Paramore and Frozen

On the 19th January 2014, I went to the Paramore concert in Auckland! I wasn't sure I was going because I didn't know anybody who wanted to come with me, but at Christmas I discovered that my cousin was a big fan as well so we decided to go together. We actually still do have a lot of the same music tastes, even from when we were younger. It was an amazing experience, and I was honoured to be in the presence of the band, and Hayley Williams' amazing voice! Her voice really is powerful and resonant live! She is such an inspiration to me! Not just her voice, but her style and fashion is really unique and adventurous, and she doesn't care what people think. The only thing I regret is not buying a General Admission. It looked like a lot of fun to be in the whole concert vibe.

Now present self is wishing past self wrote this all down the moment after arriving back home from the concert. Because I was so buzzing with energy and excitement that night. Haha, well there's the videos to help me reminisce the feeling.

( Paramore! )

The Opening Act, Twenty One Pilots was also very good! Their music style is quite unique from what is on the charts. I really like the mix of genres they have there, and the pumping beat. The duo did an amazing drum performance at the end as well.

Ended up watching Frozen twice! Once for regular viewing with Lunatarius and the second time on Waitangi Day again with Rinelle and Rolly as well >u<)b. The first time I watched it, I did not know what to expect. I just hoped it wouldn't be so 'kiddy' because the poster and trailer made it seem that way. When I watched it, I was mind-blown, and throughout the whole movie experience I was riveted with emotion. I was glad I brought tissues .. ALL MY FEELS! And who knew Kristen Bell could sing so well!? I was filled with awe. It turned out she was classically trained in musical theatre before becoming an actress. Frozen was a very heart-warming story, fueled with girl power and celebrates the bond between sisters. It isn't the first Disney animated movie where the girl rebels against order though. I feel Brave exerts this message more.

( Closet cosplay of Anna from Frozen for the Sing-a-long haha )

I liked how Anna was clumsy, and not typically princess-like. It kind of made her more relatable in a way. You always get a clumsy male character, but for girl they are usually meant to be composed and everything. She is a bit naive, yes but that's all part of the character development. She's been stuck in the castle all her life, and hasn't experienced what it is like to be in the outside world. The combination of her carefree spirit and her excitement about finally seeing the other side of the fence might have muddled with her mind. I guess she does take things a bit far though haha.

As for Elsa, it must have been very traumatising for her with the events in the beginning. I could feel how much pain she was feeling - about both having to hide her true 'self' and how she felt she had to keep a fair distance from Anna to protect her. When Elsa escaped and was able to truly let go, and be who she really was - she finally felt free. After all those years of hiding, it must have been a good release! There was a fair bit of character development for both of the sisters. Of course, the timing wasn't very realistic because in real life these things take a larger amount of time to shape up.

Anywhoo...

( "Hoo! Hoo! Big Summer Blowout!" - Oaken *shot* )

I can't get over how great the songs are~ I feel like doing some covers just for fun haha. Found a few easy chords for guitar that work for "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?" and for the pop version of "Let it Go".

Last night I ended up playing for three hours. I'm surprised I still remember the chords since I haven't played properly in a month. Hurrah for muscle memory! Bb and Bm are still a bit hard to reach at the moment .. so gotta stretch those fingers~ I am not very good at guitar yet since I pretty much only use two basic strumming patterns for most songs, but it is fun to be able to play and sing at the same time.

Frozen Chords

✮ Do You Want to Build a Snowman
✮ Let it Go (Idina Menzel)
✮ Let it Go (Demi Lovato)
✮ First Time in Forever

INB4 slow at blogging.

Dear self, please update more often and then in thirty years you'll have a nice time capsule to look back to!

Anime Addiction Begins...

It's been a while since I watched anime!  I got recommended a few titles, so I started to watch Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun last night.  All I can say is that I am already hooked!  

It's a shoujo series about a girl called Mizutani Shizuku who has always been focussed on getting good grades, but doesn't have any friends.  One day, the teacher asks her to deliver lesson notes to Toshida Haru who doesn't come to school often, and then suddenly he is convinced they are friends.  This turn of events, begins the adventures of friendship and love.

The character's personalities are definitely interesting.  Shizuku has a "cold" personality, doesn't seemed to show much emotion and puts all her energy into studying.  Haru is quite eccentric, has a bad reputation at school, and has a habit of getting into fights because of some misunderstandings.  I think their relationship is quite endearing, and by forming a friendship they seem to learn about themselves, and about understanding other people as well.  Both of the main characters are "lonely" types so its fun to see their personalities develop to become more socially inclined and adapt more into society somewhat as the series moves forward.  I feel like this underlying message really touches a soft spot in my heart <3

Woke up early (for me) and watched 8 episodes non-stop ;; I might watch the rest of it tonight after dinner ^-^  Sometimes, I get a bit wary of starting a new series of drama or anime because if it gets really addictive it can be all I can think about all day until I watch a new episode.  But .. I will take a break and go for a walk now to get some fresh air ^-^

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I have been pretty busy in the last two months of 2012.  I acquired an internship, and then worked as a contractor until the holiday period for the company began.  It's been quite enjoyable playing a part in making projects happen through design.  In February this year, I am also starting a year long course in web development!  I am pretty excited about being able to acquire more knowledge in this area, so that I can up-skill and know about BOTH front end and back end sides of web design.  Unfortunately, due to me pretty much working full time I didn't get to spend as much time as I wanted with Lunatarius, when he was finally on holiday!  But I feel like we made most of the time that we did have, and its always nice.

We watched Iron Man, Iron Man 2, The Hulk, Captain America, The Hobbit and Wreck it Ralph. I finally understand the hype of the Avengers!  Superhero movies are always fun to watch.  The character that impacted me the most would probably be Steve Rogers though - he always had the fighting spirit, even though it was quite unwise to be fighting when he wasn't in shape to win before the experiment.  In the army training, he was very smart about the way he handled the false grenade alarm as well, despite being a "featherweight". He wanted to stand up for what he believed in, and his heart was still pure after the transformation.  Even with all the extra attention he had been receiving with his status as Captain America, he still stayed humble and true to himself.  Quite inspirational haha. 

As you can tell, I seem to be more interested in the psychological elements of the movies rather than the fighting scenes and all haha.  The Incredible Hulk was quite endearing too.  It's amazing how strong Bruce and Betty's relationship was.  Even though Betty found out about the "monster" Bruce turned into when he became too enraged, she still trusted him and it did not change the way she felt about him.  Bruce and Betty shipper here all the way *tear*

The Iron Man.  Let's say that Tony Stark has a very strong personality that is entertaining to watch!  He seems very witty and has a pretty carefree way of doing things, even though he is very serious about the results of his work.  Honestly, sometimes I thought he was a bit of a jerk but that adds to the interest of seeing the character develop as the storylines go on.  It's quite cute how Pepper Potts takes care of Tony, knowing all his personal details and stuff for important matters, and how she made Tony's temporary heart core into a trophy.

Sometimes through watching these movies, I want to know more about the Marvel characters.  But it is a bit frustrating working through the archives when there are multiple storylines and universes for each character haha.  Enough to get me super confused.  But, yeah very interesting to read the backstories, indeed!

And Wreck it Ralph was AWESOME!  I especially loved the world of Sugar Rush and all its sugary cuteness.  Man, it would be great to own figurines of little Venelope and the crew ... >o>

She's so adorable!  I love how she's so enthusiastic and cheerful, despite things.  It's become one of my favourite movies of all time!  But I'll leave that to another post~

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I'm hungry so I'm going to make lunch and eat.  Byebye!