50 books, 50 movies

I tried out my LJ account at evemaykill.livejournal.com . I started this list of 50 books and 50 movies I will try to read/watch this year. So go there and give me suggestions! No friend locks or anything are on.

The book meme, finally

In the spirit of Christmas, I will finally answer the book meme Dan tagged me to do. I know, I know, you have all been holding your breath until now.

1. One book that changed your life: Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Weis-Hickman. The first fantasy book I read, and the beginning of many.

2. One book you have read more than once: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban takes the lead, I presume.

3. One book you would want on a desert island: Takaisin Muumilaaksoon (Back to Moomin Valley) - a collection of Moomin books. This doesn't have all of the books, as there are two collected volumes. But as long as I have Taikurin hattu ("Finn Family Moomintroll" - the original name is actually "The Magician's hat") and Muumipapan villi nuoruus ("The Exploits of Moominpappa"), I'm okay.

4. One book that made you laugh: Naiv. Super. by Erlend Loe. Gods, I can't get over how funny it is.

5. One book that made you cry: Test of the Twins by Weis-Hickman. First experience of the death of a loved fictional character.

6. One book you wish had been written: Mine.

7. One book you wish had never had been written: Don't feel that strongly about any book I've read. Can't really say for the ones I haven't.

8. One book you are currently reading: Mosaiikkilintu by Ulla Viertola. My aunt's first novel, published last autumn. It's a fantasy book, for about 10-12 year olds. :)

9. One book you have been meaning to read: Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco. Borrowed it once from the library, read the first page. Had other things to read, and so it goes...

10. Now tag five people: Not going to. Everyone is tagged already anyway. Tag yourself if you want to.

I'm off to the holidays - spending 4 hours in the train tomorrow and then it's Christmas. So Merry Christmas to everyone! (If you didn't know, Finns celebrate Christmas on Christmas eve, 24th's the day. Santa comes during the evening and says hello, instead of sneaking about at night. :D )

Of missed emails, work, Kalevala kung fu movies and stuff

Hi everyone!

I thought I should finally make my return. Not the least of the reasons for this is that Vishal, I think I just accidentally deleted a Happy Birthday mail from you, since Yahoo thought it to be spam and had placed it in my bulk folder. So I never got to read it, but thanks and feel free to send the mail again or just comment here if you feel like repeating yourself. I had a fun birthday, Juri made me gingerbread animals and other stuff, and I got cake at work.

Getting the internet was actually quite easy. The same place that provides our TV connection also sells internet connections. So after buying the connection we just plugged the net cable in along the tv cable and voila, instant internet access. The reason I haven't been writing here is work - I sit at the computer all day there and don't feel like doing it at home, too. I also developed a neck problem thanks to the sitting, but now it seems to be subsiding, thank gods.

So what have I been up to? Going to work, playing Kingdom Hearts 2 (haven't finished it yet, so no spoilers, please). Not that much. Here's how I get to work: I wake up at seven, leave to work at half past eight or so. First I take the bus (the stop is in front of our house) to the subway station, then I take the subway to the city and walk to my work place where I arrive a little before nine.

My favorite part of going to work is when the subway travels over the sea, when it goes over two straits. Or it was my favorite part when two weeks ago I still could see anything. Thanks to the Finnish winter, now it's dark when I go to work and dark when I come home.

It also snowed the first of November, but it melted away and now it's just rainy and dark. Snow would help some since it would reflect light and so everything wouldn't be so dark and black. (Try to tell us Finns that there is no such thing as global warming when winters have steadily come with less snow and minus degrees around here. When I was small we got 20 cm of snow that stayed in November, when now the snow arrives around Christmas, if even then.)

What else should I ramble on about? Oh, I went to see the Finnish movie Jadesoturi (Jade Warrior) in the theaters. It was said to mix Kalevala myths with Chinese myths and kung fu movies. Actually it had very little Kalevala in it, except for the inclusion of Sampo (Wikipedia: a magical artifact that brought good fortune to its holder). It had some kung fu style fighting, and a lot of Finnish and Chinese people speaking Chinese. Weird watching a Finnish movie with subtitles, but hey, we Finnish are used to our subtitles. The movie was the first Chinese-Finnish co-production, and the first Finnish movie to get a theatrical release in China.

The movie was actually a decent movie. Nothing that special, but I didn't once feel bored watching it. A two-and-a-half-to-three-star movie. The story's about this modern day Finnish smith who is the reincarnation of this mythical ancient Chinese warrior. It actually has two storylines, the modern day one where the Sampo is found again and the ancient one where it's gradually revealed what happened in the past with the Sampo. My favorite character in the movie was played by Markku Peltola, who I know nothing about except that he's been in a few Kaurismäki movies. (It was also fun watching him fight.)

Okay, that's about it of me rambling. I have one question: How many of you also have Livejournal accounts? I've been thinking about switching my blogging there and making at least some of the posts 'friends only', so you'd have to have an account to see my posts. Sound good or stupid?

(Oh, and I didn't take part in Nanowrimo, as you might have guessed, but would love to read your stuff.)

Forgot to say: The new show Heroes soooooo rules my world.

Moving

Hi everyone!

Since I'm such an avid blogger, I have completely neglected to mention that I got a job about a month ago. I'm a graphic designer in a mobile phone software/content producer company. I haven't started yet, 'cause the work place is in Helsinki (the capital).

I'm moving this Friday (Friday the 13th!), and that means I won't have the internet starting from then. It takes a while to get an internet connection in the new place, so I might be absent for about a month or so. Of course I will pop by now and then, from work or somewhere else, but I won't have the internet at home.

So, bye bye for now! I'll let you know how work is later.

It's Uncanny!

New website!

Or actually it is the same old website, just up in new place. So go visit death-teddy.net for all your Maija needs. Also now you can go visit Red Riding Hood's little business, the office of the Hood Girls (a.k.a. my graduation project that I never linked to).

I promise I will answer Dan's meme the next time I write. Also, I've been wondering what to do with my LJ? I have one, you know. Perhaps a sketch or writing journal or something. But I never update even this place, so would I be any different with two blogs? Now I just use the account for following other people's posts.

(This vanilla-rhubarb yoghurt is good!)

Pictures of me

I thought I'd post some pictures of me because... you know, there has never been any. Also I'm puzzled by the fact that I always seem to have my eyes closed and manage to look somehow pleased with myself in a stately manner in all pictures.

Proof (from our graduation party with our class):
1
2
3

The curse is broken! I am having fun:
Laughing and dancing, skipping and jumping.

But then my coolness is jeopardized:
Yes, it's karaoke.

And because I want to, here are some pictures of me from a pirate costume party from last fall. I'm dressed as a pirate flag.
Me posing (oh no, the cleavage-ness).
And me killing a friend of mine while she is killing the photographer.

And finally the two/three years old picture of me from a photography class. I'll show it last so that I can pretend I always look like that and so that you will forget the bit with the karaoke.
Studio

There, I think that's enough egoism for a few years. Now you know what I look like. Don't expect new photos of me anytime soon. I will probably just have my eyes closed in them.

Website Trouble

Help me! What will I name my new domain when I get one? All suggestions welcome, although some may be laughed at. :D

So, my website is down now. I had it on a friend's server, and the server broke down, so there. It's annoying because I had just finished the fiction site I was going to add there, and I was about to post an address to that graduation project of mine here on the blog. But now I have to hunt for a web space provider and wait until I have money to buy the domain/space.

I got the grades for the graduation project - I got 4 out of 5 from both the written and the artistic part. I'm pretty disappointed about the 4 in written, since I worked really, really hard on it and I know I'm a good writer. The teachers didn't have anything bad to say about it but then they gave me 4 because the subject (Red Riding Hood tales) was quite far away from our studies (Digital Arts). But I'm very happy of the four in artistic!

Anyway, I haven't really done anything, I've just taken it easy and read comics (Bone, Akira (up to 8), V for Vendetta, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen 1). :P

Wtf did you smoke, Kiba?

The end of Wolf's Rain is like... on crack. What were the creators on? Or is my brain too limited to understand their great minds?

Edit: Ok, I do understand some of it (just re-watched it when I wasn't dead-tired). It's just that when I think that I understand all of it, something pops to my head and makes me think that "No, I've got it all wrong"...

Numfar, do the dance of joy!

The graduation work is done! I just need to write a 5 page essay for a course and get the written part of the thesis between covers and delivered to the proper place, and I'm done with this school!

Head exploding thesis work

Working on my thesis. I have 4 weeks to get it done if I want to graduate this year. Wish that my head doesn't explode. Talk to you later.

Vishal bugs me!

Ha! I will not give in to your bugging, Vishal! Oh, wait, damn...


...


Christmas went well. ^_~

Serenity not coming to Finland

Up until now, the first screening date here in Finland was supposed to be today, 2.12, but when I went to check, it had mystically disappeared from every theater's list. After a moment of googling I found this message from Sandrew Metronome Finland:
"Ennakkotiedoista poiketen elokuva saa näillä näkymin ensi-iltansa valitettavasti suoraan videolla. Päätöksen takana on kyseisen elokuvan levittäjäyhtiö."

Which says that the film will be straight-to-video, and that the decision has been made by the distribution company of the film. This really bugs me and is weird, since the movie is being shown just across the border, in Sweden... So the distributor just decided that it wasn't going to be shown in Finland??!

This sucks.

Things I like (they make me go squeee!)

(EDIT: Another thing I like - ADVENT CHILDREN! OH HOLY TAPDANCING JENOVA, it is NICE!)

In other words, I went to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at a preview screening last Friday and I've been meaning to write about it ever since. Actually, I'm going to see it again on opening night tomorrow with my sister. From that you might have guessed that I liked the movie.

The first thing I'd like to mention is the music. Danny Elfman certainly delivers, like he always does. I've missed his music, and so listening to this movie made me happy.

The other thing I wanted to mention was the added backstory of Willy Wonka. While I agree that it was completely redundant, it didn't actually bother me. If the filmmakers wanted to invent a past for him, okay, have fun, but the movie didn't need it and would have worked fine without it. Hopefully someone had fun making it up.

Hmm... it seems that I don't have much to say about the movie after all. Johnny Depp was delightful and hilarious, and his Wonka was even weirder than I thought based on the trailers. And I want some of dem chocolate bars.

To all you Finnish people out there, I want to add this line that I smiled at in the subtitles:
"Olen aina tehnyt karkkia fiilispohjalta."

****************

Another thing that makes me happy is Susanna Clarke's book Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. I finished it about a week ago and I loved it - the plot, the characters, the footnotes. I especially liked the language of the book and I can't believe this was Clarke's first novel. Ooooh, it was so good. *shivers* It's tragic and exciting and funny and witty, and you just want to know what happens next. Even when "nothing" happens the text flows enjoyably onwards.

(I liked the portrayal of fairies, and just wanted to mention that nowadays every elf is in my head drawn by Ted Naifeh. I can't help it. The gentleman with thistledown hair was "drawn by Naifeh".)

I had only heard good things about the book before reading it, but I still didn't have any huuuge expectations. It is always best to read things for yourself instead of believing reviews. The last book I read that everyone had only said good things about was China Mieville's Perdido Street Station and I didn't like it. I was bored and wasn't sucked into the happenings of the book, and I couldn't have cared less about the characters. There wasn't a single character that I gave a crap for. It wouldn't have moved me one bit if they had all died. Characters are very important to me in a book, or in any story. In Jonathan Strange, on the other hand, I liked each and every one of the characters. Jonathan Strange, Vinculus, Drawlight, Childermass, the gentleman - just to name a few.

It's not even that characters have to be nice and likable for me to like them - I have liked many an 'evil' character in my times. I know a person who didn't watch Farscape because she thought every character was so unpleasant. I liked them because they all had flaws of character. But in Perdido Street I couldn't relate to the characters, I couldn't quite grasp them, I couldn't find any characteristic in them that I liked. So I ended up not caring about them.

o_O Aaaanyway, it seems I complained more about Perdido there than gave praise for Jonathan Strange. I just want to say that I don't believe that Perdido is a badly written book or anything. It just didn't relate to me at all, when there has to be a lot of people out there to whom it does, because they are different people and perhaps can find something in the characters to grasp onto.

But I want to say that I *loved* Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell and I will recommend it to each and every person I meet. They can make their own decisions, but I think they should at least open the book. It might work for them as well as it did for me.

****************

That Ted Naifeh comment earlier on there reminded me of another thing I liked: Courtney Crumrin Tales - A Portrait of the Warlock as a Young Man (loong title). If you Courtney Crumrin -fans out there haven't read it, do so now! I mean, it has Uncle Aloysius as a young man (I'm such an Aloysius fan girl)! The mood of the comic is different from the other albums, but different doesn't mean bad. Actually, in this case at least, it means very good. And of course the whole album is filled with delicious art. I love his style so much.

(I hadn't even noticed that I had a shortage of Naifeh-drawn young men before I read this - in Courtney you don't see that many of them. Aloysius Crumrin is teh hot - as well as the epitome of cool.)

Okay, signing out now. Phew.
I shake you warmly by the hand.

Blonde

I. Am. Blonde. Well, reddish. And my hair is short.

I'm getting used to this freakishness - actually I will colour my hair red in a couple of days, and that is the reason of my sudden attack of the blonde.

No, I don't own a camera. (So this entry was pretty much pointless.)

As you can see, DeviantArt has a new feature. Thanks to it you can now always see my 4 most recent deviations at the top of this page. Nifty, eh?

Tonight I'm going to a gig with my sister Tiina. We're going to see a Japanese band called Blood - I actually haven't listened to their music before, but they are the first visual kei band to ever come to Finland, so it is A Happening. And I will Be There. I expect to see a lot of pretty dresses, both on the audience members and the band's boys.

There was something else I thought I had to mention, but I don't remember it anymore. o_O

I get my paycheck tomorrow.

(This will look good on my shelf next to this.)

...
What, buy useful things?

I am SO MAD right now. I ordered my copy of the new Harry Potter book ages ago, and a few days ago I got an email that said that I could go get it on Saturday the 16th from the place where it would be delivered. Well, I went there today and THEY DIDN'T HAVE the package! They said to come check again on MONDAY AFTERNOON! I ordered it a few months ago when I could've just gone and picked it up today from the store. Then I at least would've gotten it when other people do, and now I'll get it a few days late!

The thing was, I was expecting that the delivery would take so long that I could get it as late as Monday, but then I got the email and became very happy. Yay, thanks for getting my hopes up.

My homepage Mayakashi and webcomic Fool's Court now have a new home ^^ at http://mayakashi.nitesade.net. Thanks to Antti for providing the space!
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www.tednaifeh.com:
"In other news, Oni Press has talked me into doing another Courtney book. It will be a single-issue story titled (deep breath) Courtney Crumrin Tales: Portrait of the Warlock as a Young Man. It follows the early adventures of Aloysius Crumrin in a world of secret societies and forbidden witchcraft. That's all I can give away for now, but rest assured it will be a rollicking adventure."

Fan-girl SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAL!!!!!!!! (Yes, I just squealed in the middle of class...)

Umm, some hacker broke into our school server, where my homepage is (was), so that's why it hasn't been working during the past two weeks, if you've wondered. They can't start it again, because the web server software is so old.

It seems I'm looking for a new place for my homepage and web comic. It's just really annoying, because when I move them I cannot redirect people to the right address. The server doesn't work, so there is no way I can put up a message like 'the page can now be found here - link'. So there can be many people who have used to e.g. read my webcomic and now just think it has disappeared, and can't/don't bother to find it again. Annoying.

I've had an offer from a friend of mine to use his server space, so perhaps I'll do that. Or something...