__________oh that's nice! ash in my tomatoes!

monday, oct 30, 2006
[the memoirs of a live gig fanatic]

The Ark's last summer's Provinssi gig was on telly last night. Leari love!
Random notes:
Man, that was a good gig.
Did I catch a glimpse of Lasse there in the audience? Very likely.
Is Ola Salo developing, eh, man boobs?

Har, har.

Anyway, as I was watching (and taping) it, I started to process this thought that has been going around my little brain lately, ie. a list of the most memorable gigs I've seen.

So, here we go. In no particular order:

The Ark - Tavastia, March 2003 & Provinssirock, June 2006
I discovered The Ark in Dec 2002 and a few months later they came to Tavastia. Such luck! Lovely gig, even if I came home all bruised and with a bleeding lip. My first ever Tavastia experience.
Provinssi gig this year left me quite speechless. I hadn't listened to the band for a while, and had been a bit disappointed with the latest album, but the gig made me forget it all. One of the highlights of the Provinssi weekend.

Don Huonot - Ankkarock, August 1997 & Lepakko, October 1997
I was fifteen and had been a DH fan for a few years. Love. It was effin' hot during the Ankkarock gig and I almost fainted, but pffft, who cares?
Plus, I later learnt to appreciate the fact that I got to experience Lepakko at least once.

Silmänkääntäjä - Puistoilmiö, August 2004
I knew practically about Silmänkääntäjä before the gig (I'd heard one gig from distance a year before), but it was just soooo good. I don't think I've ever danced that much during any other gig (well, except maybe on any Built For Speed gig ever..). Got the CD, still adore it.

Backstreet Boys - Hartwall Arena, October 2005
The concerts in August 1999 were an experience beyond description, but this was so much better than that! Boogied like looney.

Niko Ahvonen - Sunset Beach Party, July 1999 & 2001
The 1999 gig converted the Niko-despiser in me, 2001 was just pure perfection. Penelope!
(His 2004 SBP I didn't appreciate all that much. Luckily the absolutely fantastic Lemonator gig the same year made up for it very nicely.)

Mokoma - Tavastia, June 2005
My first ever Mokoma gig (after trying to get to one since they had to cancel opening for Don Huonot at Lepakko in 1997), the energy just blew me away. Also, observing the male metal fans and comparing them to teenybopper girls was a blast.

Bubblin' Under:
Egotrippi - Ankkarock, August 1997 & 1998
The fun of it! Hei Bore cover! (1998 also my first time in the front row at any gig, woo.)

Tehosekoitin - Tanhuhovi, August 1996
My first R&R gig ever. Got me hooked straight away, to both the band and seeing live gigs in general. I saw Tehosekoitin several times since, and they were always fantastic, but this one stuck with me.

VHB - Bepop, October 2006
It was just few weeks ago so wouldn't know for certain, but I have a very strong hunch this will make it to the big list eventually. :D

--
So there. I could also add any Ville Leinonen gig I've ever seen in there. I just thought I'd pass all the man+guiatr combos because then the list would get way too long.

she said she said @ 08:19 pm
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sunday, oct 29, 2006
["everything is the same, even if it's different"]

"We're not in infinity; we're in the suburbs."

As an attempt to cheer (me) up, Reeta, Noora and me rented I Heart Huckabees last night.

"Nobody sits like this rock sits. You rock, rock. The rock just sits and is."

Erm. Wow. And more importantly: huh? And then another wow.
It served the purpose, ie. it did cheer me up on some absurd level, but it's possibly one of the strangest films ever. In any case, I absolutely adored it. And now I want to see it again.

"I have no idea what you guys are talking about. I thought we were here to talk about petroleum."

Another one of last night's cheer-ups: I baked chocolate cherry muffins. Mmm.
(I shouldn't be eating any of that stuff, though. Ah well. Baking is happiness, and a few muffins never hurt anyone. Right?)

--
On a less happy note: Reko Lundán passed away on Friday at the age of thirty-seven. I think it's extremely sad and such a waste. He was a truly gifted man.

she said she said @ 08:30 pm
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tuesday, oct 24, 2006
[waa!]

Why does having a flu also make you extremely depressed? Like the fact that you're physically feeling nasty wouldn't be enough already. My great plan to concentrate only on the positive is so not working. Also, I'm over-relating to everything again o_O

But to quote: "I'm alive, so I guess that I must be alright."

After thinking about it for a week, I find the idea of Jari coming to Bristol in the spring as well very comforting. He could be my security blanket! (And we could find our way from London to Bristol together.) So let us hope everything goes alright with his application. All together now.

// edit: I still haven't come up with any nice costume idea for the Halloween party. Help!

she said she said @ 07:32 pm
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monday, oct 23, 2006
[thunderbolt flu]

First things first: I want this shirt. Full stop.

I've caught the flu again, I'm feeling absolutely terrible. Sigh. It's a sort of thunderbolt flu. It just appeared out of the blue late last night but got instantly quite bad. Maybe that means it'll go away in the same rushy manner, too?

As if.

Anyway. The 4½ on the train exhausted me so badly, I decided to skip Cultures of Crime. So I've sat here infront of the pooter and spent quality nerd time editing photos, modifying my MySpace profile page and sending a bunch of friend requests I've been thinking for quite a while. Woo! It's been fun and also a nice way to clear my head.

Not much to clear in there, though. How can you be so impressed by something or someone that it/the person pretty much blocks all the other thoughts that you would be thinking otherwise? Interesting train ride it was. I just sat there listening to my little red mp3 player and smiling occasionally. I tried to read, but pffft. The flu combined with the one thought stuck in my head resulted in a complete loss of attention span. Hurrah.

It'll pass, I know it. So I might as well enjoy the fact that for once my head isn't about to explode because of all the random thoughts. :)

Mentioning my little red mp3 player, I have discovered a combination of albums that doesn't make me miserable in any way. Woo.
Maryland: Almond of Life
Day Eleven: Almost Over Everything
VHB: Approach
Lemonator: At the Presence of Great Beauty

I know I'd be able to fit at least 20 more albums there, but I don't care. This combination works so well at the moment that I'm sticking with it. Teehee.

ps. You know you're bored when realising that all the four albums in your player begin with the letter A seems like the most exciting thing ever and you simply must inform your friends of this wonderful discovery by text message instantly. In other words, the ultimate boredom leak caught me on the train on Friday.

I think this is fairly cool. I love my camera.

And yes, the white stuff would be cigarette smoke. The cigarette, then, belonged to the extremely annoying (and most embarrassing) drunken bloke next to me. Though he blocked my view more than half of the time, he surprisingly isn't present at any of my photos, save fingers and that smoke in a few. And in this photo's case, I am loving the smoke. Ah.

See the rest.

she said she said @ 11:15 pm
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saturday, oct 21, 2006
[vhb #2]

So very tired. Gah.

Yesterday was one of the weirdest days in a good long while. I had lectures from 10am to 1pm, had lunch at the university, went home and did random things for four hours, checked everything's packked and hopped on the 6pm train, where I did basically nothing (save some 50 pages of LA Confidental). Around 9.30pm I was in Kouvola where I met Milla at the station. We went to get the tickets to the VHB gig, had late dinner at Huviretki and headed back to House of Rock (which turned out to be surprisingly nice, actually).

And then we waited. And waited. And waited some more. There was this bloke next to us waiting for the gig (another one with a strange urge to be in the front row) and he kept us entertained enough until the gig started, which means over an hour of random chat. He and Milla had Big Brother in common, so I was pretty much out of the conversation most of the time, but I didn't really care.

The gig was lovely again. The atmosphere wasn't as intimate as it was at the Joensuu gig, but the energy made up for it very nicely. I just really like to see them play, it's rather hypnotic on some level. The set list was the same, but that didn't bother me either. I think it works well.

The gig ended at 2am and we fled almost immediately, ie. after a loo break and buying me the t-shirt because we still had to drive to Karkkila. We got a bit lost in Kouvola and had one 30-minute stop after Lahti and thus were here at 5am. Hence the tiredness.

Even with the exhaustion, strangeness and embarrassement of asking dad for money again, I'm extremely glad we went. It was worth all this, got me on a really good mood again. It's just wonderful to see people do something they're so good at and so evidently enjoy. Beautiful.

And because I am still very much me, I took pictures. Quite a lot. I'll have to wait until Monday until I can see them properly on computer screen, but what I can see from the tiny camera screen, there are a few somehwat decent ones there, even if I didn't manage to capture any gems. Aww, camera love <3

ps. I most definitely want to go to the New Year's gig. Anyone want to go with me? Preferably a person living in Helsinki, because I'll need a place to sleep then :)

***

My plan of visiting dad hasn't been put into effect quite yet because he took me and Milla out to eat to the new restaurant today. As if he hadn't sponsored us enough yesterday. It was around 2pm and I had fajitas.* I'm still not the least bit hungry. I wonder if I ought to eat something nevertheless. Otherwise I'll wake up around 3am and be hungry as ever. Just can't be bothered to fix up anything to eat. How lame.
(* I still can't believe there's now a restaurant here that actually serves fajitas.)

But I will go and visit dad tomorrow.

Today I spent three hours of quality time with mum. And two with Emppu, she came round for a few cups of tea. Good. Mission accomplished. Have seen both family and friends. Not a worthless Karkkila visit in any way, even if I seem to spend my Saturday evening with the pooter. Still the nerd.

she said she said @ 10:27 pm
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thursday, oct 19, 2006
[hi-fi dad]

Going to see VHB in Kouvola tomorrow. Milla and me figured there's absolutely no sense in going there and would therefore be fun. So, there we will be. Woot.

...and the Best Dad in the World award goes to...
Teh Hi-Fi Dad! Not only is he paying our tickets tomorrow, since neither of us have any money, but he's also letting me have his "old" phone after buying a new one this week. The said old phone was bought a year ago, which makes it a whopping year and a half younger than my current one.

I, however, am so not entitled for the Best Daughter in the World award, since the only times I seem to be contacting dad nowadays are when I need money or something else o_O Partly making up for this during the weekend and going for random chitchat visit, or preferably visits in plural. Yay.

H&M was (finally) opened today here. I do understand that people have been waiting for it for a long time and want to go there as soon as possible. But I still found it extremely hilarious to see a queue outside the shop 90 minutes after it had opened. Two security guards at the door, letting one or two people in whenever someone exits. Har. It's nice to see such important matters activate people after only a handful of people showed up at the study grant demonstration last week. /sarcasm

Oh good grief.
I remembered it was horrendous, but it was so much more. My poor eyes. The outfits and hairdos leave me quite speechless.
I love the coreography, though. Those male dancers are a true product of the early 1990s.

she said she said @ 10:32 pm
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tuesday, oct 17, 2006
[less productive day]

I finally booked a dentist appointment today. Historical moment: for once I didn't have to wait a month, my appoinment is Thursday next week! Strangeness. Of course, with the new YTHS they have more room (and actually three dentists, they used to have two) and thus more appointment times. Which is fairly nice.

On a side note, the new YTHS is a tad bit strange. It looks like a set for a futuristic film made in the 1970s.

I've been feeling even more exhausted today than usual, and as a bonus have also had a killer headache. Conclusion? Spent most of the day in bed watching quality TV, like Dr Phil and Murder, She Wrote. I did go out for a walk at one point and naturally got absolutely soaked. Whoopee. All in all, not quite the most productive day ever.

Actually, all I wanted to do this evening was put on nice and warm woolly socks, drink cocoa and watch some cheery romatic comedy, such as French Kiss or You've Got Mail. Then I realised that we were supposed to read John Gardner's Grendel for tomorrow's Grendel myth lecture and that I'd never even flipped through it. And so I was a good student, buried the idea of Meg Ryan fest and read three chapters of the novella. Planning to read another three later this evening. And possibly finish reading it tomorrow morning. Hmm.

Anyway. If get as far as halfway through the story, I might have at least a faint idea of what John's talking about tomorrow and won't be sitting there with the familiar "what the fart?!" expression on my face. It'll be interesting to hear how John will approach the novella, though. Only because of the fact that Grendel is male, not female.

John's lecture about any topic ever summarised:
Female! Identity! Identities! Femininity! Female identity! The Gothic! (Female) identity of the monster! The horror, the horror!

It's nice that I have both him and Jopi this term, since - as Jaakko put it yesterday - Jopi is the anti-John:
The male! Masculinity! The body! The ideal male body! Male sexuality! The male identity! Non-ideal male versus the ideal male! Non-masculine versus masculine! (Genre!)

Ooo, and whereas John loves the words "modern" and "modernity", Jopi's favourite seems to be "post modernism". They balance each other very effectively. Indeed.

It turns out that Jari's applying for Erasmus exchange at UWE Bristol for the spring term (or three months of it anyway). Well, what do you know. o_O

(Aina vähän symppasinkin tuota Hermannia, nyt tiedän mistä se johtuu - kerrankin nettitesti, jonka tuloksesta en valita lainkaan.)

Olet Hermanni-hiiri!
Tehtäväsi on piristää vakavia ihmisiä Studio Julmahuvissa. Sinulle ominaisia piirteitä ovat kiireetön arki, vähäinen kielitaito, hassu vakioasu, matala ikä ja muiden piristäminen. Iloisesta ulkomuodosta huolimatta sisällä voi kiehua, eivätkä hommat ole aina mitään herkkua.

she said she said @ 08:49 pm
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saturday, oct 14, 2006
[my poor ear]

Me and Katja went to see Incredible Nothing and Electric Monk to Teatteriklubi last night. Oh the energy of the latter! Lovely. Incredible Nothing turned out to be a bit less impressive, though, and thus we behaved badly, ie. didn't go to watch them at all but sat at the other end of the place chatting randomly.

Of course, I forgot to take my earplugs again, and now my right ear is pretty much killing me. Rah.

So many things to do this weekend but I have no energy whatsoever. I will still try to start readin Devil in A Blue Dress for the crime course. And I've also set up a date with Henna to try to get some exchange things organised today - which annoys me pretty much more than anything. Not the part with Henna but the part including the exchange. Nothing seems to be going the way it should and I'm too tired to try to pull myself together and start systematically plan and take care of things. Bollocks.

On a side note: tired of being in the middle. Don't drag me there but sort your own things out, will ye? Thank you.

I'm starting to wish I'd blown my budget and gone to Kaapeli for the weekend after all.

she said she said @ 11:56 am
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monday, oct 9, 2006
[myspace]

Should I finally give in and register to MySpace.com?

In other news: yay, crisis.

she said she said @ 07:39 pm
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sunday, oct 8, 2006
[sharing my wisdom]

(Note from the future: this post is full of colons.)

Meet the new layout.
It's actually been here since yesterday, but I couldn't be bothered to post anything, so I guess this is the official announcement. Har. Also, my archives are finally showing up correctly. After all the agonising over missing archives for months I realised the link was wrong. I am the brain.

Five things to do when you're feeling ~~slightly blue~~ like shit:
- go for a walk - whether it rains or not
- make a new layout featuring an old muse ;)
- change your desktop wallpaper to something that still makes you laugh after all those years...
- ...and also ponder other options
- listen to Lunch album by Supperheads, or possibly only track #10 on repeat

Five things not to do in such a state:
- listen to music that you know will make you feel even worse
- start contemplating the meaning and direction of your life
- drink wine
- talk to people that annoy you on Messenger
- take stupid comments too personally

The sixth thing that may be added to either of the lists: Sod counting calories and go to Hesburger at 2am.

Results of wonderful empirical research (in no way was this an accident..):
If you have an mp3 player, do make sure that when you're listening to the albums in alphabetical order, Von Hertzen Brothers' Approach is never ever followed directly by Mokoma's Kuoleman laulukunnaat. Rename the album folders if necessary. There might be a tiny change in mood between After All and Valapatto. Believe the girl who almost had a heart attack during grocery shopping yesterday because she wasn't clever enough to realise this in advance.

I want to revamp lw.org but the inspiration fit I had yesterday seems to have disappeared completely. Bollocks.

Noora: Is this The Rasmus?
Hanna: What? NO!
Noora: What?
Hanna: Lemonator. o_O

// edit: Didn't put all of them online, but most anyway.

she said she said @ 06:51 pm
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friday, oct 6, 2006
[vhb]

Von Hertzen Brothers. Voi parhautta.

Oli ehkä oikeesti parasta pitkään aikaan, hieno (ja pitkä) setti ja kaikki vaan jotenkin osui kohdalleen. Ja taas olin eturivissä ilman kyynärpäätaktiikkaa. On tää kaupunki aikamoinen, hee.

Olin koko päivän ihan flegmaattinen ja sitten jossain vaiheessa alkuillasta aloin taas käymään ylikierroksilla, jotka on päällä vieläkin (aijaa.. tyyppihän bloggailee kolmelta yöllä). Hohhoi. Jossain vaiheessa ajattelin jo, että jätän keikan väliin, mutta tiesin, että en ehkä antaisi sitä itselleni anteeksi hyvin pitkään aikaan. Ryhdistäydyin siis. Ja hyvä niin.

Keikan aikana olin ihan liesk, liesk ja hei, ensimmäistä kertaa sitten kesän 2001 ja Niko Ahvosen minut huomioitiin lavalta, mikä tietysti on aina mukava juttu. Lisäpropseja veljeksille siitä. Toisaalta minäkin ehkä huomioisin alle metrin päässä digikameran kanssa hengailevan virnistelijän. No juu. Tuli vaan hetkellisesti vähän spesiaaliolo, vaikka en tajunnutkaan näyttää Kielle kuviani siinä. Olen vähän huono.

Sitten kun keikka oli mennyt - mutta liesk, liesk vielä päällä - jäätiin Jaakon kanssa vielä vähäksi aikaa bändär, bändär. Eli nyt on juliste ja levynkansi nimmaroitu (heh) ja kiitokset kaikille toimitettu henkilökohtaisesti (enpä olekaan käynyt kiittelemässä pitkään aikaan, olin unohtanut miten mukavaa se on). Jostain toistaiseksi tuntemattomasta syystä en kehdannut sen kannen kanssa enää mennä itse, joten pistin Katjan asialle. Reilukerho. Katja tosin lähti kun projekti oli vielä puolivaiheessa eli Jonnen luona kävin molempien läpysköiden kanssa ihan itse. Hyvin pitkän hetken myös mietin jotain kauheaa yhteiskuvaa, ihan vaan sen takia, että minua kiellettiin sellaista ottamasta. Totesin sen olevan kuitenkin vähän liian teinijuttu ja lähdin pois. Mutta lähellä oli.

Pitäisikö tuo juliste kehystää (lukeehan siinä sentään "VHB <3 Hanna" :p) vai iskeä vaan seinälle tuollaisenaan? Mene ja tiedä.

Tiedostan kyllä, että minun friikkauksilleni (joilta ei tänään valitettavasti vältytty - edes päivällä tehdessäni bongailuja kadulla) vähän naureskeltiin, mutta minkäs teet. Jos on fanitellut jotain tyyppejä enemmän tai vähemmän aktiivisesti 90-luvun puolivälistä, siitä on aika vaikea päästä yli, vaikka kuinka yrittäisi olla tosi kuulina ja kaikkea. Silloin voi päästä hassuja kurkkuääniä ja käsittämättömiä "ou nou!"-voihkaisuja ei-toivotuissa paikoissa. Toisaalta tämä on aika piristävää, toisaalta vähän hassuttaa ja hävettää. Vaan olenpahan aiheuttanut hilpeyttä kanssaeläjilleni. Ja nämä JNS-tutut ovat nähneet vilauksen 15-vuotiasta minua.

Mutta se hymy, se hymy.

Hitto. Nyt alkoi tehdä mieli kauheasti sinne Tavastien keikalle kuun lopulla. Tai sitten Klubille ensi kuussa. Hmmmm. Lienee järjestettävissä, mutta onko siinä mitään järkeä? Tuo oli retorinen kysymys.

Aamulla kymmeneltä pitäisi olla haastattelemassa Maijaa humpalla. Ihan pepatista nämä aikataulut.

// edit: Hei tyypit. Tiedän että tämä on yksi maailman historian teineimmistä entryistä, mutta sehän sen pointti olikin. Toisin sanoen tiedän sen vallan hyvin itsekin eikä sitä erikseen tarvitse minulle kertoa. Ja tiedoksi epäilijöille, etten minä ihan niin kovasti siellä friikkaillut kuin tuosta voisi luulla. Hymyilin vaan paljon. Ja hymyilen edelleen. Osaan minä tarvittaessa käyttäytyäkin.

she said she said @ 03:26 am
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wednesday, oct 4, 2006
[rhcp project]

Sometimes I honestly think Joensuu is the best place on earth.
You get to do things like seeing the entire Red Hot Chili Peppers Project gig from the front row without any (major) elbowing. Rather wonderful. But I do have to say that the parts when Ville Tuomi was some 20cm away from me were a bit bizarre.

Gig was great (and lasted nearly 90 minutes), but some comments afterwards left me in the state of mild annoyance. Rah. Ah well. I'll try not to think about them too much. Or take them too seriously.

So close.

All in all, I was able to control the teenybopper in me very well, which was great. Does this mean I'm becoming an adult?

Jaakko: The gig was good.
Hanna: And I didn't even freak out!
Jaakko: I was proud of you.
Hanna: Me too! Now if I manage not to freak out on Thursday's VHB gig, that's something.
Jaakko: Yes. And then on Friday you just die.
Hanna: Possibly.

Apparently, I still can't fight the urge to dance whenever I hear Hips Don't Lie. Jaakko decided to skip it for whatever reason, so Jussi came with me and wanted to do the ballroom dancing thing. Conclusion? I was dancing something mambo-like and he was dancing... something else, or "something latin" as he called it. Very amusing. I still felt a bit relieved when the song finally ended :p

I haven't finished reading Beowulf for today's Grendel Myth lecture. Naughty me.

she said she said @ 12:08 pm
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sunday, oct 1, 2006
[suvi!]

I came home about half an hour ago. What was waiting for me? An envelope from Suvi, containing my birthday present.

And what was it?
Sweet. Cheese.

She really got me Lemonator's At the Presence of Great Beauty!

Got me quite speechless.
I still managed to phone her, though. And thank.

According to her logic, because I was the one that got her into Lemonator in the first place, it is silly that she owns the new album but I don't. Yes, well.

I don't really follow that but I can't complain.
Except about the fact that it's her birthday in few weeks and I still haven't got a present for her. No pressure here.

Whoa.
Thankful happy dance.

she said she said @ 08:05 pm
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