I’ve found a new favourite time waster: Harmony
It’s one of those online sketch pads, and really addictive! Don’t go there unless you have lots of free time on your hands It has a few different tools to use and they’re actually pretty good. But I haven’t found an eraser tool yet, so you better get it right on the first try ^__^;

Here’s a few sketches I found good enough to save:

Sad part is, this is the most creative I’ve been for months… Seems my muse has run off somewhere and refuse to come when called. Stupid muse.

Alice, an unpretentious and individual 19-year-old, is betrothed to a dunce of an English nobleman. At her engagement party, she escapes the crowd to consider whether to go through with the marriage and falls down a hole in the garden after spotting an unusual rabbit. Arriving in a strange and surreal place called “Underland,” she finds herself in a world that resembles the nightmares she had as a child, filled with talking animals, villainous queens and knights, and frumious bandersnatches. Alice realizes that she is there for a reason–to conquer the horrific Jabberwocky and restore the rightful queen to her throne.

Written by Jim Beaver

Visually it’s breathtaking. As always when Tim Burton is around it’s beautiful and imaginative beyond my wildest dreams! Everything is a perfect mix of cute and creepy.
I really liked the Chesire Cat, and I was very pleased to hear Alan Rickmans voice as the blue caterpillar But unfortunately I didn’t like Alice very much. I just found her dull and stiff. But on the other hand it can’t be easy sharing a stage with Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter…

Actually, I think the Mad Hatter got a little too much screen time and other characters to little. Sounds strange, huh? Didn’t know there was such a thing as “too much Johnny Depp”
The characters were all so charming and funny and I wanted to see much more of them! Like the Dodo bird, Tweedledee/Tweedledum and the White Queen! I also don’t think I got to know enough about Alice, about her personality and thoughts. (Btw, where’s the Mock Turtle? )
The last scene with the Jabberwocky was also a little… I don’t know. It didn’t feel as epic as it should.

All in all I think it was a good movie, I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t GREAT. I’m a huge fan of Tim Burton and was pretty much prepared to be blown away. But it didn’t happen. I really thought the movie would be better.
Maybe my hopes and expectations were just to high?

I figured the music deserved an entry of its own.
I realise not many people will recognise or like these bands but… well, I saw them live and I want to write about them. So suck it up

Alestorm

How can you not like a band that plays pirate metal? I was looking forward to see them live. Unfortunately there was something weird with the singers mic, the sound kept disappearing every now and then and it was pretty irritating. But the band had LOTS of energy and on stage and when the sound worked it was good. The singer was really funny.
I was a little disappointed they didn’t perform in pirate outfits though.

Stone Sour

We only saw the last 20 min of this concert. I had never heard about them before and was just passing by, but the sound captured me. They were really good! Classic, heavy rock n’ roll always does it for me. And the singer made these hilarious dance moves on stage. I have to look them up on Spotify.

Sabaton

All I can say is WOW! This band is nothing but amazing live! And the audience loves them, I can’t believe how many people were there to see them. And everyone was singing along to every song. Wonderful atmosphere!
The funniest part was when they sang a cover of an old Swedish song (Långa Bollar på Bengt) and all of a sudden the elderly man who is the original artist (Svenne Rubin) comes up on stage and takes over
If I have to complain about anything, it would be that they never played their song Wolfpack. But rest was so great I can live without it.

Jorn

Another concert we only saw a fraction of. We catched the last 15 min while waiting for Danzig to come on. Jorn is a great artist so it was nice to see him, and what little we saw was pretty good.
He’s actually coming to our local festival here in my town, so I can go see his complete concert next Thursday if I want to I’m tempted.

Danzig

WOO DANZIG!! *cough* Sorry, just had to shout a little. I just love Danzig. As excited as I was to see him I had rather high expectations – and he met them. He did a really great performance with only a few minor dead parts. I couldn’t be happier The greatest moment was (duh) when he sang Mother and the whole crowd sang along to every word.

Aerosmith

This is the second time I’ve seen them, as they were here for SRF 2007 as well. I really like Aerosmith, they are an excellent live band. Lots of good songs and very entertaining personalities on stage… BUT. When Steven Tyler pulls out that harmonica you know it’s time to go home. Playing harmonica is impressive, but it’s only cool for a minute or two. A 10 min harmonica solo is to much. And so is a 20 min drum solo. You’re all great guys but please, solos are supposed to be interludes – not 40% of a concert.

. . .

I just have to mention a band we saw in the beer tent on Saturday: The Cougars
Me and Markus didn’t have tickets for Saturday so when everyone else were watching Guns n’ Roses ( ) we headed for the pub and the tent. And there was this band of 5 women in their 40′s, looking more or less like a mix of Cher and My Chemical Romance. And they rocked
Actually, I’m not kidding, they were rather good. I was impressed. And the singer was smoking hot

I don’t know if anyone’s noticed, but I’ve been away on vacation for a while! The whole last week was spent at the other side of the country, at Sweden Rock Festival!
It’s one of the biggest festivals in Sweden and it’s dedicated entirely to rock and metal music.

We took the bus to Markus’ parents on Friday the 4th to spend the weekend with them and drop of Zaphod. Which is like sending him to dog paradise, they spoil him rotten
Tuesday we arrived at the festival, Sunday we got back to Markus’ parents and this Monday we finally got back home. It’s been a great week with good friends, greasy food, lukewarm beer and loud music.
I’m still a little “jet lagged” to be honest…

The road trip

For the past 3 years it’s been a tradition among our friends to drive down there. It takes about 14 hours so it’s quite a road trip. Even if it’s a long drive I still love it, we cross almost our whole country so you get to see a lot.
And one of our friends is a taxi driver who owns his own car, so we got to drive down in a cab. Which was kinda cool, when people asked how we got there we could just say “oh, we took a cab”

The camp

As always we lived at a campsite right next to the festival area. We made a really cosy camp too, with the tents in a half-circle around two marquees protecting us from the rain.
The weather was kinda blah. Grey and windy with occasional rain. But I had a winter jacket (yes, really), gloves, rubber boots, you name it. I was 100% water- and windproof and not bothered at all
The campsite gets pretty crowded and after a few days it always look like a war-zone with garbage (mostly empty beer cans) and dropped food everywhere. But it’s part of the charm if you ask me. It’s supposed to be a little rough and rugged. The “garbage tree” was a bit much though…

The people

There are lots of odd, original people there. And inevitably you also get to see lots of rather… interesting outfits. The green men were pretty strange, even for SRF. Seeing Eddie there wasn’t much of a surprise though But the most amazing thing is that everyone’s so nice and friendly. There’s virtually no violence or crime even though there are over 30 000 people there from all over the world. Metalheads may look mean, but the spikes are only for decoration

At the campsite we met John from England who couldn’t stop raving about how beautiful the Swedish women are and tried to teach us to speak cockney It was pretty cool meeting someone who speaks British English since I’ve only met people speaking American English before.

I only saw one penis though. Normally you get to see quite a few of them, seeing as most people there are not exactly shy and also quite drunk I probably should be appalled by it, but I don’t really care, I have an unusually high naked-people-tolerance.

Shopping

What better place to shop then at a rock-themed marketplace? I can’t find stuff like this at our local stores:

1. Werewolf t-shirt. Have I mentioned I love werewolves? Well, I love werewolves.
2. Opeth t-shirt. A band I really like.
3. Skelanimals hoodie. The back is so cute! “If you’re warm hug me.”
4. Skull kitty hoodie.
5. Chain skirt! The chains can be removed if I want to look slightly more normal.
6. Two pairs of over-knee socks and a turquoise glittery scarf.

The music

… Will be covered in a later entry. I think this post is way to long as it is