If you still read me!

hi there! i've moved! if you're interested please check out my new blog To The Yet Unknowing World.
Sometimes My Life is Like a Bob Dylan's 115th Dream will not be updated anymore.

it's been fun. bye.

And tell me some things last. (Stu's Year in Music Survey)

i know my blog has been pretty silent this past year. i wanna really get back into blogging, but this past year has been a tough one. but perhaps next year will be different. next year will be better. i wanna start doing things i enjoy, again. but anyway, it's time for the annual Stu's year in music survey! although it was a hard year, musically, it was pretty great. here we go;

2014 music survey;

What song sums up 2013 for you?
Taylor Swift - Clean

What albums did you listen to over and over?
Taylor Swift: 1989
Noah Gundersen: Ledges
Noah Gundersen: Twenty-something
Lorde: Pure Heroine
Troye Sivan: TRXYE
Hopeajärvi: Hopeajärvi
K.Flay: Life as a Dog
Ingrid Michaelson: Lights Out
Josh Ritter: Live at the Iveagh Gardens
Watsky: All You Can Do
OneRepublic: Native
Tom Odell: Long Way Down
The Fault in Our Stars soundtrack
Wish I Was Here soundtrack
Iggy Azalea: The New Classic
Lissie: Cryin' to You

^Taylor Swift

What was the best gig you went to?
i finally saw Bob Dylan! it was such a surreal experience. it was at this big jazz music festival, i was standing on the front row and Dylan was only a few meters away from me. it was a childhood and a grownup dream come true! i also saw Suede and Brett held my hand. also Lissie at a small club during the biggest heath wave was pretty epic.

What songs did you have on repeat?
Taylor Swift - Shake it Off
Taylor Swift - Clean
Taylor Swift - Out of the Woods
Troye Sivan - Happy Little Pill
Navigators - Wall of Stone
A Great Big World - Say Something
General Ghost - I Need My People
Watsky - Woah Woah Woah
Watsky - Sarajevo
Lorde - Buzzcut Season
Sufjan Stevens - A Little Lost
Jameston Newton Howard & Jennifer Lawrence - The Hanging Tree
Noah Gundersen - Guardian Angel
Noah Gundersen - Ledges
Foster the People - Fire Escape
Tom Odell - Heal


What was your best musical discovery this year?
probably Hopeajärvi! they are small finnish punk band and they are ridiculous and so good!

What 5 musicians/bands did you listen to the most?
last.fm says; Josh Ritter, Taylor Swift, Noah Gundersen, Troye Sivan & Amy MacDonald

What was the best CD you bought?
Taylor Swift's 1989!

Did you buy any music DVDs this year?
no.

What are the best lyrics you heard this year?
"Where do we come from? Where do we go?
You could fill up the sea with the things I don't know" - Watsky; Sarajevo

"I want to learn how to love
Not just the feeling
bear all the consequences

And I want to learn how to love,
And give it all back,
And be forgiven for all I've done." - Noah Gundersen; Ledges

Did you stop liking any musicians/bands?
can't really think of any.

Did you learn an instrument this year? If so, did you play any gigs?
no.

What band did you hate this year?
i don't hate them, i just don't care about One Direction at all. i don't understand what's their appeal. i think the music is generic and boring and i really don't find the boys attractive at all (i mean sure i can see that they are a bunch of beautiful boys/men but they do nothing for me...)

Did you have a musical guilty pleasure this year?
i still don't believe in 'guilty pleasures', i don't feel guilt over the things i like, but i have to say Iggy Azalea. i'm all for women being successful, especially in a male dominated genre, but her fake black accent is a bit questionable. yet i still like her music and she is one of those women who has worked really hard to be where she is now. and i definitely respect that.

^Iggy Azalea

What was the worst song of the year?
that Selfie song, i don't even know the name or whose song it is. it's just bad.

What was the coolest music video you saw this year?
Taylor Swift's Blank Space! it is hilarious.

Did you watch Idol/the arias/grammys/mtv awards?
nope.

What was the worst musical comeback of the past year?
can't think of any.

What was the best musical comeback of the year?
Suede! well, i know they kind of had their comeback last year with the new album, but i was them live this year so i feel like it really happened in 2014. it totally counts, right?!

Who were your favourite female vocalists?
Taylor Swift

Who were your favourite male vocalists?
Josh Ritter & Noah Gundersen

^Tom Odell

What radio station did you listen to most?
none, really.

What was the biggest band you saw this year?
Bob Dylan

If you have one, how often did you listen your iPod/mp3 player this year?
all the time from my phone.

What was your favourite soundtrack to a film this year?
The Fault in Our Stars

What was your favourite music themed film you saw this year?
If I Stay, i mean, music was a big part of the film.

What was the best local band you heard/saw this year?
Hopeajärvi

Did you meet any famous musicians?
not this year.

Did you put up any music posters around your room/house?
Taylor Swift's deluxe version of 1989 came with 13 polaroids, i scattered them around my apartment.

Totalled, how much do you think you spent on music this year (cds, merch, tickets, etc)?
about 300€ in tickets and 40€ for cd's, so around 340€.

What type of music did you find yourself listening to most this year?
pop and folk&country, as always,

Best song to be happy to you listened to this year?
all of 1989!

Best song to be sad to you listened to this year?
Noah Gundersen's Guardian Angel


Band/singer with the best style this year?
Taylor Swift! also Lissie.

What shows are you looking forward to in the new year?
i might go see Taylor Swift during the summer in London. maybe, perhaps. depending on things. like money.

^Lorde

Did you buy any band merchandise this year?
no.

Did you miss out on going to any really good concerts this year?
i wanted to go see Watsky on his European tour, but then someone stole my bike and i needed to buy a new one and that was pretty much all of the money i'd saved to travel to see watsky.

What was the last gig you went to?
Vesa-Matti Loiri's Christmas concert. it was lovely.

How many songs are on your computer/itunes?
i don't know cause i mostly just use Spotify.

What are you listening to now?
Josh Ritter - The Curse Live at Iveagh Gardens

Book Review: Courage: Daring Poems for Gutsy Girls

When i first heard of this poetry anthology i got so very excited. Firstly, it was published by one of my favorite publishing houses, Write Bloody Publishing. Write Bloody Publishing is an independent American publishing house that publishes contemporary poetry. Secondly, the book was edited by Mindy Nettifee among Karen Finneyfrock and Rachel McKibbens. Nettifee is one of my favorite modern poets, Finneyfrock and McKibbens on the other hand are new names to me, but i thoroughly enjoyed their work in the anthology as well. And thirdly, besides Nettifee's works, the book also includes some of my other favorite poets such as Amber Tamblyn (from who's instagram i first heard about the book) and Jeanann Verlee. Lastly, America Ferrera, who i adore, said about the anthology: ”These poems are full of pain, humor, and guts. I wish this was required reading when I was in school.” If these points don't make you wanna just go and get your hands on this collection right now, then i don't know what will. Also i don't understand you. At all.

Courage: Daring Poems for Gutsy Girls
edited by Karen Finneyfrock, Mindy Nettifee, & Rachel McKibbens

Paperback
Number of pages: 180
Release Date: 28th of March 2014
Publisher: Write Bloody Publishing
Genre: Poetry
Topics: feminism, friendship, growing up, motherhood, death etc.
On Goodreads

What is it about?
Courage: Daring Poems for Gutsy Girls is pretty much the book what the title promises it to be. It is a collection of poems written by women. More so, it is a collection of the works of (in my opinion) some of the best female poets of today. The works in Courage deal with all aspects of girlhood and what it means to grow up as a woman in today's society. It tackels such issues as race, first love, feminism, being a sister and a friend, motherhood and facing misogyny & sexism.

What did I think?
It's probably given, but i absolutely loved this book! I read it out loud to myself in three nights. It is a book you could read in one sitting but i like to read poems in small proportions so that i can really feel the words and what is being said, or left unsaid. In the foreword the editors promise that the reader will leave the book with at least three new favorite poems. I think that is a massive understatement. I marked 22 poems as my favorites, and that was only cause i tried not to mark every single one (although i wanted to) since what's the point in that. This was also the first poetry book that has ever made me cry, several times. Now, i cry easily for novels or movies etc, but never has a poem made me actually cry. Several poems also punched me in the gut real hard. You know that feeling? Words have power and Courage is one of the most powerful collection of words i have ever read. But it's not all just pain and tears, there are some pretty funny stuff in it too.

Who should read it?
Everyone. If you are a young feminist woman, like i am, it will fill you with nostalgia, and hope. And a little bit of pain. If you are a teenage girl it will help you get through. And for all the men, it is a window to the minds of women, well, at least some of them. It will help you understand. Like the back of the book says, this book is for anyone who is, or has been, or knows a teenage girl. I'm pretty sure that's all of us.

Few of my favorite lines:

”But safety isn't always safe.You can find one on every gun.” 

I Sing the Body Electric , Especially When My Power's Out by Andrea Gibson 

”When your ghost leaves bleeding fog from beneath his sheet,follow him to the traffic light with your eyes. Keep your feetunderneath you whatever you do. Lock the windows.
Make sure the neighbors see it all.” 

Poem for Repelling Ghosts by Karen Finneyfrock 

”December, you are young,you have not yet learnedhow love can ruin you.You are so naïve,you can't believe,that the very thingyou sleep withcould swallow you.” 

December by Erica Miriam Fabri 

”When scars are new,They shine. Be all the glitterYou need.” 

In Case You Ever Need It, It Is Here by Daphne Gottlieb

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Check out the webpage for Courage anthology here.
Write Bloody Publishing.
Mindy Nettifee
Karen Finneyfrock
Rachel McRibben
Amber Tamblyn
Jeanann Verlee

We woke up to find that summer's gone. // The End of Summer

Ruisrock 2014.

Ruisrock 2014 was the festival of beautiful sunsets.

And a festival of some 90's flashbacks. Suede's Brett Anderson doesn't seem to age.

Lissie @ Tavastia, one hot summer evening.

Suddenly summer's gone. First lectures of my second year of Uni begin in a week. The weather has suddenly grown colder. Nearly every morning is met with pouring August rain. My favorite time of the year, Autumn, is almost finally here.

This summer has been a summer of excruciating heath waves. A summer of good music (Suede, First Aid Kit, Bob Dylan[!], Lissie...) and good friends. A summer of reading intimidating books (David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest, still work in process) and summer studies. It's been a good summer, but I'm so ready for the next season.

“Every year, the bright Scandinavian summer nights fade away without anyone’s noticing. One evening in August you have an errand outdoors, and all of a sudden it’s pitch-black. It is still summer, but the summer is no longer alive.” - Tove Jansson

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How was your summer?
Excited for autumn yet?
I'm an autumn enthusiast on a reblogging spree of all things autumn on my Tumblr.

you've got time. // An abandoned prison at Kakolanmäki

hi! it’s been awhile since i last made a blog post(again). finally, it’s summer! although it doesn’t feel much like it. while the summer in southern Finland begun with a heat wave, lately we have been enjoying a much colder weather. hopefully the nice sunny days will make a return at some point.

i’m spending my summer studying, which basically means doing few exams for which i have to read few text books. really, i’m just vacationing. i had a friend visiting me a few weeks back. we spent our three days together glued to my couch marathoning season 2 of Orange is the New Black from Netflix. time well spent i would say. back then we still had actual summer weather so we did manage to drag ourselves outside of my apartment a little.

with our outside adventures we continued our OITNB prison theme by visiting an old abandoned prison that is just across the street from my apartment building. the prison is on top of a hill called Kakolanmäki and it was build in 1850’s. the prison was shut down in 2007 and has been empty ever since. the buildings are however protected by the Finnish National Board of Antiquities.

getting to the top of the hill is a bit of a climb.

a part of the main building

the hill provides a nice view.

the prison guards' control room was pretty much destroyed.

once the purpose of this building was to keep people in. now there are locks everywhere to keep people out.

"it's windy there and the view's so nice."

the final view; Turku Cathedral at the city center.

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have you watched Orange is the New Black season 2?
did you love it or did you Love it?!
does your town have any cool abandoned buildings/places?