she wasn't into me. And guess what? It made me feel good. I bet the people passing me on the street probably thought I was a bit loony (they most certainly looked at me like that) but who cares?! I feel good!
Splenetic
As expected, Germany won. I have to admit that I did like Turkey's song, too. But what the fuck did Romania do as the third?! Their song was such bullshit! Plus, I was (and am) still a bit bitter that the voters did not see the genius of Estonia's song; ML could have replaced any of the many monotonous ballads in the final.. like Belarus of Portugal or Belgium.
And now, even though Eurovision is over I'll be off to listen to Ukraine's song; it is so good! And I have to write down the Japanese lecture times. Sayonara!
Even though the music isn't usually exactly my cup of tea, I can't . There's something so odd about this event: the shameless and exhilarating joy of all the contestants as well as the audience. And thus it begins. I watched all the first semifinal performers on YouTube (and some others as well); let's see if the live performance changes my opinions at all.
Moldova - Yes, Mr Saxonfonist, we know your a guy even without the crotch swinging... I have to wonder how those violins work, though, since they're hollow... Nonetheless, the song sounds to me as a mundane disco/dance song, which tends to equal flowing through my mind without leaving any kind of a mark. A nil-flow...
Russia - I kinda like the vocalist's voice (and pronunciation, of course) but seriously, what would all the song writers do if they were told they can't write a song about love?
Estonia - YEAH! So Depeche Mode and I love it! The video is so amazing, too! Not quite the wardrobe I expected but okay. I really like the alternative song, singing and performance. This is my absolute favourite in this group!
Slovakia - A peculiar Robin Hood-goes-Conan wardrobe... Credit for the language choice, though... Another nil-flow although the language choice keeps this in my mind longer than those sung in English.
Finland - Hmm... I would have wanted to see the English translation of the song.. I wish I could see this through the eyes of one who doesn't understand Finnish or have my cultural bias. Personally I still can't let the dialect connotations go... I doubt this is odd in the positive way enough to get us to the finals. Well, we'll see...
Latvia - Oh fuck, another ballad... Here's a question of my own: why bother writing a song about the mysteries of life and write them off with one line about a diety? Boooooring...
Serbia - Points for the language choice again... that guy is very stereotypical gay man which might be a good thing if he wouldn't be from Serbia.. I doubt the LGBT rights bloom in a country still solving the war crimes from 20 years back.
Bosnia & Herzegovina - Finally some rock aspect to this thing! This I could listen to again, no doubt about it. The lyrics are very well chosen for this part of the world, for the reasons I stated in the previous song. I hope this gets to the finals so we get some musical diversity in there.
Poland - I have a long minus for this... oh, shit, it's the stupid cheating video love song! The intro would be so nice for a power metal song. Again, plus for the bits in Polish but really, you have twenty of these in a dozen. I like the Snow White-ish co-singer, though, apple and all.
Belgium - Oh please kill me... At least it's not a love song about the female love of his life. I'm watching this via web and seriously, if this is the quality with which YLE is planning to make everyone pay.. well, fuck that. This buffers and tilts this about twice a minute with no warning. Hmm, maybe it's the live situation.
Malta - What is it with Malta and love ballads? The only reason I even finished the video was to watch the development of her background dancer in the angel costume. This is so.. Radio Nova!!! And that is not a compliment. And the tilting makes it even worse.
Albania - Yet another love song... The lyrics are such a cliché and the music is another nil-flow. I kinda like her voice but there's only so much that helps. And her gospel background has apparently followed her in the form of the background vocalists. Oh, they're from USA.. well that explains it.
Greece - The intro of the video was so promising.. they've apparently cut that from the live performance. To me this seems like a Greek male Pussycat Dolls: intricate choreography all the band is about the singer whose "friends" seem to contribute to the song only by shouting "hey" and "opa". The only positive thing I can think of is the short inclusion of the weird instrument played by the guy in black.
Portugal - Again, points for not using English... and another love ballad. A Radio Nove nil-flow.
FYR Macedonia - This is quite a medley: a pop A part, a rock B part, a rap sequence, and back to rock. Well, at least it's rock and not in English. The background dancers are such a cliché, though: women dancing in small clothing. But this does have an excellent guitar solo!
Belarus - another fucking ballad, and about another cliché: butterflies as women. So BORING! And as a lepidopterophibic I've heard some very questionable things about the live performance. I do hope it's just a rumour... Apparently an exaggerated truth... plastic wings...
Iceland - When I first heard this, I was ready to boot it. But after the previous I rather listen to this 90's dance song. The song's pretty mundane but you've got to like her voice! Not as immense as that of the vocalist of Infernal but better than others in this semifinal. There was a rather interesting plot to the video, too.
My three votes go to numbers 3 (Estonia), 8 (Bosnia & Herzegovina) and 17 (Iceland). Special non-voting support to Macedonia.
Minusvotes to Belarus, Malta and Belgium. An extra minus for Latvia. And Portugal. Sorry, guys, but I really don't like ballads and songs saying absolutely nothing.
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Semi-Final Qualifiers have been chosen. Two of my favourites got to the finals but unfortunately not Estonia. Those guys could have replaced any of the bloody ballads. Like the remaining countries would have no ballads at all and they should all come from the first semifinals! Bollocks, I say. And now I'm going to go and download my top three and perhaps even Germany if that's downloadable (I admit, I like it, I really do!).
A new set of Jehovas decided to try and convert me (or "teach" me, as they say, they don't "convert"... yeah, right). Alas, my daily rhythm is pretty much the opposite of normal which means that I was already in bed reading and getting ready to sleep when I felt tired. For some reason I got up and answered the door; I guess I haven't spoken to anyone again for a while which tends to drive me passively towards some human contact. Anyway, the discussion went as usual. He says one thing, I contradict, he says the same thing again and I contradict. As I was a bit tired I decided to fuck politeness and made some rather sarcastic and just downright mean remarks (although even the mean ones were valid but I could have delivered them differently).
The guy kept insisting he didn't interpret the bible but while reading Revelations he did exactly that! When I pointed that out he said plainly stated he didn't interpret it, that it had been interpreted by a mysterious "orjakansa". I tried to ask a definition for that and what do I get? Nada, niente, absolutely nothing. No straight answer to what one would expect to be a simple question since he kept referring to the same thing so many times. He kept saying no Jehova's Witness interprets the bible. But still... Can't find the part he quoted. It was something about the signs of endtimes, of "portto" and something about ten horns and whatever (John must have had one hell of a trip.. so to speak). And all the time while reading he kept interepreting these to me: "portto" is actually organised religion (oh, the irony!!!) and politics and the ten horns signify the UN (nowadays I just might agree with the metaphor) and so on. He didn't even answer my question as to why an omnipotent being would even write text that used such metaphors (=interpretations!) rather than putting it there plainly. One of the never-ending dilemmas of all delusional nutter faith-heads.
This time I actually went to get my colour-marked bible of all the contradictions I've found (first I also tried to mark red all the morally questionable parts but the paper slips took too much space). I took the most simple example I know: which came first, humans or animals? Simple, not a question of interpretation (unlike the death of Judas being explained away by saying there just happened to be two Judases who both hanged around with the apostels and who both had a guilty conscious and 30 pieces of silver...).
Splenetic: "Niin jumala loi suuret meripedot ja kaikki muut elävät olennot, joita vedet vilisevät (1. Mooses 1:21) --- Jumala teki villieläimet, karjaeläimet ja erilaiset pikkueläimet (:25) --- Jumala sanoi: 'Tehkäämme ihmisen...' (:26)"
The goddelusional: Just like I said, animals came first.
S: "Ja herra jumala muovasi maan tomusta ihmisen ja puhalsi hänen sieraimiinsa elämän henkäyksen (1. Mooses 2:7) -- Ja herra jumala muovasi maasta kaikki villieläimet ja kaikki taivaan linnut (:19)" There, the contradiction.
G: There's no contradiction.
S: What? In the first chapter animals came first, in the second chapter after the human. How is that *not* a contradiction?!
G: It's not.
I don't know how Richard Dawkins does it. How can he camply state the same things over and over and time after time face the same inanity with serenity? After ten minutes I was beginning to boil: how can he not understand? How much simpler does this have to be for him to get it? How small and basic pieces do I have to break this easy sentence for him to see the plain contradiction?!
I wish I could see inside their minds, see that black hole in their brain that drains all logic that passes through the synapses and warps everything -even the most basic words!- into something else, something that fits to the delusion it feeds -and which in turn feeds it. How can they live in such a state, a state of continuous self-deceit? How can they live such a blatant lie?
Splenetic
2
I just watched 'Avatar' on DVD. I can see why it's so popular. To some extent it's similar to 'The Lord of the Rings', with the invented languages and the epic battle between good (humanism) and evil (capitalism). And, besides, what's to complain with Sigourney Weaver! ;)
It's really stunning visually, too. The ultimate paradise, especially with the phosphorescent plants, floating mountains and huge trees and waterfalls. One has to love the medusa-like seeds of the Sacred Tree. Amazing!
I just wish the Na'vi language book were real, I would love to learn Na'vi like Klingon and Sindarin. I'm a geek and very proud of it!
Splenetic
2
Wonderful. Now my night dreams of having sex with a man have penetrated my waking dreams.. so to speak.
Only one conclusion to draw: I really need to get laid. Otherwise someone should find a way to use all the spilling sexual energy within us forcefully celibate individuals this planet holds. We could each light up an entire town for quite a while...
Guess what yours truly discovered this morning. Hint: I can't chew properly, swallowing hurts and there's a constant pain on my maxilla (= upper jaw bone). Yup, a wisdom tooth. I made some quick search on the matter now that the short thundering went by (a bit odd feeling to be so cut off from the world, which in my case meant no TV, no radio and especially no internet). It appears I'm going to need the extensive operation. Usually wisdom teeth in the maxilla are left alone unless they inflict the above-mentioned symptoms. For once I can be happy for all the correcting treatments I had as a kid and a teen: I have no fear of dentists. I do, however, cringe on the idea of the post-operative three-day pain and swelling. How am I supposed to eat? What am I supposed to eat? Soups and yoghurt probably. And ice cream to comfort the swelling.
The student health care organisation's self help pages to contact the dentist as soon as possible, preferribly BEFORE the above-mentioned symptoms, especially the pain. But of course the place is closed today. And today I'm leaving for my cousin's third birthday. Ooo, I've completely forgot to mention: she became a big sister not a month ago! This should be interesting now that I've seen her grow, maybe when the baby is given for me to hold I won't go stiff and whispers panicked "takeitaway, takeitaway, takeitaway!".
Fuck the motherfucker, fuck the motherfucker,
Fuck the motherfucker hes a fucking motherfucker.
Fuck the motherfucker, fuck the fucking fucker,
Fuck the motherfucker hes a total fucking fucker
Fuck the motherfucker, fuck the motherfucker,
Fuck the mother fucker, fuck him, fuck the motherfucker.
Fuck the motherfucker, fuck the motherfucking pope.
Fuck the motherfucker, and fuck you motherfucker
If you think that motherfucker is sacred.
If you cover for another motherfucker whos a kiddy-fucker,
Fuck you, youre no better than the motherfucking rapist.
And if you dont like the swearing that this motherfucker forced from me
And reckon it shows moral or intellectual paucity
Then fuck you motherfucker, this is language one employs
When one is fucking cross about fuckers fucking boys
I dont give a fuck if calling the pope a motherfucker
Means you unthinkingly brand me an unthinking apostate.
This has nowt to do with other fucking godly motherfuckers
Im not interested right now in fucking scriptural debate.
There are other fucking songs and there are other fucking ways,
Ill be a religious apologist on other fucking days,
But the fact remains if you protect a SINGLE kiddy fucker
Then Pope or Prince or Plumber, youre a fucking mother fucker.
See I dont give a fuck what any other motherfucker
Believes about Jesus and his motherfucking mother.
Ive no problem with the spiritual beliefs of all these fuckers
While those beliefs dont impact on the happiness of others,
But if you build your church on claims of fucking moral authority
And with threats of hell impose it on others in society,
Then you, you motherfuckers, can expect some fucking wrath
When it turns out youve been fucking us in our motherfucking asses.
So fuck the motherfucker, and fuck you motherfucker
If youre still a motherfucking papist.
If he covered for a single motherfucker whos a kiddy-fucker,
Fuck the motherfucker, hes as evil as the rapist.
And if you look into your motherfucking heart and tell me true
If this motherfucking stupid fucking song offended you,
With its filthy fucking language and its fucking direspect,
If it made you feel angry, go ahead and write a letter,
But if you find me more offensive than the fucking possibility
The pope protected priests when they were getting fucking fiddly
Then listen to me motherfucker - this here is a fact,
You are just as morally misguided as that motherfucking,
Power-hungry, self-aggrandized bigot in the stupid fucking hat.
Splenetic
Wake up.
Turn on the computer.
See today's headlines.
"Hallitus myönsi luvat kahdelle ydinvoimalalle."
"Kaikki puolueet lupailivat maksuttoman koulutuksen säilyttämistä" (bullocks; political memory is clearly very short since the very same people pushed for the exact opposite!)
Go back to sleep.
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The following will sound just downright cruel. Sometimes I wish my paternal grandfather was dead. Not for myself but for my grandmother. First her father literally sold her (at the age of 17) to my grandfather, 13 years of her senior. She has been put down all her life, threatened with never seeing her kids again if she divorced, and now when she's on pension her husband, my grandfather, age 80+, is dementic and requires constant care for which she gets no support (monetary or otherwise) from the state. It makes me so angry. Even now he has some kind of power over her: she's afraid to speak of things in front of him. She told me she'd like to see Budabest; I agreed to go with her and settle everything, but now she's backing up. I phoned her today: she said nothing of the trip at all and towards the end her voice became a whisper. Later she sent me a text message explaining she couldn't talk about the trip because my grandfather was there.
I'm angry. Her whole life she's been a servant to others and their whims. Even now, during her last years she's tied to home so much she can't even take five days to do what she's dreamt of. I am so angry at the people and the state that make this possible.
