Enter Shikari

Another band that probably no one likes but me is Enter Shikari, one of the most fascinating bands I know. I could even say that they are something like my favorite band, which I do not really have because I listen to so many bands. They are a Bristish post-hardcore band and were formed in 2003. I did not know them back then but that was when I was 10 years old so I think that is understandable. ;)

Wikipedia says they are a post-hardcore band but I am not really sure about that. Enter Shikari is a very creative band. For me they sometimes sound like a straight metalcore band or hardcore band, then again they use all this electonic stuff so that a song sounds like dubstep. They even released one album called “Tribalism“ which consisted mainly of remixes of their former songs.

That I listen to a remix-album is rare enough, that I like it is an even rarer case.

What I find even more awesome than their music are their lyrics. Most of them are written by the singer, guitarist, pianist, celesta-player and electronics guy, Rou Reynolds. He must be a very fascinating person to talk to. His approach on society, environment issues, politics and many other things is very critical and refreshing. Some of their songs are just touching and give me hope.

The fist song of theirs I heard was “Sorry, you're not a winner” and I instantly liked it. It still took me quite a time to listen to their other stuff. Since 2009 I really listen to Enter Shikari and attend their concerts as often as possible! In 2012 the new album “A Flash Flood Of Colour” was released and I absolutely love it! The last song of the album is a very calm and thoughtful song. I dare to say that it maybe is my favorite song. If you listen to it, pay attention to the lyrics, these are the best part of the song in my opinion! :)

Here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmNjpfJqdkw

Nightwish – Singer number 3

Tarja Turunen

I know, most of you won't like or know the metal band Nightwish but I do and their story is quite interesting. Even if you don't like symphonic metal. Nightwish was formed 1996 in Finland. They started with a wongwriter and keyboarder (Tuomas), a guitarist (Emppu) and a female singer (Tarja). Originally, Tuomas wanted to write acoustic music but soon he realized that Tarja's operatic voice was too strong for that type of music. So he decided to include heavy metal elements and that is how Jukka (drums) and Sami (bass) joined the band. They were quite successful but in 2001 they had a very hard time. They had internal difficulties and Tuomas thought he would have to break up the band. It was Tony Kakko (singer and songwriter of Sonata Arctica) who made Tuomas realize that he could not simply do that. After a long talk between the two of them everything got better. Sami left and Marco played the bass instead. In 2004 the 5th album “Once” lead to unknown success. After this album, however, they had a terrible crisis. The male band members didn't get along with Tarja anymore and threw her out of the band through publishing an open letter to her and all the fans. Needless to say, Tarja was pretty shocked and angry about that and herself released an open letter as answer. She said that the way of breaking the news to her was needlessly cruel. Well, life goes on. Tarja started a solo project and Nightwish started looking for a new singer.

Anette Olzon

They came up with Anette Olzon, the ex-singer of the Swedish band Alyson Avenue. This was a very brave step. Anette didn't have any real metal or opera background. She was more of a pop singer and due to that had difficulties with songs written for Tarja's opera voice. She did a great job, however, and in 2007 one of my favorite albums of all times called “Dark Passion Play” was released. Anette gave the music a new touch and many fans really liked that. Of course there were haters, there always are. In 2011 they released their second album featuring Anette. It is called “Imaginaerum” and just as awesome as Dark Passion Play. In 2012, however, the problems started again. Nightwish announced their parting with Anette as their paths would no longer match. Later Anette also announced that she was pregnant with her third child. Maybe that was the reason for the break-up.

Floor Jansen

As the band was just on the Imaginaerum World Tour they needed a replacement. They ended up with Floor Jansen, the Dutch ex-singer of “After Forever”. As Floor has studied Musical Theater and one year of opera it is easier for her to reach Tarja's heights. You can definitely hear that she has more experience with metal but I can't say that I really like it. I loved Anette's light, friendly voice while Floor sounds too “wannabe tough” for me. I am sure that she is a great singer and lengths better than Anette. Still, I am not very enthusiastic. Yesterday I found some videos in which Tarja, Anette and Floor are compared. Hear for yourself!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIC21R_3Fcs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NzvYhqs46I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Al54eMCoxUw

Move in rain - again

This weekend the fifth vegan summer festival called “move” took place. I had never been there because I had never been in Graz when it took place. This year, however, I was there and it was great. It all goes down in “Stadtpark” on the “Passamtswiese”. Of course I wasn't there just for fun, I had to work but it was great anyways. The main idea of the festival is lots and lots of awesome vegan food. Everybody tries to eat as much food as possible, relaxes for some time and then gets something new to eat. That's not everything of course. There are live bands, workshops, a bouncy castle and lots of information desks. The move festival also has a tradition. Bad weather. This year it was the same. On Friday it just rained. On Saturday, however, it hailed. Very nice. Still, it didn't really matter for me because I was under the food tent anyway. There even were some people dancing in the rain and the band continued playing. When the rain finally decreased there was a huge lake on the lawn and most booths were gone because the water was everywhere. It was nice anyway, I had some great food and met lots of people. I still hope that the tradition will be broken next year. ;)

Save some rivers

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That's what it looks like now.

Some of you may know that I am active in the citizens' group “Rettet die Mur”. It is about preventing the hydroelectric power stations that “Energie Steiermark” wants to built in and around Graz. Most of you will probably think: “Wow, she's an idiot. Hydroelectric power is the best thing for our environment and she just wants to prohibit everything.” Well, Hydroelectric power is not good for our environment and I don't want to prohibit everything at all. It is just that these power plants in Graz would produce CO² and methane, would be very expensive compared to how much energy they produce and would destroy the habitat of dozens of animals and plants. In addition Graz would be a construction area for about 3 years and all the trees that give shade and fresh air in the middle of the city would be gone. Not that attractive for me.

Anyway, I didn't really want to write about the Mur but about the Sulm. There is a similar project going an at the river called “Schwarze Sulm” in a town called “Schwanberg”. A guy with too much money wants to built a hydroelectric power plant in the middle of a “Natura 2000” sanctuary. This should be forbidden but he somehow managed to get a yes for the project. Now he starts to built even though not all land owners of the land he needs agree. So the reaction of the townspeople was to start a protest. They set up a camp to prevent him from moving on. Yesterday I was there and it unbelievably beautiful. The river it crystal clear and freezing cold and everything else is a fresh green. This unique landscape really deserves being protected. I f you want to help you can come to the demonstration on Wednesday and go there any time. They are always happy to see helpful people. :)

More info here:

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https://www.facebook.com/RettetdieSchwarzeSulm?ref=ts&fref=ts

http://www.kleinezeitung.at/steiermark/3310876/jetzt-fahren-sulm-bagger.story

Falling...falling...falling

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That's the bridge...

On Sunday I did one of the craziest things in my life so far. I jumped off a 96 meters high bridge.

If you now think that I am crazy: I am not. I just went bungee jumping. It wasn't my idea, however. On my last birthday I got it as a present and last Sunday, nearly one year after that I finally dared to to do it. My voucher was for the famous and very high bridge “Jauntalbrücke” so I went there with my sister and a friend of mine. It

That's the view from up there...

is Europe's highest railroad bridge with its 96 meters. Under the bridge the river “Drau” flows. The scenery there is beautiful, the green-blue water and forest everywhere! The scenery, however, was not enough to calm me down. When I got there, there were 4 people jumping before me. With every person jumping off the platform I got more nervous. I don't suffer from vertigo and I knew that nothing bad at all would happen. Still, the thought of having to jump was horrible. When it was my turn one of the trainers told me what to do and said I should take it easy. Haha. That's not that easy when you are standing on the edge of such an abyss. ;) With the instructions, however, it was not so bad because I could concentrate on what I had to do. So when the final word of the countdown (Jump!) was there I just jumped and tried to do what the guy told me to. At first I thought I have to throw up because of that horrible dropping feeling I got in my stomach. It felt like going down with an elevator but about a hundred times worse. After that it was just amazing! It was so much fun, I had to giggle all the time while spinning through the air. When my spinning got less, the guy in the rubber dinghy on the river grabbed my hand and pulled me in the boat and asked me if I was alright. I was very alright. :D After hiking all the 96 meters back up again to my friends I got a certificate that I am a woman for every case. ;) I can absolutely recommend bungee jumping to you, I would definitely do it again if it wasn't so expensive.

New Addiction

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I think we all know the problem of sitting in front of the computer, having to study and doing nothing for university at all. The distractions I use most often are stupid computer games and youtube videos. I play computer games when I am supposed to study even if in general I don't like playing computer games at all. I always think it is a waste of time. Obviously not when I should study. ;) Still, youtube is even worse. I open it because I want to listen to a specific song while studying and I never close it again. My latest youtube addiction are Dan and Phil. I don't know if you know them or not. They are two British guys who basically make youtube videos. They started in 2009 and are still going. They don't even do crazy stuff or especially amusing things, they just talk. They talk about things they like or don't like, about embarrassing things that happened to them or they play truth or dare. They got quite famous via youtube and now have their own radio show on BBC radio one. One thing I use as an excuse for spending so much time watching them is that they also do some videos on different English accents. For example, they did one video called “How To Speak Northern” in which a friend of theirs from Northern England tests Dan on Northern vocabulary. They also did one video where they tried to do an American accent. The other excuse I use is that watching English videos counts as listening practice. ;) I don't know why but I just can't stop watching their stuff. If you also want to waste some of your time I give you the links to their channels here:

Dan: http://www.youtube.com/user/danisnotonfire

Phil: http://www.youtube.com/user/AmazingPhil

Ice Cream!!!!

I love ice cream. Who doesn't? ;) As I am vegan I can not eat any kind of ice cream but since this spring my choice of shops in Graz is very big. I always thought that every ship offers some vegan type of ice cream. I was so wrong. About one week ago I fried to buy vegan ice cream at Temmel and the sales girl told me that they put milk in EVERY type of ice cream!!! I was incredibly shocked and will gladly never visit Temmel again. Some vegan friends of mine always told me that at least lemon ice cream is vegan everywhere. They were wrong obviously. Well anyway, I have lots of other ice cream shops I can go to. There is a great shop in “Sackstraße” which offers some great tropical vegan ice cream. My favorite place for ice cream, however, is “Sporgasse”. There are three shops I really like. The first one is Amorino which is a bit expensive but their banana ice cream is just delicious! The second one is Sax. They have some great vegan fruit ice creams and they even offer soy chocolate! :) Last but not least is the Eisgreissler! This one is very new but very, very awesome! Eisgreissler sells organic ice cream with mostly local ingredients. My two sisters both work there and they offer vegan chocolate, coffee, strawberry, raspberry, mango, pear, apricot and some other great stuff that I unfortunately forgot. ;) I f I was you I would totally check it out!

Great design, isn't it?