I just projected over your beautiful scream

So Sick Puppies was actually amazing. The lead singer is bonkers and I mean that in the nicest possible way. I have never seen someone enjoy their gig so much, and with good reason! Their gig was rocking. They are well worth watching if you enjoy rocky metally sounds. Their bassist, Emma Anzai, is amazing (and female) and pretty good looking.

They didn't play White Balloons but it would have been weird with the set they did play if they had. It would have made things disjointed and mellower than the mini moshout and energetic gig that we received. Shimon Moore's (lead singer and guitarist) energy was infectious and he really made you feel like you wanted to be there.
I now have their last two albums (even though Tri-Polar isn't released here yet, they were selling it in their merch =D) and both are signed. This makes me very happy =) we got to talk to them a little bit, let them know that we enjoyed it so much. Just wonderful.

Live music is the best!

Sick Puppies: Dressed Up As Life

I was worried that this album might not be as good as Tri-Polar. You know when you have listened to an album (in preparation for a gig or just in general) and it isn't their first album? I always find that breaking out their previous stuff can be a little risky. Will it be as enjoyable? Will it be more so than the tracks you have come to love more than you thought you might?
This album is definitely their Australian sound but it is by no means something to worry about. It is certainly a good solid album and I shall enjoy listening to it like I did their most recent one. If you like a good little rock out you can't go far wrong with these guys, I'm now biased towards them of course but really, give them a shot.
They also do a good "Say My Name" (Destiny's Child) cover that is, if nothing else, pretty amusing. Get a live version on the youtubes though and listen to his wonderful spiel that he gives before songs. He's a little rude, a little crass but with his cheeky feel you don't mind too much.

.5
(It'll be a 5starer once I listen to it a bit more =D)
20/100 (If I keep going like this I will have finished my challenge by the end of April =p)

I've been thinking of dying the front section of my hair pink... or red but I reckon it's most likely going to be pink because I can rock that colour. I just miss being... more colourful. Part of me recognises the fact that I still need to grow up now but you know what? Enjoy life a little as well! So after I finish the Gilbert And Sullivan production I am in by the end of February (sadly it is after the MCR gig and I would have loved to have my hair done before then =p) because I dyed my hair before one of their shows before and it was a little difficult to hide the aqua greeny blue that was in my hair. Especially when it's meant to be about aristocracy and from a different time period to now, whoops =p
So I'm being nice this time... although I wish I could just do it now!

Oh well =D

Bless your face
Love Buttercup xxxxx

She had hundreds of stickers on her wall, made to look like stars

So I had an exam today. I lasted a whole 2.5hours (out of 3) which wasn't too bad aaaaaaaand for the first time ever I needed to ask for more paper (although I was doing double spacing) but it still felt good =3

I just felt a little bit silly before, because I was checking my hotmails to find out what needed to be trashed from my junk mail and I had TWO comments to read on here. TWOOOOOO!!! I was almost bouncing off the ceiling which just makes me seem a little sad but I like comments and it's been a pretty naff day so the little things folks, the little things!

There was a man on the bus talking to his friend. He said "Well it's practically summer!" no Mr. Man, it is not practically summer, it is the end of January and still very much not summer. ¬¬

The nail varnish (of two days ago) has a couple of more chips but nothing really visible at a distance so either I am being really careful recently or this is good stuff! Never tried it before but it seems to be quite hard wearing so far!

Today is the wishlist so here we go before I get back to reviewing (my favourite hobby =DDD)

A Danbo/danboard
http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs51/i/2009/301/5/4/Danbo_loves_you__by_BeciAnne.jpg

I just think these fellas are cute and like most of the things I like; he's only available as an import from Japan ¬¬ They seriously have all the good stuff especially that Anna-chan is over there! Goddamn!

A good grade on my exam paper.

Actually I'm not asking for A+ (or 80%+ for the uni term) but something nice, just to have made resiting that damned subject. Maybe a high 50% or a 60ish? That would be lovely.

A recording studio

Ok not one that big, but if that was possible then sure why no? =D No I want a little set up; mic, mixing desk, good software and a computer just for that (probably a laptop). So I can mess around, make some interesting instrumental progressive rock or whatever (EitS, 65days that kind of thing) =) Do some active composition work. It would be well awesome! (There's a reason why this is called a wishlist and not a "next to buy on my shopping list".)

I got bored of thinking so reviewage =D

Grand Drive: See The Morning In

So I've always loved the track "Firefly" ever since I first heard it. It has a wondrous beat and is about stars, so what could be better? It's literally and easily one of my top 5 songs of all time and that's no tall order. I had listened to and loved that one track for quite a while before hearing the rest of the album. The other album tracks are reminiscent of a slow country feel. This isn't particularly a bad thing but after one excellent track I found it hard to love these tracks (and thus the artist as a whole) in the same way, although I do also 5 star "Nobody Would Ever Dream" and "track 40" is also pretty good. I do wonder about their other albums though, I wonder if they are the same "well it's good but not at all like that one track I love" or if there are more hidden gems like Firefly to be found out there.

I'm now going to spend the next couple of days gaming (daddy is going back to work tomorrow so I have the house to myself! Day of gaming? Well don't mind if I do!) and tidying my room... maybe some other things too, a couple of mini projects here and there.
Seeing Blue tomorrow =D :love: blue
Yo Sushi on Friday with my brother and aunt
The Sick Puppies gig on Friday evening with good ol' Danzel
Tuesdays are Gilbert and Sullivan rehearsals...

So I guess my timetable isn't as freed up as I had thought. Oh well =D good times are coming.

Love you and probably have another blog up within a day or so ¬¬
Buttercupsy xxx

She sometimes complains she's not perfect

So I woke up at 6.30am today, it sucks! I hate being up early, because the morning is lethargic for me, mostly owing to my sleeping tablets but also because I've never been a morning person.

Today is mostly going to be filled with revision (well in a little while because it's only 9am and that's really early T_T) but I'm also going to stretch out my legs a little and do some Tai Chi Chuan practise because I want to be a waterbender :p What I meant was I want to get better at it because it's actually really enjoyable. When I leave university I'm going to have to find somewhere that does it so I can continue! It's important that I do so.

Oh also, the nail varnish that was applied yesterday (two coats) has only one tiny seed-like-crumb of a chip out of it on one nail. That's pretty good for me :) I generally end up chipping it before the first day is over. Whoops :P

Musics? Yes music time:

Julia Marcell: It Might Like You

Julia Marcell is basically, in my opinion, like Regina Spektor when she is being more lyrical with a dash of Beccy Owen. That's pretty much all I have to say. There's lots of piano with singing over the top. She also makes use of strings, percussion, guitar etc. but you can primarily hear a pianist singing :)
What is interesting is that she calls herself classical punk; classical in ideas but punk in execution. I have her under alternative pop, which is the genre I listen to a lot.
I really like Outer Space, Married To Life, Fear Of Flying and from the Storm EP; Accordion Player and Twin Hearts.
Actually the Storm EP is really really good, and you know what? Don't take my word for it: FIND OUT FOR YOURSELF!
It's not about you anymore it's not about you.
The music is really easy going to listen to and is just nice. That's all really, it's nice music.

18/100

I try not to blog more than once a day but I can see me blogging more than that today. Oh well, I guess people can cope with it :p

Loving sleepily Buttercup xxx

And sometimes those kinds of Rolling days are frustrating

So, because people keep asking me to blog more here is another one =)

I'm waiting for my nails to dry before I start on today's revision. Blue is one of the few people who can actually find me colours that I don't have already. This current one is Sage Green by Beauty UK. I've already made a bit of a mess of one nail ¬¬ I tend to be a bit messy with my varnishes but yes, green is a colour I don't actually have that many of. I have a beautiful christmassy green, neon green, some turquoises and a yellow but nothing like this at all! And best of all it seems to dry really rather fast.

I would use my own photo but I can't be bothered to take one right now and edit it so the colours are right and make it small enough to upload. I'm being lazy today. BUT that is pretty much the colour so there you go, that's what it will look like but with shorter nails. *Applies right hand second coat* It's something different at least. Oh and I'm a lefty, which is why the right is first to get the second coat =p

Not much has happened since I last blogged. I tried to blow dry my hair in a straightish fashion but got bored after doing one strip half-arsedly. Doing things like that takes too much effort. Although talking about hair I totally want to dye it again even though it'll be a humongous faff later to get to a normal colour. I kind of want pink in it again, but I'm not sure, what does anyone think?

So more music reviewing but this time none of it is from a full album so it doesn't count.

The singer is YUI

That's her.

So it's Jpop, and although no I can't speak Japanese I really like Jpop and Jrock etc. Not sure why. Maybe it's like I don't like operas in English because I enjoy the sound but don't really care what they are singing. So much pop is the same that sometimes it's nice just to hear sounds instead of lyrics that I understand.
She's probably most famous, in this country at least, for the tracks "Rolling Star" that was the fifth opening credits music for Bleach and "Life" that was the fifth ending credits music for the same anime. If you like those two tracks then you will probably enjoy the rest of her music.
I don't have full albums of her music for the simple fact that getting any of her stuff over here, aside from those two tracks, is really hard. On amazon her albums aren't selling for less than £30 or so and the singles £10. I don't have that kind of money. I would love to import her albums and a few other certain Japanese artists because I love owning CDs. I would tell you how many I have but I haven't counted in a while. One minute...
Ok not including singles, EPs, vinyls and mixed albums/osts I have 229 (give or take a couple for human error)... wait... that's a lot of albums! I was going to guesstimate at like 100-150... whoops =p
Anyway you can see from that that I like buying music in reals. In fact it's one of my favourite things. So if I could buy Yui's albums I actually would. It's just that the import costs are extortionate! Ooh I might be able to get them from eBay for a lower cost. It's where I import my Final Fantasy soundtracks from for a better deal so I think that I shall look into it. Sadly the pretty limited ed. cds are still about £25 whereas the normal albums are £10 or so. Oh well

Anyway, I think her music is 5 star material! Or at the very least a high 4 stars.

Now I should really get on with my revisions so until next time
Love Buttercup xxxxx

You made your bed so sleep in it

So, another review and some more updaties.

I have an exam on Wednesday for university. Ah a topic I don't touch on very often. So I study music at university, just your standard BA. I'm final year, I have my Music and Cultural Theory exam on Wednesday (for the second time, I sat it last year and got 44% ¬¬) and so I have been revising but today hasn't been good for revising because we went out last night. For some reason it almost always kills me for the next day. I'll make up for it tomorrow and Tuesday I hope. *Fingers crossed* But after exam times it's on to dissertation and composing time, which will also be hard work. I can't wait to graduate!
I should really be putting up a book review as well today but revision is all I have been reading and reviewing my articles on here would be pretty rubbish really, so I won't. I'll just catch up later at some point =D

CD time!

I have the awesome double disk version =D: Take Off Your Colours

You Me At Six (or sometimes Youmeatsix) are your standard scenester affair. They're punk pop and make me think of summer. You know what I mean! Fall Out Boy, All Time Low, Mayday Parade: the new generation of punk poppers for teens. But you are not a teen, I possibly hear some cries. This is true but I indulge that part of me every so often.
So yes, picture the scene: a backgarden/field/park, some blankets, you and your friends sitting around wearing suitable wear for the bright sunshine and an iPod dock playing some light rock tunes. That is what I see with this music. You can dance to it because it's got a fairly easy beat to hear. The voice is American drawl. Most of the songs are, whilst inoffensive to listen to, don't stick out at all. I was not that surprised, but it would have been nice to have some more variation.
The tracks I like are ones that I heard when they supported Elliot Minor one time:

• You've Made Your Bed, So Sleep In It
• Save It For The Bedroom
• Take Off your Colours
• Always Attract

If you like punk pop you probably won't be hideously offended by these guys, unless you are a bit elitist in which case nyeh! Here we are not elitist in the slightest! Pah =D

17/100

There will be more frequent entries once my exam is over but until Wednesday,
Love Buttercup xxx

My first girlfriend turned into the moon

You know what it's something different today. A review/or justification to myself of a FILM! Hold onto your hats folks! I know it's crazy =p

So I'm not running into a new film, one that has only just come out at the cinema. I'm not going for an old classic either (a you-should-watch-this-because review). This film has had time to settle into the DVD market and has plenty of reviews. Plenty of baaaad ones, but I'm just talking myself out here, go with it.

The film?

THE LAST AIRBENDER
(aka, wor Avatar film or Aang-chan or just plain Avatar (ignore blue people please for now, haven't seen it, will at some point but to me that is not the true avatar =p). If you don't like spoilers TURN BACK NOW! Go get the cartoon, watch that, get the live action film, watch that, then come back. If you have already covered one of those bases you should be fine =D

For those who don't know L-R:
Katara (14), Aang (12) (main guy in all this), Sokka (15)(Katara's brother)
The little guy with the green eyes and is all ears is Momo a flying Lemur-bat

Still with us? Good. To start with I am a fan of the cartoon. It is good, bonkers plotwise and there is rarely a linear feel but that's fine. The most linearity in the first season is going from the Southern Watertribe to the Northern one. But you know what? it works.

Now here are the film characters - just while you still have the cartoon picture in your head =D
LR-TB:
Aang, Prince Zuko (we'll come to him in a bit), Katara and Sokka.

Ok there is no bright blue cloth but that makes sense! They're pretty close don't you think? Right now here is the first issue. If you like Sokka from the cartoon you have a 99% chance of hating him in the film. I personally didn't like him in the first series but I know that he's wrong. He's a bit of an idiot in... one maybe two scenes instead of the entire film. That's a big change. He's rather serious in this film. Rathbone maybe wasn't their best choice, he seems very serious. He needed to be a joker character, a bit stupid and telling stupid jokes all the time. Sigh.
Prince Zuko... one minute let's go back to the cartoon for a minute:

Prince Zuko (16) has daddy issues.

Now his character looked very wrong to me but we let it slide, in fact all of the main Fire Nation had the wrong hair (aside from the glimpse of Azula, his sister, that we had) which did bother me. Iroh sounded the same which made me happy (his uncle, but seriously watch the cartoon because it's too hard to explain here everything that happens!) but he was not right but meh, character designs change!

They pronounce Aang and Avatar wrong a lot. Little gripe but important! There is 3 serieses! You can listen to it! GO! It isn't Ar-ng but A-ng and not Ar-var-tar but a-vah-tar. I quickly forgot that they were doing it wrong but if you get annoyed by that don't watch. It'll kill you!
So I would change some of the characters, or at least make them look more accurate. That's generally a problem with an adaptation, you already have at least an idea of how you want them to look or even better, someone has already set the bar and shown you what they look like! For Instance Fire Lord Ozai. It's hard to find some photos but they basically cut off all his hair (inluding the awesome pointy beard) and didn't give him his crown-deely (pretty important).

Ok now the plot of the film! They cover the first book(season) Water. This was a good move. If they attempted to cover everything all in one film they would have done a much worse job of it. Seriously. They had a hard enough time to fit enough in as it was. Histories of characters were shortened to a brief conversation and a lot of the side plots (and I mean A LOT and since the cartoon is MADE of side plots and filler episodes that's a lot missing) but they kept the shape the same and generally only missed out things instead of changing them to make them wrong. I think that is a relatively good way of adaption and this really is an adaption here, oh aside from two sections that we noticed nothing was "wrong" per se, just had chunks missing.

There was no Bumi, no Suki, no Jeff (I mean Jet =p). Aang didn't learn ANY firebending (you'll know what I mean if you know the 'toon), no huge canyon, no fortune teller, no Teo. So unless they are presented in the later films (the characters not the canyon =p) the ending plot is going to be MESSED UP! There is a lot that is going to have to be explained.
The film is 103 minutes long. That's barely 2 hours! They could have extended out to 2.5hours and filled in one detail. One character. Introduced the Kyoshi warriors maybe, nothing major, just a hello and a bit of dissing from Sokka.
I know that films start to get a little bit bogged down when they have to introduce a lot of characters and that is generally the problem with adaptations. Lord of the Rings did pretty well (with nine pretty main characters in the first film alone!) but did skip out on some characters in places to make things easier, Final Fantasy: Advent Children hoped that you would know who everyone was from the game and even gave you a summary of the game on the DVD. Harry Potter has a lot of the characters in but I don't know that much on it so meh, I'm sure it was done very well.

Ok so we've worked through the characters (that actually by the end of the film I was ok with most of them), the plot (which I thought was relatively accurate although missed out pretty big chunks!) now onto the stuff I was less critical about.

The martial arts aspect of it was actually rather impressive. I thought it looked pretty and, as in the cartoon, they all had different styles. Even the little kid playing Aang was really good. He knew his stuff! It looked fancy and the digital effects didn't hurt. Actually the digital effects in general we pretty good. Apparently the 3D aspect was rubbish but we weren't dealing with that so I don't know on that matter but watching walls of water, people being frozen, fireballs, icespikes, rock walls, it was all pretty impressive.
The music was pretty good too, James Newton Howard was the composer. Other Works are I Am Legend, Hidalgo and the Sixth Sense to name a few. He has also worked on The Dark Knight/Batman Begins with Hans Zimmer.

I wonder if maybe I, along with Blue and her sister who watched it with us, set our bar too low. It was an ok film. Nothing really special but something I wouldn't mind watching again really. Maybe we were expecting it to be so painful we couldn't finish it and would pretend it didn't exist and watch the cartoon again in a marathon as penitence or something but no. It was ok, possibly even good. In fact I'm ok calling it good and like I said, I liked/loved (more accurate) the cartoon.

Maybe it's because most adaptions from cartoon/anime suck that our bar was so low, we didn't expect much. Death Note was ok (but not much happened in that), Blood The Last Vampire was bonkers (like the anime) but had a whole second half that wasn't in the first anime because it was a short and bonkers plot. Not much is thought of of The Dragonball-Z film (haven't seen can't comment), Bleach live action? Probably going to be terrible and I love Bleach. Even the Marvel/DC films aren't that great although they are starting to come out of their shell now. But those guys have had practise! I mean look at how many terrible Batman films there are. Or on second thought don't and just watch the better stuff from more recent years! Thing is adaptations don't have a good life expectancy anymore. But really let's change that.

FILMS don't have a very good life expectancy.

We still get the big blockbusters and the ones that blow us away but against how much dross and how many terrible films? But it's nearly always been like that, sadly.

The moral of the story? Set your hope low on the film and then you won't be disappointed.
Or pray they start making more really epic films!

Anyway I actually enjoyed the film, ignoring all it's faults and flaws, or I just don't mind if the film is B-rate... so nyeh to all the bad reviews =p

Love Buttercup xxx

I'm not very good at remembering my days.

I forgot that today was wishlist wednesday! I've also drawn a blank at what I want... ooh wait, no, as always I want things =D

Ok well first off I really want to buy myself a new set of headphones. Some cans. BUT here comes the issue! I want some noise cancelling ones but not really in black. It's dull! Lookit these!

Skullcandy and Monster Tron edition.

My current cans (not including the Sony MRD-XD100s I have because their headband gives me a headache and thus I can't use them for extended periods) are Skullcandy TI with white fluffy!

Ok who takes a photo of white headphones on a white background? That's just really stupid! The pink ones are for reference so you can see the fluff.

Now these headphones are lovely to wear but you can't have fluffly headphones in the rain or else you just end up a bit soggy. =( So I want some new ones but researching what I want is hard and noise cancellation isn't in pretty colours unless it's Monster in which case £250 please? I can't justify that much. I want ones that are around £50 or less but I don't know how likely it would be. I'll probably end up getting Seinnheiser or some other really pretentious make because they're actually good... but not as pretty =( I might just get the lowrider Skullcandys in blue regardless and say screw you noise cancellation, because looks are everything =p
Does anyone I know have any lowriders? I would like to try before I buy if possible because they're smaller than I am used to. (plzkthnxbaii).

A SD card reader and a new SD card

Ok clearly I'm being overly techy today but a couple of weeks back I broke my SD card reader and now it's stick together with sellotape and doesn't really enjoy working, which is a bother when I want to get my photos off my camera ¬¬ I also want a HUGE ass memcard so I don't need to worry. Mine's 2gb right now and can take approximately 100 dng format photos. with 32gb that's what? 1600ish? that would be lovely and unnecessary but wonderful! I'd settle for an 8 or 16 though =p

I'd like to be able to drive. That's pretty much it. I would like to be able to have complete transportational freedom. Really I would rather have a motorbike but mama says I can't have one until I can drive a car, and also they have boots. Ok so this one has a tiny boot but I really love smart cars. They're cute and I only want to drive a small car, I'm only a rather small person after all! Actually I've grown a bit and I'm apparently average girl sized but nyeh =p
Although I don't want a motorbike as big as daddy's Honda Goldwing (although if you are interested look it up. They're divine!) but I would like something with weight and that goes vrooooooom and not ninnnng (very correct terminology here!).

I like music and freedom and lots of memory storage. LOTS.

Dull reading I know but =p I enjoy blogging

Love Buttercup! xxx

The city is exploding and the people here are nuts!

Sorting through my Z music folder. Actually I'm generally sorting through my music to try and make things easier to find and stuff but anyway, the Z (Zed) folder. I had three folders in it. Zao, Zoey Van Goey and The Zutons. Zao... were really grumbly shouty. Like to the point I really couldn't tell what was being said. I don't see the point in that. I'm all for shouty music and everything but this was ridiculous. It sounded like someone hadn't mixed the voice properly or there was a conflict with some software/hardware here. So bye bye Zao. I don't even know where I got your tracks from (there were only 2 anyway) but it doesn't matter. Fare thee well and all that.

Next up Zoey Van Goey. I first heard these guys when they supported Beccy Owen =) and they are rather fantastic so review time!

Zoey Van Goey: The Cage Was Unlocked All Along

They're very lovely. They're rather acousticy (with some added synth and electronic effects in places). So they're basically what I listen to on a regular basis.

"When will the end come, the tv says it's on the way, same news since I was young, but with you in my arms the end won't come today." - We All Hid In Basements.
"So on the couch we pray to Super Mario for deliverance." - We All Hid In Basements again.

So if you like alternative pop/singer songwriter/folkish music then you probably won't go far wrong with these guys. They aren't the most well known band but they do have a new album coming out soon (14th Feb!) and it should be well worth a listen =)

"Do you remember how we met? paying off our student debt, we had no other plans so we taught English in Japan" - Two White Ghosts. Makes me think of Anna-chan who has gone of to Japan for a year =D

My favourite track by far is City Is Exploding. But there are no bad tracks on this album. The only one I don't really like is Nae Wonder. It's completely different and it's not one I care so much for. I used to uncheck it so it wouldn't play ever I didn't like it that much but it's not that bad anymore, just not a 5starer. The album as a whole is though!

16/100

The Zutons' tracks that I have are only from the various Live Lounge albums and generally I like the songs they have on there. First theing that I am sturck by is his voice. It's not half a bit odd. First track is Beautiful (Christina Aguilera cover) and it's pretty good. The other track is Valerie which wasn't bad either. Ok those tracks can stay. I wonder what the band sounds like normally and if I would like them =p

Aside from tidying, blogging and attempting to do work I'm not doing much these days. There is too much time to think which isn't so good. Good things though: I want to work in a shop or a bar/restaurant so I'm going to statr applying for jobs sooooon, I have good time talks with Blue who is my bestest friend evar because she is wonderful and we make plans for photoshoots!

Anyway... ooh head over to Blue's blog actually! She doesn't post regularly but when she does it's pretty good!

HERE BE BLOG

Laters y'all, Buttercup xxx

Play something familiar!

Ok this one will be relatively short. I've been listening to the other The Decemberists albums and since I'm rating them on iTunes I should be mentioning them here.

The Crane Wife

I prefered this one to Castaways. I especially loved the three title tracks and Shankill Butchers. It is similar on a theme to Castaways, it's more folky rock. I don't see their music changing that much between the albums but that is no great shame. They have a sound and their sticking pretty close to it, which is fine when the sound is a pretty good one =). My main gripe with this album is that I don't like the cover at all! I know that's terrible and superficial but I think it is important. Doesn't detract from the sound though =p

.5

and no it wasn't the cover that stopped it shy of the 5 star mark =p it was the track When The War Came... just not as good.

13/100

Her Majesty/Her Majesty The Decemberists

This one is not as good as Crane Wife but still a good cd. The Gymnast, High Above The Ground feels like it goes on for an age, not too terribly but it gets a bit tiresome to me. At just over 7 minutes that's pretty understandable. There is only one problem with this band, that I have found with a lot of bands actually. It is that the tracks blend too well into each other and you don't realise that it's a different song any more. It's ok but it would be nice if it could break out once in a while.
Ok saying that the star track of this album started playing. Red Right Ankle. Awesome lyrics!
"This is the story of your red right ankle
And how it came to meet your leg
And how the muscle, bone, and sinews tangled
And how the skin was softly shed"
Genius!

14/100

Picaresque

This has some gems and some meh tracks. I particularly love The Infanta, Eli The Barrowboy and Sixteen Militay Wives (if only for the line: and the anchorperson on TV goes la de da de da). Again more of the same. If you liked the previous tracks/albums then you will most likely like this album. I'm still not complaining because they are good at what they do but I'm pretty impressed that an artist has managed to stick to their box so well and yet not made it too dull.
I quite like The Mariner's Revenge. It's almost 9 minutes long but it's a tale so it's quite interesting to listen to.

15/100

5 Songs EP

This EP has 6 tracks. I'm not kiding. I don't really understand it. I understand the "4 Track" Ep because you can record songs on 4 tracks and so it's not talking about the amount of songs. Since this is an EP it doesn't count but it's pretty good. Apology is pretty amusing and I like I Don't Mind and Shiny. So that's half the EP enjoyed =p

.5

So that's all of The Decemberists that I have done. Tired now

Love Buttercup xxx

I'm feeling better now, are you feeling better now?

It's a long one and I'm sorry. Grab a drink and settle in for a good read, or break it up into sections. It's all good =)


I felt really fussy when trying to decide what to review today. I could have gone for something I knew and praised a lot, but this isn't to just do that. I also need to listen to the music I have that I don't know, or at least don't remember. It's scary but needs to be done.

So I've chosen The Decemberists: Castaways and Cut-Outs. They have a new album out apparently this year and I'm wanting to listen to more recent albums (ones released this year) because I tend to not notice when things come out and miss out on some gems of the year (mostly because I never listen to radio unless it's last.fm in which case it's more a playlist than a radio but I digress). Can't wait for the new Avril Lavigne one to satisfy my angsty teenage self =D... anyway.
Here's an album cover in case you are interested =)

Now I don't really like using the label indie. What exactly does indie mean? It means independant, I know that. But, like the term pop no longer meaning "popular music" and meaning a genre that, while is the most popular genre, is often looked down upon by many people as "samey" etc. If you are one of those people you know what I mean and if you aren't you probably know someone who is like that. It's not a bad thing it's just a mislabelling of genre. So Wikipedia what do you tell me for these people? Ok so we have:

• Indie rock
• Folk rock
• Art rock
• Baroque pop
• Progressive rock
• Alternative country

All of these genres are loaded with questions and they are all legitimate and this is the problem that we must face. When using iTunes you must (if you are like me and like to have every little thing tagged correctly) put you music into a box. One. Now most music is multigenred so how do we combat this? We dull down the genres, everything becomes watered down and simplified into one or two words. I think folk rock might be the closest so I will make it all into that genre. Genres are important to me =p I am someone who has their cds in order by arist then by release date (aside from osts and classical/world (ooh a loaded genre in itself!) etc. which has it's own shelving). Tiny bit ocdish but that's fine because it almost looks like the word oddish and that was a relatively cute pokemon! =3

How cute and happy is this little fella!

It's rather folky the music. There is an accordion, guitar, vocals (a bit rough) , percussion etc. (currently listening to track 4: A Cautionary Song). I feel a little bit of Duke Special (I'll probably review him), Bellowhead (but more laid back so far). It's inoffensive music if you like folky music. At first I found it kind of weird because I've been listening to a lot of Regina Spektor, Sick Puppies and MCR but it's actually rather nice. Really chilled. They also feel a bit like Cherry Ghost. I really liked their track Mathematics. I'll put them on my list to listen to =D.
I'm impressed though, I was worried that they might be really dull and ok they're not earcatching like pink and yellow is to the eye but it's certainly nice to listen to. Like a dry spring day; pleasant.

Does anyone else have this problem? My wardrobe is too small. I mean my bedroom is too small but that is another kettle of lobsters altogether! I seem to have acquired a load of clothes even though I've barely bought any new ones. Either that or all my clothes have expanded themselves which is just a nuisance! I'm a hoarder by nature. Our family hordes things, like dragons. It's not a bad thing unless you are like me and have a very small bedroom. It's just a nuisance! I tidy and I declutter and you would never notice the difference. Seriously it's impossible to tell if I have done anything or not because it's just such a small room.

Oh another thing that has been occurring to me is alternate egos (or whatever you wish to call them, you know what I mean). Why do people create them? What do people think of those who do? Does it make the person look a bit bonkers or is it just like having a different username on a forum? Is it just a way to dress and act a little differently and possibly more like the person they wish to be but aren't confident enough to be? Like cosplaying where you can be anyone and people just accept that? Like RPG's where you chose specific traits simply because they appeal to you and you wish that you could have those traits even if it is just a different hair style?
I have a lecturer who genuinely has different egos for different musical things he does and I just wonder about it. Like MCR's new album is on their "alt egos" the Killjoys. I do wonder if it would be something interesting to try, to make an adapted you or even an almost completely different you. I mean it can never be completely different because the base stays the same, but what about it?
I'm not talking about the good vs evil thing, I mean it counts but that's a little too clear cut isn't it? Or is it?

The thing I have against the good vs evil alter ego stuff is that it is superficial. It's just like playing opposites, denying one thing for another. You're just placing a different box over your head and saying that you are now a spaceship and not a dinosaur. No that's not what I mean. I'm talking about getting underneath the box and changing say one thing about the personality. Maybe you like to be quiet and read a lot and your alt enjoys going out dancing but ultimately the whole you would enjoy both things otherwise you wouldn't do any of it. It's like trying out a skateboard trick with a mattress to save you if you fall. You might really enjoy it but if it went wrong you still have the comfort of not doing it again. I don't know, I'm just throwing out ideas here.
I do actually want people's opinions so even if you don't have an account here you can message me (if you know my other haunts) on the matter. Please?

Anyways, food for thought,
Love Buttercup xxx

Your words alight upon the air, convince me

Ah this will be an easy review. Just so you know the outcome is set, the rating 5 stars regardless. The singer? Beccy Owen. See I told you, easy one. Now unless you live in the North East of England or have by some wondrous chance you may not know who I am talking about. And this, my readers, is a SHAME! A shame so great that we must rectify it, but I can only give you the words, you must find the music.

BECCY OWEN'S WEBSITE!

Starting with her album The Singer Kicks (because I still don't have a copy of The Sweetest Tales from the Bitterest Edge, and not from want of trying!), running through Down With Gravity (because why not just do an entire run through eh?) and into the newest stuff from her band Sharks Took The Rest.
There are few artists who I could quite easily listen to regardless of mood and regardless of how much I have already listened to them. This woman is one of them. Her voice is fantastic, her lyrics brilliant beyond compare and she's a really lovely person.

"I had the emotional monopoly whilst you couldn't even pass go" (Mention)
"Cos you are home where you can be you again" (Proud & Smiling)

I think my favourite songs from TSK are Summersong, Stormbound, Mention and Flower. I have had the luck of hearing three out of those four live =D. But I literally 5star all the album anyway.

Her music is a lot of piano with vocals, some strings in places and a splash of guitars. Her live gigs are often Beccy at a piano singing to us. Think of the old style films where in some smokey bar the protagonist enters and there is someone sat at a piano singing because they want to, because that's what they want to do. But maybe I'm getting this vibe because I'm onto The Singer Kicks (the title track) and it makes you think of jazz clubs, smokey and dark:

"The singer she spits out the demons from her head / she's trying to keep them all at bay / but over again they insist on being fed / so now she feeds them all" (TSK)

Onto Down with Gravity

"Wreck my head if it means I'm beautiful in the eyes of you" (In Your Company)
You can hear the difference in the albums. It doesn't mean that either is better than the other thought, they're just different to each other. I couldn't give you a favourite between the two albums, they're both fabulous. There is a lot more percussion in this one though.

"And all along his anchor was me" (Anchor)
"Water in my mouth, I'm out of my depth" (The Deeps)
"I'll get some honey on a spoon and ram it down to keep me kind up and down from noon to noon" (Drowning Minnow)

I think Drowning Minnow is my favourite of all the tracks. It's actually beautiful. In Your Company, Anchor and Stalemate are also up in the top of the tops but DM steals the crown.

Both albums have a version of the song Sighs but on DWG it becomes a very much darker sounding song than on TSK. They both sound very much like completely different songs but some, if not most, if not all (DWG doesn't have a lyrics book) the words are the same. It's just... dark sounding for the most part.

10 & 11/100


Now moving onto Sharks Took The Rest (who have a new EP out on 14 Feb)
SHARKS TOOK THE REST MERCH PAGE!
I already have this =D because they were selling it at a gig so this is going to be rather promotional =)

(The covers here are different to on their merch page. Maybe because mine are from the gigs and not from their website.)

The group are a seven piece band. Vocals, piano, percussion, guitar, double bass/bass, cello, viola(? I get confused).

Starting with track that are not on the EP first.
"There are snails on the stair so I have to be careful" (Snails)
"It matters how we fall." (Go For Blood)

One track that I cannot listen to enough is Move The Sun from Live #1 (a live demo). With every lyric you can hear that no word has been used without care and thought. Every word is meant and that is what makes this track so beautiful.
"I would move the sun if it meant she could see clearly [...] I don't know what anyone needs or how freedom comes but if it helped her, I would move the sun." (Move The Sun)

My other favourite track that they do is Abstinence is a Bartender from Demo #1.
"If she would just opened him up with a kiss, relish all that is his all his, he would have drunk her up instead."

Sharks Took The Rest: Grounds For Hearts To Swell (lyric found in Isobel)

So onto the new EP. I know that mostly I've just been telling you the tracks I like and some lyrics from some tracks but it's really hard to review things properly. This has been the longest review I think I have ever done. Possibly the longest post too, but onwards!
The EP is five tracks and as a side point a very professional looking digipack. It's all proper looking and stuff. Two of the tracks I already knew (Ancestors and Isobel from Demo #1 and Live #1 respectively) but three new tracks was a nice surprise. Bring her back and Sleeping Conniptions are also new and also very beautiful. You can hear a clear sense of style developing within their tracks although they don't sound the same. They sound like them but the feeling is not repetitive nor boring. Their niche is their own and hopefully (I will always have my fingers crossed) they will go places with their music because it is certainly 100% better than most of the dross that is out there in the world.
The first track, Restaurant, is a very bouncy light feeling track and the most different track of all, it's the standout track because it shows that if they want to they could break their mold that they are creating on a whim and still make something wonderful. This is probably the only song in the world that actually uses the word "meniscus". Look it up on wiki (I did, if only for the spelling). The first line is about driving in a car and you could imagine the video for the track being in an oldish car bouncing along a country road, the instruments make it feel like that. It feels like a summer song. Yellow tinted, wind in hair, smiling.

Really really go out and buy it. Or go on their facebook page, listen to the tracks there, then buy the EP. For a friend, a relation, yourself or all three. Buy some for your enemies as well and you will make some new friends. Get on their mailing list, find out when their next gigs are and attend. They're even better live! Spread the word! Get them noticed and loved.

By the way, the five stars is for STTR as well as Beccy Owen. All this music if 5 Star material. Just incase it wasn't clear =p


I know it's been a long one but I wanted to do all this together. Also as all the Sharks music is EPs and demos they don't actually count towards the final album review count. It was a rule I made myself.

I might post again later =p blogging is funtimes!

Love Buttercup xxx

To much thinking and not enough living can leave you down and stormbound

Today is being one of those days, those days being the ones where I feel really bleh and out of it. I have nothing witty to say, blogging today is just to give me something to do really.

I've started tidying my desk finally. My ratties like to run over it so I thought it was better to tidy it as Kimmizilla likes to steal things and take them into her cage ¬¬ and it's a bit bothersome. I don't really want ratty toothypeg marks on some of my things... it would also be rather good if I could actually use my desk space for the work I should be doing.

I really just want to sit curled up in my jammies and watch Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood back to back but: 1. It's hard to be curled up on this chair and my computer monitor isn't very portable. 2. My computer dislikes running FMAB because it's in 720p and my computer is grumpy.
So instead of that I've been watching Yahtzee/Zero Punctuation on Escapist. I've caught up to page 3 of his videos and I'm sitting there thinking "oh I remember when these games were released. My goodness time has passed loads!" or words to that effect. I keep losing time and getting confused, it's something I'm really good at.

Another thing I would quite like to do is to crack open the Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus game that my brother got me for Christmas or Persona 4 that Danzel has lent me but both of these are PS2 games and I cannot for the life of me find my memory card. Nor do any shops seem to sell them anymore. I would get one off amazon but that also poses a problem that I have... no money until February (due to an annoying system of withdrawing only once a month ¬¬). So I can't play either game at the moment and that is a both because both look very interesting and whatnot.

Shock horror! On days where I feel like poop I review albums for the funs!

AFI (A Fire Inside): Decemberunderground

I like this album. I have liked it for a while although I still only know a few songs from it. I have a lot of AFI but really until they got out of their punky stage and settled into a more emoid state I didn't really care for them too much. Anything after Sing The Sorrow I find is nice, anything beforehand and it's a bit meh, you're too loud and shouty and stuff. Best tracks in my opinion?:

• Miss Murder
• The Interview
• Love Like Winter :hearts:
• The Missing Frame

Oh so you know I can't write *less than(the symbol)* 3 on here because it gets all shirty about html coding or whatever. It's annoying so if I write :hearts: or something along those lines it means lessthanthree which may also be written =3
But the album is a pretty solid one. There aren't really any bad tracks, the cover is pretty, AFI are getting into the swing of this newer less angry style that will lead nicely into Crash Love which is a good album as well. I've liked it for a while and was very happy to pick it up off amazon for very cheap.

Awwww Nilla (other ratty) just did a stretchy yawn and it was cuuuuuute. I'm so easily distracted but it was actually really cute.

I was told by one of my avid readers (hahahahaha =3) that he enjoys reading my long rambling posts and you know what I actually felt I had justification for my blogs. I have a possible 3-4 readers, all of whom I know, and it makes me feel very... something. Idk if no one was reading then I would probably just let it die out by February and no one would notice but I have readers. READERS! I love you guys =D
Hardly any of my friends have Blogger accounts though which might mean I get no comments but I strive forwards!

Anyways... enough procrastination for you guys! Get back to what you should be doing! I... will either do that or potter around for a bit, meh =p. At least blogging cheers me up so now I'll just be bored instead of bored and les miserables.

Love all of you, Buttercup xxx

Every time that you lose it sing it for the world

So I forgot that it was wednesday! You know what that means? It means the wishlist of the here and now!

A Bliptronic 5000 LED Synthesizer found at ThinkGeek. It's basically a tone matrix. I want to get several together and link them to make symphonic sounds (it is possible to do as well). $40 and I'm really tempted and might buy in February when I have access to money again =3


Resident Evil T-Virus and Anti-Virus earrings and a combined necklace. It doesn't even matter to me where they are from (although that is pretty cool to begin with) but they look awesome! I like geek jewellery =3 $18 and $16 respectively.


Perfumes! In particular Vera Wang: Princess and Nina Ricci: L'Elixir but they are rather expensive! Approx. £40-50 each. They smell really good though. Fingers crossed for a Valentine's Day sale on them =D

Ok... I'm not actually looking for a guy or anything but we were sitting in our local rock club/bar type thing and discussing 30stm because they came on (a song I don't know) and we started talking about their better music (From Yesterday and The Kill in particular) and we decided that we wouldn't say no to Mr. Jared Leto so here is a nommy picture of him. Fluffy hair is a must!

ALSO!

Haruki Murakami: After Dark

This was quite a deep read. It's one night looking at Mari who doesn't want to go home and her sister Eri who is bordering on comatose but isn't. It's a small window into people's lives after the sun sets. It's 3rd person with the narrator often talking to the reader and with this kind of read that is completely fine. It doesn't break the flow of the work, it is just a part of it. Trying not to sound like a Japanese nerd but I really like stories that have been translated from that country. They are beautifully described and I don't know if that is from the original text or the translator but there is something beautiful about the things they write. It was very enjoyable although very short, especially for a book that was £7.99 (£1 from a charity shop =D).

AND

My Chemical Romance: Danger Days- The True Lives of The Fabulous Killjoys

I enjoyed The Black Parade and this is looking to be a nice compliment to that album. I would talk about how they changed their sound or that they sold out when they did that album but actually I don't care about any of that because I think it sounds better (with a few exceptions from other tracks). I haven't really listened to anything before TBP and at some point I will do but not right now.
I really love Na Na Na Na Na Na etc. At first I was a bit "but none of the lines make sense together! You just threw loads of random sentences together!" but now I rock out to it like there is no tomorrow. It doesn't need to make sense anymore it's loud and shouty and feels good.
I also really love Sing. Same thing really, same feel. It's just good!
There are some weird talking tracks that I don't care for at all. It's not that they are bad, they fit in the feel of the album and stuff I just don't really care for them so I will be unticking them off iTunes. Like I said it works with the overall album but not for when I'm just listening to tracks on random.
It's yet more music for the confused, rebellious and bold teenager that still lives in me. The one who still enjoys dying her hair and playing music a little too loudly.

.5
8/100

That should be all for today... two posts?! that's far too much blogging for one day =p see you all... maybe tomorrow hahahahahaha actually will probably happen as I have no life and like to skive from working!

Lots of the lovings and angry emo emotions =D
Buttercup xxx