Saturday 27 October 2012

10 things to do before I die

1.- I want to finish writing my epic fantasy saga.
2.- I want to publish my books, be famous and earn tons of money.
3.- I'd like to feel like a designer someday, soon. I mean,  because I don't want to start working without feeling like one.
4.- I REALLY want to be better at drawing. I guess I need to practice a lot more, there are tons of thing I still have to learn.
5.- I would like to keep playing music, and perhaps join a band as a hobby.
6.- I want to travel to some countries: Argentina, Mexico, Japan, Korea, U.S.A, France and England, por example. I seriously hope I can accomplish it.
7.- I want to give my mother a good life. She's not quite young anymore, but I want to pay her back for everything she's done during my entire life.
8.- I want to get married and have children. Though I'm still wondering whether I can cope with that family life style or not.
9.- I want to pay the university credit, and to survive meanwhile.
10.- I want to age well, long enough to see my children build their own lives, and long enough to accomplish everything else.

I hope we can all go do all the things we want before our time comes.




Thursday 18 October 2012

VAMPS in Chile

VAMPS  is a japanese band formed in 2008 by Hyde, vocal in the legendary band L'arc~en~Ciel since 1991, and KAZ, guitarrist in Oblivion Dust. Their bassist and their drummer are not listed as part of the band, I'm not sure why.

I have been in love with Hyde and his music since I was about six years old (no kidding), when I used to watch the anime series D・N・A² with my older brother and its opening song was L'arc~en~Ciel 'Blurry eyes'. I fell in love with his voice first, and I didn't get to see how he looked like until a few later, when I became an otaku and searched for pictures of the band (not that he looked really atractive in that video anyways).

So two years ago, when my friends started spazzing on Facebook because Noix Producciones announced he was coming to Chile with VAMPS, AND they managed to release their album named 'Beast' in Feriamix, AND they were going to record the concert to make a DVD as part of their world tour (where Brazil and Chile were the lucky ones in South America), I didn't doubt to buy my ticket. It was just for tribune, but it was worth not having to deal with the crazy chicks killing each other at the V.I.P area, right in front of the stage.


The concert was held at Teatro Caupolicán, in San Diego street. I attended with two of my best friends. It's always the three of us anyways, we're like the most hardcore ones in our group of friends (all J-Rock and Hallyu stans).






It was really good, even though Hyde kept trying to sing in a harsh style and sometimes his voice would sound out of tune, but it was ok, because we were too happy to see him live.



Eventually the fangirls started screaming for the other band members aswell, but Hyde owns our hearts by far. Besides, all asian artists learn some spanish so they can say a couple of things to us, such as 'I love you all', but Hyde learned how to say 'I want to eat chilean people'. He also faked an orgasm... or at least I think he faked it. We all left the Caupolican with huge smiles in our faces.

I hope he would come with L'arc en Ciel soon. I will buy an expensive ticket if that ever happens!



Thursday 11 October 2012

Habia una Vez - Korean wonders

Había una Vez is a korean bakery and cafe in Antonia Lopez de Bello, Patronato. There's one in Providencia too, right outside the Pedro de Valdivia metro station, but I like the one in Patronato better.



I found out about it because my friends and I are into hallyu (korean culture fever), so we often visit Patronato's korean mini-market searching for new marvellous stuff (I like their K-Pop related food goods, their aloe vera drinks and their pizza flavoured snacks).

One day, about two years ago, my best friend came from Patronato saying there was a new korean cafe we should visit. I was curious, so I joined her on a different ocassion. I was amazed by the fantastic concept of the decoration, which had a fairy tale feeling.


Then, I fell in love with their cakes and their food. After we sat down, I was even more seduced by the excellent branding job they did: everything had their logo printed, and they had (still do) a customer card to win points each time one makes a purchase. Those points are printed in the card as pesos, which is great, because eventually one can exchange the points for a beef croquette or a few macarrons (yes, the french sweets).




I go once a month, or once every two months, because it's not exactly cheap to eat there. The average amount is about $ 4.000 per person (though I bring my own drinks and only buy beef or chicken croquettes or sandwhiches, so I only spend like $ 1.000~$ 2.000). The price is worth the quality and the great experience, though. I'd rather go to Habia una Vez than to Starbucks, for example.

The last time I went was last week with my best friend; I spent all my money because we found new great stuff in the korean mini-markets, and we had some exclusive hot dog braids at Habia una Vez. My friend also bought soju (korean licuor) and a green tea piece of cake.

Once I get my next PAE, I'm going to spend it there!
You should go too! Here's their website --> http://cafehabiaunavez.com/home/

Thursday 4 October 2012

World's worst book covers

This article starts speaking of the worst sci-fi book covers en general, from Good Show Sir, which the writer really likes. If you go there, they are indeed awful covers, mainly retro (from the 60's to the 80's), mainly nonsense.




Then, there's Tutis Classics work. The Guardian itself has an article from 2008 where they announce the launching of Tutis's online catalogue. Nevertheless, if you follow their URL, the site is down. Going through Caustic Cover Critic's blog about Tutis's work (here), you can see why their covers are so despised; they use images that don't relate the plot of the books, and sometimes are the complete opposite of it. A few books even have the same illustrations, photoshopped to look a little different.



Go to World's worst book covers in The Guardian's website to find out more.

Playing music

All my life (since I can remember) I've been good at drawing. Then, when I was about twelve, I became good at writing (because I wrote the scripts for my comicbooks and enjoyed reading books all day long). Nowadays I'm great at both, specially at writing. So much, that people read my 'novels' and are either delighted and want more, or are dumbstruck out of the complexity of the words, since I mostly write in medieval and fantastic contexts.

Yet, I've always wanted to play music. My older brother once borrowed me his acoustic guitar for several months so I could learn, with the help of a guy I met at a drums store. I learned a few things but became frustrated easily. Instead, I started playing the drums, and even became the leader of my own band, along with three other friends. The guy from the drums store knew how to play pretty much any instrument AND he could sing, so he coached each one of us during the rehearsals.




Still, besides the guitar and the drums, I've always wanted to sing. I don't have a nice voice and I never asked anyone to help me (they just kept saying 'your voice has to come from your stomach' or something like that), but I sing everyday while designing, writing, drawing, tidying, etc. I'm terrible, but I'd love to be good someday. And the picture I posted is because I like the high pitch tones that Edu Falaschi can reach in Angra's songs (and Almah's, too). I also enjoy practicing those tones in Iron Maiden's and Helloween's songs, for example.

A girl can dream, right? I want to be a singer.