Best Concerts in 2011

Since I don't think I'll get to see anymore concerts this year (not really interested in anything else but Hammerfall, and I really can't go see them), I think it's safe to write this now.

10. Epica (29th of march, The Silver Church Club)

As I said before, Epica aren't on my "beloved bands" list, but I do respect them as musicians and it was a nice concert to see. Funnily enough, it was not Simone who really caught my eye, but the guys. They work very well together, as a band, and the Imperial March moment was pretty goddamn awesome in itself.

9. Sonata Arctica (13th of august, Artmania Festival day 1, Sibiu)

It was one of the bands I was really excited about in Artmania and one of the beloved bands of my adolescence. It was a very nice concert and Toni Kakko is one of the best and cutest vocalists Finland's ever offered us. It's on the 9 th place only because I could not really enjoy the concert because of an idiot who stalked me. And that chaffed my willy.

8. Monarchy (30th of september, The Silver Church Club)

As I stated before, Monarchy is one band I really trust in, since they are new and fresh in our music. And the concert in Silver Church did not disappoint. They are fun to listen to and full of energy. And I really hope they'll have a lot of success with what they're doing. Plus any band that has the Imperial March as its  concert intro is worth at least a listening ;)

7. Tim "Ripper" Owens (20th of february, Kulturhaus Club)

This was a concert I almost didn't get to, since I wasn't in a very prosperous situation at the time, but a friend gave me a ticket as a gift for the 1st of march and so I went and saw him in the end. And it's a good thing I did, since Owens is indeed one hell of a vocalist. I am somehow sorry Judas Priest kicked him out, although I do prefer Halford over him. His band isn't really perfect, but he is, and he can run through anything from Dio to Metallica with a lots of ease. I am glad I got to see him. 

6. Sabaton (2nd of july, Rock the City, day 2)

Even though I've seen Sabaton 2 times before, in Sweden, I figured what the hell and got a 3-days pass for the festival. And boy didn't I regret it for one moment. The Swedes are just as I remembered them: funny, entertaining, and very dedicate to their music. I screamed, jumped and headbanged like hell. I hope they come back soon, since they're an entertaining band that can always put a smile on my face.

5. Dark Tranquillity (19th of may, Silver Church Club)

I'd seen these Swedes before, too (2010, Artmania) and boy did I have an awesome time. So on the 19th of may, with my new good friend Kay, I went to see them again. And I did not regret one bit. Despite singing in front of a much smaller crowd than at Sibiu,  both the band and the concert-goers seemed to have the time of their lives and in the end it turned out to be an event which one shouldn't have missed. Except for some wacko who kept disturbing me and my friend (and whom the guards stopped halfway through), it was an awesome night. Also, no opening band, which more often than not is a good thing.

4. Helloween (12th of august, Artmania Festival day 1, Sibiu)

Although I regretted when Nevermore canceled their concert in Sibiu, I cannot say I was sorry that it was Helloween who took their place, since the Germans are a band that still works damn fine and Andi Deris is one hell of a vocalist, charming and talented and who easily gains the public over. It was one of my "to see" bands and my expectations were not failed. I cannot say how awesome it was. But the next day was a difficult day for my neck. 

3. Amon Amarth (19th of november, Arenele Romane)

11 days after the concert and somehow I still feel the energy and the raw power in my blood. Both me and the friend I went there with had a really good time. It was indeed something not to miss and I hope it won't take them 20 years to return. I for one will be waiting, axe in hand. 

2. Blind Guardian (1st of may, Arenele Romane)

I remember how pissed of I was when my dad didn't allow me to go and see them the first time when they came to Romania and this time around I wasn't gonna miss them. It was indeed an event an, besides offering me a great time, it was also the day when I met one of my dearest friends, Kay, and the  awesome Iulia. The Germans are indeed awesome and I must admit i shed a tear during The Bard's Song (in the forest).

1. Judas Priest (3rd of july, Rock the City, day 3).

One life, I'm gonna live it up.And so I did. Judas Priest was a band I always liked and one of the first I listened to (when my dad played Painkiller for me, as a child) and since I could not see them in 2008 (university admission exam *grumble*), I wasn't gonna miss this occasion. Together with some of my dearest friends, I went to see the Metal Gods. And gods they were indeed. This is a concert I will tell my children of with great pride.

Amon Amarth/ As I Lay Dying/ Septic Flesh @ Arenele Romane

Au trecut mai bine de 16 ore de la concertul de pe Arene și ȋncă am impresia că m-a lovit un tren. Dacă după 6 ani (primul meu mare concert: Paradise Lost, 2005) și zeci de concerte ȋntre timp, aveam impresia că știu ce mă așteaptă, ei bine, m-am ȋnșelat. Foarte tare.

Organizarea a lăsat mult de dorit, din nou. Se anunțase că porțile se vor deschide la 19, dar pe la 19:30 erau ȋncă ȋnchise, așa că atunci când am ajuns ȋn cortul propriu-zis, Septic Flesh ȋncepuseră deja. Am auzit, de altfel, că unii nu i-au prins deloc. Mă rog, pentru mine n-ar fi fost cine știe ce pagubă, dar ține de principiu.

Septic Flesh promiseseră publicului roman "o adevarată slujbă satanică", ceea ce pe mine m-a lăsat rece ca principiu, dar cu atât mai mult cu cât tot ce ne-au putut oferi grecii a fost un fel de.. lasă-mă să te las. Habar n-am ce ȋnțeleg ei prin ”slujbă neagră“, nu că mi-aș fi dorit să văd pisici negre decapitate pe scenă sau așa ceva, dar tot spectacolul a fost cam pe lângă. Poate Satan stătea și el la poartă și nu l-au lăsat gardienii să intre. S-a cântat fără chef, puțin forțat, și ȋn general departe de performanța promisă. Să fi fost și faptul că sala era pe trei sferturi goală, să fi fost și sunetul destul de prost, oricum Septic Flesh n-au făcut mare brânză, ceea ce e păcat pentru o trupă de 21 de ani și pe care eu ȋi așteptam măcar curioasă dacă nu altceva. Mi-ar fi plăcut să-i văd ȋn plină glorie.

După pauza de rigoare, pe scenă au intrat As I Lay Dying. Care, am aflat eu mai târziu, se autointitulează ”A Christian Band”. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, cum ar zice Seinfeld, doar că atunci când vezi o mână de băieți cât ușa, tatuați din cap până-n picioare, care urlă cât ȋi ține (și ȋi ține…) și te instigă la pogo, Christian Band nu e primul lucru care-ți trece prin cap. Muzical vorbind, băieții sunt foarte bine pe felia lor. Plini de energie, cu chef și pasiune evidentă pentru ce fac, As I Lay Dying au fost cei care au deschis, de fapt, ostilitățile. Pe muzica lor s-a făcut pogo, crowdsurfing și s-a dat din cap grupa mare. S-a lăsat cu picioare-n cap, pumni și alte chestii d-astea complet creștinești. 

Trupa s-a comportat impecabil pe scenă. Solistul Tim Lambesis (care aparent e și el parțial grec) a fost o surpriză foarte plăcută. Pe lângă calitățile vocale și cheful evident pentru ceea ce face, Lambesis e și unul dintre cei mai charismatici soliști pe care i-am văzut ȋn ultimul timp. Pe deasupra, arată de-a dreptul demențial: un munte de om, ȋnalt, lucrat și extrem de bine proporționat. O altă surpriză la fel de plăcută a fost și bateristul Jordan Mancino, foarte energic și tehnic. Amicul Bogdan spunea că ȋi amintește de Scott Columbus și sinceră să fiu, cred că are dreptate. E aceeași furie, aceeași nebunie pe care și regretatul fost baterist Manowar o avea pe scenă. AILD au ȋncheiat ȋn plină glorie și pe mine una m-au convins. Chit că nu-mi place metalcore-ul ȋn mod special, americanii merită ascultați. 

Au urmat, bineȋnțeles, Amon Amarth, pe care eu una-i aștept de ani de zile și care m-au convins că s-a meritat așteptarea. Debutând cu War of the Gods, suedezii s-au dovedit a fi ȋntr-o mare formă și ȋncă de la primele melodii s-au ȋnceput mișcările ample. A fost, sinceră să fiu, prima oară ȋn viață când m-am speriat de un wall of death. Cumva, am fost la un moment dat prinsă la mijloc și m-am trezit că vin din toate părțile astfel că nu mai știam pe care parte s-o apuc. 

Nu că ar mai fi contat pe la Pursuit of Vikings, probabil cea mai celebră piesă a suedezilor, când a ȋnnebunit efectiv toată sala, subsemnata included. Odin! Guide our ships, our axes, spears and swords și 1000 de oameni care au ȋnnebunit de-a dreptul. Nebunia a ținut până la sfârșit de altfel, când suedezii s-au retras de pe scenă și toată lumea a ȋnceput să urle pentru bis. Cu sunete de tunet și reflectoare fulgerând, Johan Hegg și ai lui s-au reȋntors pentru Twilight of the Thunder God și mai apoi Guardians of Asgard și cu promisiunea că nu le va mai lua 20 de ani să ajungă din nou aici. 20 de ani de carieră care, de altfel, se văd foarte clar ȋn profesionalismul cu care se comportă pe scenă. Toată trupa a fost ȋn mod clar, la nivel maxim, făcând ca așteptarea să merite.

Solistul, care ne-a vorbit puțin ȋn română (și n-a dat-o pe chestii cu spațiul carpato-danubiano-pontic), părea realmente ȋncântat de ce se ȋntâmpla ȋn public. Și nu e de ici de colo să vezi un munte de om, pe principiul “sunt Viking tocmai coborât de pe corabie”, zâmbind cu gura până la urechi ca un copil mic. Zâmbet care, de altfel, ȋi șterge orice trăsătură fioroasă de pe chip. Hm, cine ar fi știut că poate să râdă? 

A fost, fără doar și poate, unul dintre cele mai faine concerte la care am fost ȋn ultimul timp (mind you,  vorbim de un an ȋn care i-am văzut pe Judas Priest, Blind Guardian, Helloween, Dark Tranquility și Tim Ripper Owens).  Singurul meu regret legat de Amon Amarth a fost faptul că n-au cântat Valkyries Ride, dar aici sunt, poate, subiectivă, fiindcă e piesa mea preferată dintre ale lor. Dar, poate, cine știe, la următorul concert.

Se-anunta in 2012

Arch Enemy- 18.01, Arenele Romane.
Tarja Turunen- 25.01, Sala Palatului

Nazareth- 27.01, Hard Rock Cafe 
Anneke van Giersbergen- 22.04, The Silver Church Club. 
Endstille- 27.04, Club Fabrica

Dimmu Borgir- 15.06- OST Fest.

Motorhead- 17.06- OST Fest.

Kreator- B'ESTFEST Summer Camp 6-8.07.

Trail of Tears- 06.08- Artmania Festival.

Delain- 06.08- Artmania Festival.

keep you posted.

Miere ploriflora de tei

M-a apucat cheful de flori in ghiveci asa ca ma duc ceva mai devreme la piata Obor sa-mi cumpar rasaduri si alte chestii. La aceeasi taraba erau si puieti de diferiti pomi, de vanzare, printre care si cativa tei.

Se apropie un tip de taraba si se uita interesat la ei. 

- Teii acestia.. de care sunt? intreaba el

- Fac flori pentru miere, raspunde vanzatorul, destul de amabil.

- De care miere? Poliflora? 

Am luat-o la picior 3 secunde mai tarziu, pentru ca ma apucase un atac tembel de ras.

Eye of the Tiger (with special guest Dean Winchester)

Sometimes, I need to take it slower and just take a minute for myself and do something that makes me feel better or that brings a smile on my face. Small, funny, weird stuff.


Dean Winchester's Eye of the Tiger dance from episode 6 of season 4 of Supernatural is one of those things. I've been watching this for a few hours now and it makes me really happy for some weird reason. I love seeing people enjoying themselves.

Jensen Ackles' performance as the schmuck but awesome Dean Winchester is one of the reason I kept watching Supernatural despite some rather uninteresting episodes that occurred every now and then. I love Dean for all his faults and silliness, and he's always seemed the mature, down to Earth character of the two, despite fooling around most of the time. 

This clip, for one, makes my day and goes to prove that the actor is just as funny and crazy as the character. Which makes him even more awesome.

Worst casting choices lately

I haven't really had the time to see any movies lately but the other day a friend dragged me to the cinema and made me watch a movie together with her. The movie, which was REALLY bad, gave me the idea for this here post. I will not tell you which movie it was until the end of the article, but since everyone was so freaking awful, it made me think of the wrong choices made by casting agents. And, by Odin, I've seen lots of those lately.

1. January Jones as Emma Frost (X-Men: First Class)

I know this is a pretty obvious one but, 5 months after seeing this movie and I still can't get over the god-awful portrayal. I mean, the comic book Emma is everything this cheap bimbo-ish portrayal isn't: she's smart, witty, independent, and indeed beautiful but not in the Playboy-bunny kind of way. The movie version is simply a puppet of Shaw's with no personality whatsoever and the charm of a rusty tea-spoon in a puddle of mud. You know the dumb-blonde with big boobs stereotype? Well, that's her. While this may not be entirely Jones' fault, the bland, completely charmless portrayal is. A mop would have fit the part better. 

2. Chris Hemsworth as Thor (Thor)

You'll say I have something against blonde Marvel characters. Nope, just the really poorly-portrayed ones. And while Hemsworth wasn't really Jones-bad, I can't say I liked anything about his portrayal of Thor. Ok, I get it, Ol' Thunder wasn't supposed to be the brightest crayon in the bunch, especially when confronting mischief-man Loki (brilliant Tom Hiddleston btw), but there is too much of "I am a redneck trucker who beats his wife and bounces bars in the weekends" in the Australian for me to like. There's nothing genuine about him, not even that smile spreading on his face every now and then. Oh well. 

3. Russell Crowe as Robin Hood (Robin Hood)

I used to love this guy. Despite this and that, The Gladiator still remains one of my favorite films ever and while an Oscar does not assure you a non-failure in picking parts (just as NEVER winning an Oscar doesn't mean you're not a great actor *cough* Peter O'Toole *cough*), I would have honestly expected more from the guy. I don't know what didn't work- probably the script had its faults, too, but to me, Crowe's version of Robin Hood was the worst one in quite a while (which means a lot, taking into account the fact that Kevin Costner starred god-awfully in the Prince of Thieves only 19 years before). I did get the whole "reimagining" yada-yada, but oh well, that is NOT how you portray Robin Hood. They tried before with King Arthur and failed. Although at least Clive Owen did give a bearable performance.

4. Penelope Cruz as POTC4's Angelica 

I have to start by saying that I totally love Penelope Cruz. She is one of the few actresses who are both really beautiful and really talented and her performance in Vicky Christina Barcelona totally blew me away. Her new character in the 4th Pirates of the Caribbean  movie however did not. While the movie itself does not really excel in any way, what it lacks completely is a pleasant female character- and, dear God, does that mean a lot when the only female character you've had in the first three movies was the boring, annoying Elizabeth Swann. Cruz's Angelica, which is intended to be a bit of a Jack Sparrow female version, and fails at that completely, can't become a character one can really like and maybe that is because- just like in the case of Blackbeard- the movie focuses next to zero on her background story. I never thought I would not like her character, but it was a pretty huge disappointment. 

5. The whole cast of the new The Three Musketeers

This was the movie I was speaking of in the beginning and which I so deeply hated. never in this last year have I had such a huge "Can I please die? Now?" feeling during a movie- I've yet to see Conan but I don't think that will change much. The new version of the novel seems to be written by someone who never actually read the book, but saw the '93 version starring Chris o'Donnell and the Dogtanian cartoons, then came out of a Pirates of the Caribbean movie and thought "hmm.. I could do that". Nobody in that movie seems to be one bit in the vein of the original Dumas story- not even Christoph Waltz, who is one of my favorite actors ever. Ninja Buckingham? Lara Croft-meets-Matrix Milady de Winters? Dear God.

I rarely predict these kind of things wrong and in 4 of the 5 cases before-mentioned my "prediction" was right before seeing the movie- the casting sucked. There are a few other things that smell fishy to me in movies yet to come. Here's to hoping I'm wrong.

Casting choices I fear for the future:

- Russell Crowe as Jor-El in Man of Steel/ Inspector Javert in Les Miserables- As I said before, I do like Crowe a lot but I don't find any of these two choices too flattering- I see Jor-El having a more graceful allure to him and Javert being a bit more of a sly, malicious character.

- John Cusack as Edgar Allan Poe in The Raven- don't get me wrong, Cusack's a dearie- but this is far from being his type of character. He can successfully play a hopeful lover (Serendipity) or even an overly-curious journalist (1408), but Edgar Allan Poe was too much of a dark, tormented soul for this kind of sweetheart. But then again, they are apparently turning Poe into an American version of Sherlock Holmes rather than filming his biography. And that itself makes me cringe.

- Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo- I might be a bit biased with this one, since I totally loved the original version and find this remake a bit too soon (if not altogether unnecessary), but from what I see, Mara lacks Noomi Rapace's sheer force, determinance and aura of mystery- she's just a goth girl with a blank stare. 

- Tom Hardy as Bane in The Dark Knight Rises- I may be wrong about this one but I for one do not really like Hardy, and Bane happens to be one of my favorite characters ever in the Batman series. There's a thin line between nailing it and going over the top here. And from what the suit looks, I fear it's the latter. Well, not Schumacher over-the-top, but still. Bane's a smart, sly, experienced character (grew up in prison, got a very good education nonetheless) and truth be told, I am not sure Hardy can pull that. I never was impressed with his acting abilities. Also, I am very curious if Nolan will pull the "Breaking the Bat" stunt. If so, we've got another thing coming.

- Kristen Stewart as Snow White in Snow White and the Huntsman. Because.