Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Music #16

And we continue with The Aquabats, and one of my favourite songs from this awesome band...
The calm sly relaxing tune contrasts with the lyrics and makes it even more ironic.

THE AQUABATS - Chemical Bomb

I was at the supermarket
Watching people cut in line
I started thinking about human nature
What would you do
if there was no more food?

My mind began to wander
About greed and hunger
And just how many other countries
Are getting ready for another war

But the sun was shining
And everything seemed fine
So count me in
I'll see you on the other side

Chemical bomb
Chemical bomb
Eyes melt, Skin explodes
Everybody's dead
It won't be long
It won't be long
People gonna run around
Losing their heads
A river of blood
Who's gonna live?
The earth is tired of human kind
And I think this world
Is gonna wash up in Hell

La la la la la
La la la la la
La lala la la la la

Then I had another vision
In the crowded grocery store
I saw the Pale Rider on his horse
Decapitating people in the parking lot
And all the shoppers were beasts
What could I do to hide?
Back in this world of humankind
I think we've already lost our minds

But the sun was shining
And everything seemed fine
So count me in
I'll see you on the other side

Chemical bomb
Chemical bomb
Eyes melt, Skin explodes
Everybody's dead
It won't be long
It won't be long
People gonna run around
Losing their heads
A river of blood
Who's gonna live?
The earth is tired of human kind
And I think this world
Is gonna wash up in Hell

La la la la la
La la la la la
La lala la la la la
maybe.... maybe... maybe...

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Happy Birthday to ME... again!

Today, 21 February 2007, I turn 21.
Now I'm of the full legal age even in the US.
So... hehe, Happy Birthday and May the Force be with Me!

Some very important cult events happened exactly on my birthday!

The Legend of Zelda - released by Nintendo the very day I was born, 21 February 1986

Army of Darkness (aka Evil Dead III) - released to theaters in 1992

Star Wars EPISODE V - The Empire Strikes Back - the Special Edition was released to theaters on 21 February 1997 as part of 20th Anniversary



So, who else was born today?

Alan Rickman (born 1946) - Severus Snape in the Harry Potter series, other movies - "Die Hard", "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves", "Galaxy Quest", "Love Actually"

Ann Sheridan (born 1915)


Martha Hackett (born 1961) - Seska from "Star Trek: Voyager" and also numerous Star Trek voices and appearances, Miss Kroghe from "Carnosaur"


Kelsey Grammer (born 1955) - The voice of Sideshow Bob from "The Simpsons" and Dr. Hank McCoy aka Beast in "X-Men: The Last Stand"


Gary Lockwood (born 1937) - Dr. Frank Poole in "2001: A Space Odyssey", Appearances in Star Trek, Mission Impossible, Charlie's Angels, McGuyver...



Flashback - check out last year's issue ;)
http://nsg1138.blogspot.com/2006/02/happy-birthday-to-me.html
http://nsg1138.blogspot.com/2006/02/on-this-day-are-born-also.html

Friday, February 16, 2007

Краят на сесията

Как може да се промени настоението на човек само за няколко часа...
Сутринта с мъка се измъкнах от топлите завивки, недоспал... (че как да си си доспал в 7.20 ам, като си си легнал към 3? Ама какво съм виновен аз, че Inch High Private Eye го дават по Boomerang само в 2 сутринта?) От леглото право на РС-то, да видим как върви download-а, какво се е дръпнало докато съм спал, да refresh-на torrent-ите и да видя какво ново се е появило... После наминах към банята, а от там в кухнатя да си сръбна чаша топло мляко с какао. До тук звучи почти като идилия, и може би наистина би било, ако от 11.00 не бях на изпит по СБЕ в университета. Отворих учебника отново за финално четене. Какво ти финално, до сега само бях отварял учебника. А между "отварял" и "чел" има известна разлика. Имаше около стотина страници, които май изобщо не бях разгръщал. То че няма начин да си го налея в главата беше повече от ясно. Не ми оставаше друго освен да разчитам на общата си култура... и на Силата.
Засичам пред ректората Андрей и Стан и щурмуваме първа ауднитория. (Да, първа АУДИТОРИЯ този път. Понеже на миналия изпит аз отидох в нея, ама заварих вътре някакви непознати хорица, друг курс... И се оказа, че трябвало да ида в първа АУЛА, която не е в ректората, ами в нова сграда, на края на града... но това е друга история) След някаква безумна рокада се оказвам от благодатното място сред начетени колежки на първия ред. Раздават темите. До мене е Мимето. Тя знаеше темата дето на мене се падна. Аз не знаех нито моята, нито нейната, та викам си поне един от двама ни да мине, и си трампих листчето с нейното. Я да видим сега... 2 часа изпит. Написах разни неща, не знам колко са верни. Мисля, че има достатъчно за тройка. Надявам се да има достатъчно за тройка!
Накрая предадох листа... КРАЙ!!! SESIA IS NO MORE!!!
От ректората направо към "Воеводите", редовното кръчме. Пилешка супичка, чесново хлебче и студен Beck's. Идилия!
Вече предвкусвам уикенда... Време е за Star Wars маратон!

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Kim Possible - Love

It's Valentine's Day, so... I decided to post this video instead of a greeting card. (And yes! The love of my life, Kim Possible is back, season 4 baby!)

Monday, February 12, 2007

The Aquabats in COLOR!

This was a demo the aquabats made in 1999 to pitch to networks to try and get funding for a pilot. There was no real episode ever filmed but they've made it look like there was a whole season's worth of stuff.

Sunday, February 11, 2007

Music #15

Nostalgic and sincere ska about the childhood days slipping through our fingers, how 'bout that? Well... If you want to know abut the Aquabats go to their website - http://www.theaquabats.com/ or read the Wiki article - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Aquabats

The Aquabats - Playdough
When I was a boy I used to live in corduroy
OP shirts and slip-on Vans.
My life was so simple
I had not one pimple,
My everyday was made up of these plans:
To ride my bike to Thrifty's,
Run past the balls and ice cream and
find the Star Wars figurines.
Thinking of my action men,
Kung-Fu grip and all,
What happened to them all?

[Chorus]

Running through my old life
Looking for my lost toys
Where has all my fun gone?
Now that we're all older
Before we grow much colder
Let's all look forward to the new dawn
An anthem for all lost toys
Now that we're all big boys
We'll stand together and sing this song
We'll sing this song
It's not too long
So everybody sing along

When I was a little man
Playdough came in a little can
I was Star Wars' biggest fan
Now I'm stuck without a plan
GI Joe was an action man
Shaggy drove the mystery van
Devo was my favorite band
Take me back to my happy land

Now my brothers and sisters
I don't mean to make a scene
But I lost my action figures
and it makes me want to scream
Greedo, Chewbacca, Luke, R2, and Han,
3PO, Yoda, Bobafett, Obi Wan
Green Machine, Suckerman
Silly Putty, Lincoln Logs
Sitting in my Underoos
Reading christmas catalogs
What happened to my action men and all?
What happened to it all?

Running through my old life
Looking for my lost toys
Where has all my fun gone?
Now that we're all older
Before we grow much colder
Let's all look forward to the new dawn
An anthem for all lost toys
Now that we're all big boys
We'll stand together and sing this song
We'll sing this song
It's not too long
So everybody sing along

When I was a little man
Playdough came in a little can
I was Star Wars' biggest fan
Now I'm stuck without a plan
GI Joe was an action man
Shaggy drove the mystery van
Devo was my favorite band
Take me back to my happy land

Take me back to my happy land
Take me back to my happy land
Take me back to my happy land
Take me back to my happy land

Through the tunnel

05 August 2004
Plovdiv

I made this photo running through the tunnel more than two years ago. I enjoy the feeling of motion, the light and the speed it carries, and the strong perspective. It came put to be a good improvisation. No PhotoShop tweaks and no adjustments were made.

Some changes...

As you probably notice I made some modifications and the Holocron interface is a little bit different (and hopefully more convenient). The thing is that now the posts are not so wide as they used to be and sometimes, some of the old posts containing pictures and text look a little bit strange. The reason is that they are now automatically resized and the left or right alignment doesn't look the way it was supposed to be. Anyway, they're still readable, so... you'll manage ;) I don't want to go through all 100+ something posts and re-edit. There will be no such problem with the posts to come. Take care :) And thank you for reading my Holocron!

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Комикс-анитка


Реших да ви покажа една истинска реликва, която стигна до мен благодарение на fan4battle :)
Обърнете внимание на годината и издателя :) Жалко, че това са единствените страници, на които fan4battle е попаднал.

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Jedi Training (webcam test)

My room, 2005. The nerdiest way to test my web-cam, lol! Am I a geek or what? Watch those fancy moves! btw there is no frame skip, I just use Force Speed.

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Gaia Epicus Interview

Remember Gaia Epicus, the band I told you about a few months ago in the Music rubric (I posted their lyrics "Star Wars" and "Keepers of Time")?
Well, here is an interview Thomas gave me especially for "HOLOCRON" - the Bulgarian Star Wars Fan Magazine - www.ezine.starwarsbg.org
The interview was published in Issue #2 (oh, btw Issue #3 is on its way, and it will feature some Gaia Epicus news and the lyrics of "Rise of the Empire"), but since it's all in Bulgarian and we published the translation of the interview, for music lovers and fans all over - here is the original version in English. And for exclusive Gaia Epicus photos - download "Holocron" Issue #2 (yeah, check out Thomas with a lightsaber and his Star Wars collection!)


Hi Thomas! Let's begin with a little introduction. A few words which describe best the band and its members?

Thomas C. Hansen ( guitar and vocals )
Joakim Kjelstad ( guitar )
Hans Å. Holmen ( bass )
Ole A. Myrholt ( drums )

We play melodic metal or power metal if you will, but we have some elements of prog, speed and
also just straight metal. The band was formed back in 1992 but has changed music style and members many times since then. In fact i am the only original member in the band, and I also started the band.

Thomas, after experimenting with various styles through the years in 2001 the band is officially Gaia Epicus and your style is far from the typical Black Metal with which Norway is famous for. Why so and is it difficult for you to take the stage from the rest of the metal bands in your country?

Black metal is something I don’t like so it's not so strange that we don’t play that style. hehe
Norway is as you said very famous for it's black metal, and there is many bands who plays it here. There is not too many Power Metal bands in Norway cause many don’t want to admit that they actually like it, and power metal bands should come from Germany. (so they say) hehe

So much anger, so much hate... Black Metal is from the Dark Side, don't you think?

Hehehe Good question! Well I don't think they have the same coolness about them as The Dark side have, but they sure are from somewhere dark.

But power metal is a different story. Here it's about honor, glory, epic battles, freedom, chasing dreams... Since you write the lyrics are these things close to you?

That’s the lyrics of most power metal bands yes, and some of my lyrics are about that also. I haven’t made any about dragons, wizards, and so on like many would expect. Most of my lyrics have a deeper meaning but sometimes I try to make it as a metaphor, so you have to figure it out yourself what's it about. But I also make some lyrics like "Star Wars" witch is a tribute to the best movies ever made. And I am just about to go and record our 3'rd album, and there it will be a new star wars tribute song called "Rise of the empire". My lyrics are often about freedom and keeping you dreams alive and fight for them, and that’s very important to me.


In many of your lyrics there is a comment o n the world we are living in. Like a reproach or a warning. (I especially love "Keepers of Time") Do you think that the people will hear your message?

Thanks :) yeah I try to have some deeper meaning in the lyrics even if you might think it's just another fantasy lyric. The world today is very unstable and is filled up with hate and suffering, and I don’t really see why that is. Something needs to be done about this but I am not sure what. Hopefully people will see that I have some meanings with most of the lyrics, even though it's not going to change the world for the better.

Sometimes you feel that you must to fight for a change, sometimes you want to "leave this world behind". There are a lot of ideaological and philosophical issues behind your songs. Is music your way to make people stop and think?

Thanks again for noticing :) Many reviewers don’t take the time to read the lyrics and try to find out what it's about, they just assume by the title that it's just another power metal fantasy song. If my lyrics can make people think and maybe change their way of life to the better that's great, but I make the lyrics most of all just to get some of my thought out of my head. hehe

And still, your songs are possitive. Do you believe that there will be A New Hope for all of us?

Not all the songs are positive actually. But yes I think there is "A New Hope" for the world, cause if we didn’t believe there wouldn’t be any point of going on, would there? I also sometimes try to combine a happy tune with a very serious lyric, like the song "Miracles".

Reality sucks in many ways and your music is a way to escape from it for a while, and at the same time gives new strenght for a fight when we go back to the real world. Reminds you of some movies? ;) (it's supposed to remind you about Star Wars, hehe)

Good one. hehe

Are all the Gaia Epicus members Star Wars fans or just you and Joakim?

Me and Jokke are BIG Star Wars fans, and movie fans that’s for sure. The other 2 members like star wars but they are not crazy fans like we are. hehe

When did you see Star Wars for the first time and what was your reaction, your impressions?

I can't remember what year it was but i was totally amazed by what I did see on the screen, and i was a fan right away.

So you are a big fan, aren't you? What does the Star Wars saga mean to you?

Big fan Yes! I don’t know if it has any special meaning to me other than I really enjoy watching it.

Is there any character you can identify with?

Well, yes there is but he dead know (R.I.P) but it's Darth Maul, I find him very fascinating and mysterious like me. hehe I actually dressed up like him on the Episode 1 premier and won first price for best costume.

Do you have a favourite episode?

Hard to name just one since I think everyone is great, but the 3 first movies are very special. And from the 3 last movies I have to say episode 1, even though many will not agree with me. I don’t know why that is I just feel it's very special, maybe because it had been so many years of waiting and finally it was arrived.

How do you feel about the messages and the outlook o n life, presented in the Star wars movies? Do you fallow the ways of the Jedi?

I think the way's of a Jedi and the moral of the Star wars saga is very present in the real world and I guess that in some ways follow the way of a Jedi. hehe

When did you came up with the idea for a Star Wars tribute song from your first album, "Satrap"?

Hmm... Not sure when, but i was just playing with some new riffs for a song and it came to me. maybe I had just watched some star wars movies, yeah that could have been it.



The song is not the only reference to the Saga. on the cover of your second album, "Symphony of Glory" we can see some familiar helmets and even some lightsabers... Looks like you are pretty inspired by Star Wars?

We though it would be fun to include some of our interests on the cover, and if you look close you will find things from other movies to.

I want to thank you for your permission to include your song in the "Music From A Galaxy Far Far Away..." fan-album. It's really great to have your name on the track list! (if you hear the album you can say a few words, your opinion and such)

You're welcome! The Star Wars fans should hear the song. I haven’t had time to hear this album yet.

In o ne of the letters we exchanged you told me that your third album "Victory" will feature one more Star Wars tribute song. Can you share any details?

It's a song called "Rise of the Empire", and it's basically about Anakin have become Darth Vader and trying to rule the world.

I'm curious if George Lucas have heard your sond and if he likes it. Have you ever contacted Lucasfilm to tell them about your tribute to the saga?

No I haven’t done it yet. I was thinking of doing it but never got around to it.

In "Symphony of Glory" there's an instrumental called "Chamber of Secrets", which begins with a short intro from Harry Potter's theme by John Williams. Do you like Harry Potter too?

No it's crap! hehe Yeah it's great movies and i got inspired to make that song after seeing one of the movies.

Any other particular movie or book inspirations?

Not that I can think of, and as for books goes... I don’t read books, to little pictures :) hehe

What are you planning for the future? Any tours, concerts, auditions?

Tomorrow I am leaving to record our 3'rd album as I said earlier, and in the fall we will do a Victory Tour. We hope to play everywhere in the Galaxy !!!

Maybe you should concider attendind some Star Wars convention or fan-fest. You know, next year it's the Star Wars 30 years anniversary and there will be a huge Celebration IV in Los Angelis. I think fans will love to hear your music live.

That would be exlent :)

Before we jump to hyperspace anything else you want to say to the Bulgarian Star Wars fans?

Check out our band, and you might just like it. Stay ready for our 3'rd album "Victory" !!!
more info on: http://www.gaia-epicus.com/

Thank you very much for this interview! May the Force be with Gaia Epicus!

Your welcome, and may the force be with you too !