Montag, 19. Dezember 2011

Review: Princess Alessa and the Frog War







I really enjoyed reading this book. At first I found it a bit difficult to get into, but you soon started to love the characters and of course I wanted to know who the bad guy is.
The main characters are easy to grow fond of and they really have something like a personality. Also, Albino gave them great lines, I especially loved „I'm a princess in distress. You're a prince. Save me now!“.
The plot developed fast, I didn't find much dull moments and I finished the book after three days because I couldn't put it down. There are many unexpected events in the story.
The language was easy, also for someone like me whose mother tongue isn't English. There aren't many „bad words“.
I guess the book was made for a younger audience, because of the age (16) of Alessa, the main character and the lack of foul-mouthedness. It's kinda like a long and complex fairy tale.

On the other hand, there were some things I didn't enjoy so much. In the last third of the book there are a hell of new characters introduced, which made it for me somewhat difficult to follow the story because I always had to stop and think „Huh? Who was that again and what did they want?“. But probabaly that's just me and my bad memory.
There were some grammar mistakes and a word missing here or there.
The bad guys were just evil, you actually didn't learn why they did what they did – except for the main villain, who was kind of the boss of the other villains.

Now that I've finished the book I can say that I really enjoyed it very much and hope there's a sequel, especially since some character's stories don't seem to be told and the end suggested that it's not yet a fairytale-happy-end. I really hope there's a sequel. I received a free copy of this book to write a honest review about it, I wasn't encouraged to say good things.

Dienstag, 17. Mai 2011

Inspired by: Invisible Circles



After almost an eternity I listened to „Invisibele Circles“ by After Forever again. It actually describes my 'youth' (the time I went to school) pretty good, except the dysfunctional relationship to the parents (my parents are great, my dad even went to concerts with me!!!).
For everybody who doesn't know the concept album:
It's about a dysfunctional family. There's the mother, who regrets becoming pregnant in the first place and blames her daughter for everything. The father is equally frustrated, a workaholic, who didn't want kids and physically abuses his daughter. As if the poor girl hadn't it hard enough in life, she also goes through a pretty hard time in school. To forget everything, at least for some time, she escapes into her virtual world, where she is the Queen and everybody loves her (I guess she is online in chatrooms and message boards).
In the end, the grandmother comes to visit and explains, that she made many mistakes raising her own children and that everythign is a vicious circle. After many years, the daughter, now a mother herself, finds her old diary again and realizes, that she became pretty much like her parents.
This is by the way the first album without Mark Jansen, who left, or was kicked out after the second album „Decipher“ (one of my All-time-favorites!) and now turns his ideas into genius music (my opinion) with Epica and MaYaN.
And is their first album that deals with social problems and not moral or religion. There's also a lack of latin choires :(
After „Invisible Circles“ the band released „Remagine“, their Best-of „Mea Culpa“ and „After Forever“. Then, after a pausing for a year, the split up.
Actually I always ranted about After Forever – however they are my most-listened-to band on last.fm. I kept on lamenting why they kicked out Mark, why they found social problems more intersting than religion and if I only dreamed the paralells to Star Trek or were they actually there? When they announced that they split, I felt like the old Salamano in Camus' „L'etrange“ who keeps on cursing his dog and then is terribly sad and sorry as the dog runs away.

As you can see the album's main color is blue. The band even had worn blue and black costumes. Now after listening to the album through one time I suddenly wanted to paint my nail blue with this nailpolish from Beyu. I also wore a blue make up to Uni (created with the Zoeva Palette). And yes, the stains of Eyeliner are there on porpuse ;)
I just felt like sharing since I don't wear blue very often and there are days where I want to destroy everything blue in the world except the sky. I just think it's a colour that doesn't go well with much else.



Ich wollte einmal wieder „Invisible Circles“ von After Forever hören. Bis auf das gestörte Verhältnis zu den Eltern fasst das Konzeptalbum nämlich ziemlich gut meine Schulzeit zusammen. Für alle, die das Album nicht kennen:
Es geht dabei um eine dysfunktionale Familie – ein Mutter, die bereut, überhaupt ein Kind bekommen zu haben, weil sie dadurch ihre Unabhängikeit, Schönheit, quasi ihr ganzes Leben geopfert hat (Zitat: „I sacrificed my beauty, my freedom, my dreams, the independent me“ aus dem Lied Sins of idealism), einen Vater, der extrem frustriert ist, seine Frau nicht liebt und seine Tochter deswegen gerne schlägt. Als ob das für das arme Mädchen nicht schon schlimm genug wäre, wird sie in der Schule auch noch gemobbt. Außerdem flüchtet sie sich immer wieder in ihre virtuelle Traumwelt, wo sie nicht über ihre ganzen Probleme nachdenken muss und sie zumindest für kurze Zeit sicher ist.
Am Ende taucht auch noch die Großmutter auf und erklärt, dass sie die selben Fehler bei der Erziehung gemacht hat, wie die Eltern des Mädchens nun und dass quasi alles ein Teufelskreis ist. Später, als das Mädchen selbst Mutter ist und ihr altes Tagebuch findet, stellt sie fest, dass ihre Großmutter Recht hatte und sie nun so wurde wie ihre Eltern.
Das ist übrigens das erste Album der Band, bei dem Mark Jansen nicht mitgewirkt hat. Der wurde nach dem zweiten Album „Decipher“(eines meiner All-Time-Favorites) rausgeworfen und setzt seine – meiner Meinung nach – genialen Ideen mit Epica um. After Forever brachten nach diesem Album noch „Remagine“, das Best of „Mea Culpa“ und „After Forever“ heraus, ehe sie sich nach einer einjährigen Pause schließlich trennten.
After Forever ist meine meist gehörte Band auf Last.fm und das, obwohl ich eigentlich ständig an ihnen herumgenörgelt habe. Warum sie Mark rausgeworfen haben, warum sie anstatt Religion und Moral auf einmal über soziale Probleme singen und ob ich mir die Paralellen zu Star Trek nur einbilde. Als die Trennung bekannt gegeben wurde, fühlte ich mich wie der alte Salamano aus Camus' „L'etrange“. Der Nachbar, der seinen Hund ständig schimpft und dann tottraurig ist, als er ihm wegläuft.



Wie man sehen kann ist das Hauptthema des Albums blau – die Band hat sogar passende Kostüme dazu getragen. Nachdem ich es dann nach einer mir ewig erscheinenden Zeit mal wieder komplett gehört habe, hatte ich spontan Lust auf meinen blauen Nagellack von Beyu.
Und weil's so schön ist und ich so selten blau trage, habe ich mit der 88-Shimmer-Palette von Zoeva ein Amu geschminkt. Und ja, die schwarzen Eyeliner-Flecken sind mit Absicht gemacht worden.
Ich dachte, ich zeige euch das einmal, da ich blau sehr selten trage. Eigentlich mag ich blau gr nicht es gibt tage wo ich alles Blau am liebsten zerstören würde (nur den Himmel nicht). Ich finde einfach, im Zwiefelsfall ist blau die mieseste Wahl, weil es zu so wenig passt.