Japanese Magazines!!!

Today Foki posted some links to download japanese magazines like "Popteen" and "Egg". They´re some of the most popular magazines in Japan for teenagers. There´s great fashion and makeup tips. They´re awesome. You can download it in Foki´s blog HERE!!! It´ll probably take a bit because they´re all images but they´re definitely worth the time!! All the models look like dolls and even if you don´t understand a bit of what they´re saying the images speak for themselves and it can help to get inspiration to get dressed and even know how to do your makeup. Here are some pictures:

Okay that´s enough! If I keep going I´ll end up posting all the magazine. (can´t help it when all the pages are so damn cute ^^)

Sunday´s Boredoom....

Okay.. I´m quite bored so I decided to read a little and watch some videos I had but never watched before.
I started the morning by reading Lucky Star HERE!!! I´ve always wanted to read it and it has been standing in my reading list for too long. Actually, I started to watch the anime one day but I eventually got bored and it´s so annoying because watching anime takes too much time. I prefer reading manga and ending the whole series in an hour. So much better...!!!

And then I decided to watch some videos. I´ve forgotten about some of them but they´re so good!


This one is really nice to sing along until you can´t stand no more... haha

and this one is just so random... ideal to chill out...so good...

The Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess

Review: Novel by Anthony Burgess, published in 1962. Set in a dismal dystopia, it is the first-person account of a juvenile delinquent who undergoes state-sponsored psychological rehabilitation for his aberrant behavior. The novel satirizes extreme political systems that are based on opposing models of the perfectibility or incorrigibility of humanity. Written in a futuristic slang vocabulary invented by Burgess, in part by adaptation of Russian words, it was his most original and best-known work. Alex, the protagonist, has a passion for classical music and is a member of a vicious teenage gang that commits random acts of brutality. Captured and imprisoned, he is transformed through behavioral conditioning into a model citizen, but his taming also leaves him defenseless. He ultimately reverts to his former behavior. The final chapter of the original British edition, in which Alex renounces his amoral past, was removed when the novel was first published in the United States. -- The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature

Opinion: After the initial cultural shock of reading in that weird vocabulary I eventually got used to it and began to understand what the main character was saying by understanding the words by context (some hard work). But the I started to flow along with this strange vocabulary and started to be shocked by all the things he said he does in the streets (I was like OMG!!!). Then he starts telling of how much he loves classical music, enjoys reading articles about why he is how he is, and then the story of how everybody deceives him. At that point I started feeling emphaty for the poor boy and more after he describes how the police treated him and then his horrible description of his time in prision. But what I loved the most was the last chapter that shows that everyone has a chance to change.

Final Rating: 7/10

Candide - Voltaire

Review: Political satire doesn't age well, but occasionally a diatribe contains enough art and universal mirth to survive long after its timeliness has passed. Candide is such a book. Penned by that Renaissance man of the Enlightenment, Voltaire, Candide is steeped in the political and philosophical controversies of the 1750s. But for the general reader, the novel's driving principle is clear enough: the idea (endemic in Voltaire's day) that we live in the best of all possible worlds, and apparent folly, misery and strife are actually harbingers of a greater good we cannot perceive, is hogwash. Telling the tale of the good-natured but star-crossed Candide (think Mr. Magoo armed with deadly force), as he travels the world struggling to be reunited with his love, Lady Cunegonde, the novel smashes such ill-conceived optimism to splinters. Candide's tutor, Dr. Pangloss, is steadfast in his philosophical good cheer, in the face of more and more fantastic misfortune; Candide's other companions always supply good sense in the nick of time. Still, as he demolishes optimism, Voltaire pays tribute to human resilience, and in doing so gives the book a pleasant indomitability common to farce. Says one character, a princess turned one-buttocked hag by unkind Fate: "I have wanted to kill myself a hundred times, but somehow I am still in love with life. This ridiculous weakness is perhaps one of our most melancholy propensities; for is there anything more stupid than to be eager to go on carrying a burden which one would gladly throw away, to loathe one's very being and yet to hold it fast, to fondle the snake that devours us until it has eaten our hearts away?"--Michael Gerber

Opinion: This book is so very funny btw I didn´t expect that at all. It´s like some political satire but instead of being boring it turns out to be a great deal of fun. I like how he makes fun of some books, countries, wars and royalty in general. The book seem like some endless chain of unfortunate events but you have to laugh at the extreme positiviness of Candide. This books seem like some whim one gets sometime to make fun of everything with no care of public opinion (like it seems it happened to Voltaire, haha). In short, a great historic and brief book to read.

Final Rating: 10/10

Foundation - Isaac Asimov

Review: For twelve thousand years the Galactic Empire has ruled supreme. Now it is dying. But only Hari Sheldon, creator of the revolutionary science of psychohistory, can see into the future--to a dark age of ignorance, barbarism, and warfare that will last thirty thousand years. To preserve knowledge and save mankind, Seldon gathers the best minds in the Empire--both scientists and scholars--and brings them to a bleak planet at the edge of the Galaxy to serve as a beacon of hope for a fututre generations. He calls his sanctuary the Foundation.

But soon the fledgling Foundation finds itself at the mercy of corrupt warlords rising in the wake of the receding Empire. Mankind's last best hope is faced with an agonizing choice: submit to the barbarians and be overrun--or fight them and be destroyed.---from amazon.

Opinion: A purely sci-fi novel. Some of the plot resolutions are complex and witty. The only thing I can criticize is that the whole series are a mess. I can´t figure out the beginning or the end. The plot seem like it wasn´t planned at all and the author only wrote the books when he felt like it and was pushed by some editorial. He could do so much more with this universe. But otherwise is very good light reading and it doesn´t have many action, just many fantastical situations if you like books like that. (okay I´m gonna mock this books in a bad way... it´s just so funny to read the descriptions of the technology in the books, it´s just like watching some of those oldies space movies...you know... haha)

Final Rating: 6/10

Popular German Music!!

This are some songs that are popular in Germany right now and that I really like. If you like check them out. ;)

1. Culcha Candela

- Move it
-Monsta

2. Unheilig

-Geboren um zu leben
-Unter deiner Flagge

3. Die Fantastischen Vier

-Gebt uns ruhig die Schuld

I, Robot - Isaac Asimov

Review: The three laws of Robotics:
1) A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm
2) A robot must obey orders givein to it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3) A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

With this, Asimov changed our perception of robots forever when he formulated the laws governing their behavior. In I, Robot, Asimov chronicles the development of the robot through a series of interlinked stories: from its primitive origins in the present to its ultimate perfection in the not-so-distant future--a future in which humanity itself may be rendered obsolete.

Here are stories of robots gone mad, of mind-read robots, and robots with a sense of humor. Of robot politicians, and robots who secretly run the world--all told with the dramatic blend of science fact & science fiction that became Asmiov's trademark.

Opinions: I´ve been faced with the opportunity to read this book many times but I always ended up not reading it because I expected it to be like the movie filled with action and everything. It kind of surprised me to read this sci-fi book. There was almost no action at all, just suspense and many theory. I found really funny some theories and perceptions of the futures, especially those regarding humans and their destiny. It´s fun to read in a diferent kind of way to other books. I get this kind of feeling while reading it that I also get while reading old comics from Marvel and stuff. What I mean is that this kind of books and the comics have this really fantastical theories but you also get this dark feeling while reading them. Maybe is because of the time they were written.

Final Rating: 6/10

The handmaid´s tale - Margaret Atwood

Review: In a startling departure from her previous novels ( Lady Oracle , Surfacing ), respected Canadian poet and novelist Atwood presents here a fable of the near future. In the Republic of Gilead, formerly the United States, far-right Schlafly/Falwell-type ideals have been carried to extremes in the monotheocratic government. The resulting society is a feminist's nightmare: women are strictly controlled, unable to have jobs or money and assigned to various classes: the chaste, childless Wives; the housekeeping Marthas; and the reproductive Handmaids, who turn their offspring over to the "morally fit" Wives. The tale is told by Offred (read: "of Fred"), a Handmaid who recalls the past and tells how the chilling society came to be. This powerful, memorable novel is highly recommended for most libraries. BOMC featured alternate.---from amazon.

Opinion: While I read it I´ve been thinking on the best way to describe this book to you but it has proven a hard task to accomplish. There´s simply no way that I can describe the depth of this book´s plot. You could say that is the worst nightmare of a feminist. But once you start to read you are caught in the threads of this mysterious book. It´s very interesting to see how a girl of our times find herself in this situation and how she reacts to it. The most important thing is that this books makes you believe that this could happen at any moment. Really scary, isn´t it?

Final Rating: 9/10

(it seems that lately I´ve only been reading good books because I always rate them 8, 9 or 10... haha, I should some bad book to have some diversity)

Did you ever wonder??

I know this is really a dumb post but I was just reading a book and the girl mentioned something about a bible in her hotel room. Right there I started wondering why do they put bibles in every hotel room?? I had never wondered about it regardless that when I always go to some hotel, the first thing I do is look around the room and find some random bible. I understand why they put telephone books or magazines about the city you´re staying in. So after thinking about it I decided to goggle it. I was like... "Why not?" I had my computer at hand and everything...

Well, it turns out that there was this asociation in the United States called "Gideons International" and they´re like in every country in the worl. They have like this life-long mission of handing out bibles everywhere they go like in the streets when they´re walking or when they stay at some hotel or motel they always leave a bible behind. Somehow it became like a custom.

Interesting, isn´t it? So those little motherfuckers are the guilty ones. haha I just found out and I thought that I´ll let you know. haha : )

Fantômas - Marcel Allain & Pierre Souvestre

Review: In the mode reminiscent of Sherlock Holmes and his ineradicable nemesis, the virtually immortal Professor Moriarty, Inspector Juve dedicates himself to the relentless pursuit of that evil genius Fantomas. He is, as they say in petrified Paris, "Nothing. . . Everything. . . Nobody. . . Somebody." And what does he do? He "spreads terror," diabolically, craftily beyond all imagining: slashes throats of kindly old ladies; stuffs strangled British socialites into trunks; boldly robs Russian princesses in their hotel rooms; pushes witnesses off speeding trains to their deaths. Can Juve prevail against that hellish power? Men masquerade as women; suicides return from the dead; ladies wail "What am I to do?" and faint from surprise and shock. Juve finally hunts Fantômas down. But a surprise awaits, leaving the charmed reader of this French bestseller hoping to see more of the weird pair.---from amazon.

Opinion: Many people think that mystery books are boring but this french is going to surpass your expectations. You´re suddenly trapped in the story as the suspense gets higher. You should read this book with an open mind and ready for some emotion and mind-blowing mysteries. It´s not like Sherlock Holmes books where you expect a perfectly clear explanation and probably a happy ending but instead it gives you opportunities to try to solve the mysteries on your own. Expect many surprises.

Final Rating: 8/10 (just because some people might not like mystery histories as I do and might find this books rather dull)

1984 - George Orwell

Review: Novel by George Orwell, published in 1949 as a warning about the menaces of totalitarianism. The novel is set in an imaginary future world that is dominated by three perpetually warring totalitarian police states. The book's hero, Winston Smith, is a minor party functionary in one of these states. His longing for truth and decency leads him to secretly rebel against the government. Smith has a love affair with a like-minded woman, but they are both arrested by the Thought Police. The ensuing imprisonment, torture, and reeducation of Smith are intended not merely to break him physically or make him submit but to root out his independent mental existence and his spiritual dignity. Orwell's warning of the dangers of totalitarianism made a deep impression on his contemporaries and upon subsequent readers, and the book's title and many of its coinages, such as NEWSPEAK, became bywords for modern political abuses. -- The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature

Opinion: This books reflects very well the flow of thought at the Cold War. It shows all the evils brought by a totalitarian estate. The descriptions of A Thought Police that controls all their actions are really scary. And it also shows that equality is impossible in a state like that. I think that it became an important part of Modern Literature. Partly because many people in the United States feared a state like that with all their might probably thinking of how they could be robbed of all their liberties. What I personally like is that the feelings of the main character come trough really easily. 


Final Rating: 10/10

Saga Sig

It´s time to post a little about photography. I´ve been checking out this great London based photographer. She is Saga, you can check out her blog HERE!!! And this are some of her latest photographs.

Effi Briest - Theodor Fontane

Review: In 1919 Thomas Mann hailed Effi Briest (1895) as one of "the six most significant novels ever written." Set in Bismarck's Germany, Fontane's luminous tale of a socially suitable but emotionally disastrous match between the enchanting seventeen-year-old Effi and an austere, workaholic civil servant twice her age, is at once touching and unsettling. Fontane's taut, ironic narrative depicts a world where sexuality and the enjoyment of life are stifled by narrow-mindedness and circumstance. Considered by many to be the pinnacle of the nineteenth-century German novel, Effi Briest is a tale of adultery that ranks with Madame Bovary and Anna Karenina and brilliantly demonstrates the truth of the author's comment and "women's stories are generally far more interesting."---from amazon.


Personal Opinion:This book is such a treasure. I love the descriptions of Germany at that time. But more important is noticing the situation in which women lived at that time. Effi might seem like lively and childlike woman that is faced with harsh situations. You can notice the social necesity of that time to be married at a certain age. It truly makes you rethink of the way we women live in this century.


Final Rating: 7/10

My November Playlist

So I felt like sharing with you the songs that I think are the best right now, some of them are new, some are kind of old, and some are probably only known in their country of origin. So this is a perfect opportunity to share with you great song that you probably wouldn´t be able to know. The only thing is that some of them are in german...

The song "Kids" from their album "Oracular Spectacular" doesn´t seem that special at first but it has some kind of magic that makes me want to sing it over and over making me feel really good.

Then there is the german band "Juli" with their new single "Elekthisches Gefuhl" from their new album "In love". The song has a great beat and a very creative video that I recommend you check out.

 Then there´s The Cure album "4:13" where I love the song "The only one". (great cover btw)

Now watch out!!! this song is AMAZING!!! If you care a shit about all the songs above at least you have to check this one out.

 Also check out the song "Enter the ninja" by the band "die Antwoord". They are a great South African band that had a hit with the video of this song.

Then there is the song "Miami 2 Ibiza" by "Swedish House Mafia ft. Tinie Tempah". I admit it´s the second best disco song of the season after "Nein Mann!". (and that´s saying something)

Finally, there´s the album "Skeletal Lamping" by "Of Montreal" where I reccomend you check out the songs "Id Engager" and "St. Exquisite´s Confessions"

 You can check all this songs and some other songs that accidently found they way into this playlist HERE!!!

The Series of Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan (and some music)

Well... I need to update a lot. I had alredy read "The Lightning Thief" from the series but suddenly I felt like reading the rest. And I must say that they turned like all the fantasy bestsellers books that have been coming out recently but this page turners books always turn out to be really pleasant. So I read quite fast and spent all my time reading this books plus "The Lost Hero" and "The Red Pyramid" from the same author.

The only review I´m making is that this books are great!! And if you have trouble finishing every book you read I promise you that you won´t have that problem with this series.

Apart from that I MUST share with you my whole soundtrack for this series. In short, this were the songs that I kept repeating over and OVER while I read this books. And I must say that they were great!!! At first, I only intended to listen to Kent´s new album "En plats i solen". The album turned out amazing!!!! Check it out HERE!!!

But that was only part of it because the I felt like listening all the complete albums from Kent, yeah... you heard well ALL the albums from Kent. You can listen to it by clicking here!!!

I know!!!! they´re like amazing! and the lyrics are like... pure poetry... : )  (this is the first time that I think like this of a singer) My favorite albums that you can find in the playlist above are probably "Vapen och Ammunition", "Verkligen" and best of all "The Hjärta och Smärta EP". (and probably "Hagnesta Hill")

Princess of Cléves - Madame de la Fayette

Plot review: Set towards the end of the reign of Henry II of France, The Princesse de Cleves (1678) tells of the unspoken, unrequited love between the fair, noble Mme de Cleves, who is married to a loyal and faithful man, and the Duc de Nemours, a handsome man most female courtiers find irresistible. Warned by her mother against admitting her passion, Mme de Cleves hides her feelings from her fellow courtiers, until she finally confesses to her husband an act that brings tragic consequences for all. Described as France's first modern novel, The Princesse de Cleves is an exquisite and profound analysis of the human heart, and a moving depiction of the inseparability of love and anguish.----from amazon.

Opinion: First, the fact that this is believed to be the first phylosophical novel totally got me. Then I didn´t know what to expect from a novel from that time but I must say that I ended up very surprised! It totally surpassed my expectations!!! I mean... the way it describes so perfectly the life at the french court and from a female point of view!!!!! And the author got really the feeling of the Princess of Cléves and her reasons for how she acts. This is a MUST READ book and I´m amazed of the kind of suspense throught the book based in psychological aspects of the characters.


Final Rating: 9/10

Lemon Pie!

So... suddenly I found myself being really bored and so I decided to cook! This days I find myself with nothing to do and it appears that I have run out of things to do, I alredy completed a huge puzzle that was mostly black with my left hand (and I am right handed...). The conclusion is that I needed to do something more productive. haha... Apart from that I haven´t been reading so much (maybe only Dante) and what I´ve been doing all the time is read manga so probably in the next days I´ll write about the best manga I´ve read in the past few days....

 Well... I thought it looked lame being yellow because normally all lemon pies are yellow!! dah! So I thought "what the fuck!!! I want my pie to be green!" but now that I look at it, you could say that it ended up looking like an artificial green but WTF!!!

....and then with the left over filling I decided to do a mini pie! kawaii!! I must say that I´m proud of my work! ; )

The Mayfair Witches (Lasher) - Anne Rice

First of all, I read this series along with the Vampire Chronicles a long time along but I got a bit obsessed with the second chapter of the second book of the Mayfair Witches trilogy. (maybe I´ll do a review of all those books later on...) And the reason why I´m so obsessed with the second chapter of this book is because it talks about Mona Mayfair that is probably my favorite character of the whole trilogy (maybe I could also include her cousin Mary Jane).

Summary: Returning to the Mayfair clan she introduced in The Witching Hour , Rice offers another vast, transcontinental saga of witchcraft and demonism in the tradition of Gothic melodrama. The eponymous Lasher is a demon spirit who preys on female Mayfairs in his attempt to procreate. Rowan Mayfair, queen of the coven who has borne Lasher's child, has now disappeared. At times this main narrative is lost as the story moves from the Louisiana Mayfairs to the Scottish Donnelaiths and the clandestine London Telamasca society, with copious personal histories and myriad characters. Long sections ramble without a compelling point of view, and are dampened by stock elements: cliched wind storms, sexy witches, the endless supply of money the Telemasca has at its disposal. At times, Lasher is too much in evidence (rattling the china, gnashing his teeth) to be frightening. But embedded in this antique demonism is a contemporary tale of incest and family abuse that achieves resonance. It is maintained through the character of Lasher, both child and man at the same time, who manipulates his victims with his own pain. At their best, Rice's characters rise above the more wooden plot machinations with an ironic and modern complexity: Mona, the young feminist witch with sharklike business instincts; Julien, the dead patriarch, who movingly recalls his male lovers; Yuri, the clever Serbian orphan. Despite lapses into uninspired language, ultimately the novel is compelling through its exhaustive monumentality.--from the hardcover

Personal Opinion:At first I didn´t know what to think of the book but it turned out ok. I personally love the suspense and descriptions of the family. You also get to knnow the opinions and way of life of other family members instead of having only one point of view.

Final Rating: 9/10

The Prince - Niccolo Machiavelli

Plot Summary: Widely read for its insights into history and politics, The Prince is one of the most provocative works of the Italian Renaissance. Based on Niccolò Machiavelli’s observations of the effectiveness of both ancient and contemporary statesmen, the rules for governing set forth in his manual were considered radical and harsh by his contemporaries and shocking to many since then. 

Personal Opinion: This is a book I´ve been wanting to read for so long... I always heard of many phrases like "Keep your friends close, and your enemies even closer" so eventually I got really curious. And I must say that I wasn´t dissapointed! It´s very interesting to read about the tactics he created after many years of observation. I even get why so many people was and is shocked of what he wrote because I must say that he often explains some unorthodox methods to be able to maintain power. haha Like how he says that you have to kill some people, manipulate people for your own personal gain and his view of the church. But leaving all that aside I think this is a MUST READ book that explains the flow of power back in those days. I personally liked his description of Castruccio and how he easily conquered and won blattles with pure wit and great war strategy.

Final Rating: 9/10