Very likely the most disappointing thing about photography in a big, flat city, is the lack of good views for landscape shots. Even though you can sometimes get to a high building, only very rarely are you able to open a window enough to get a good, clear shot of what you want. Even windows in high floors of dorms have metal grates on them, because people in the wrong places are “worried about our safety”.
There was a person, though, who, following a suggestion by one of his friends, decided that too significant concerns for our safety can be twisted and abused for actions unintended by the building administration. After gearing up with warm clothes, a backpack with a bottle of Gatorade and equipment, and of course the trusty black camera with its short lens mounted, he got past the maintenance workers to the designated place. » » Read more of “Cityscape climbing” inside » »
Trying to figure out how to spend a free Friday, I went to check out the freshly set-up open air ice-skating ring at the Millennium park. Needless to say, my heavy artillery couldn’t be left behind. I have shot a lot of pictures, some of which will be presented later, under a more appropriate topic. » » Read more of “The skating ring” inside » »
Posted 2 years, 4 months ago at 04:33. Add a comment
…at the same time? What more could a guy wish for? (I will leave the few inappropriate suggestions to myself. :-P)
Few places in the world have better jazz clubs, than Chicago. Around a week ago, we’ve decided to give one of them a try. It wasn’t the first one and definitely not the last one, but it was the most enjoyable so far. The musicians were very skilled and played nice jazz with a distinct Hispanic flavour. » » Read more of “Good jazz and picture-taking…” inside » »
For several months I have been looking forward to this concert. Nightwish is the number one band, currently reigning on the top of my playlist. The new album took the most-listened-to crown from Therion. After attending this concert, I have seen four of my top five bands live. Needless to say, I was quite excited.
The starter band, Paradise Lost, was very good. I wouldn’t hesitate to compare them, quality-wise, to Leaves’ Eyes and their foreplaying for Kamelot. It was decent metal with well written songs and a lot of power. Thumbs up, they just made the rather slim list of starter bands I wouldn’t hesitate to pay for, should they tour on their own.
Then the real treat of the evening came on the nice stage – I love the pendulum theme, it reminds me of Edgar Allan Poe’s Pit and the Pendulum. The intro was okay, but nothing special. The first surprise was Tuomas wearing a thick make-up and eyeliner. He looked like an emo kid, it was sort of pathetic. Jukka was, as usual, wearing a bandana headscarf. Marco looked cool, wearing The Beard. I expected him to be larger, maybe like the Leaves’ Eyes growler. But he’s just an ordinary guy, maybe a bit smaller than most. And Emppu looks exactly as you imagine him. :-)
Then Anette came on stage. I was disappointed. Unlike the aerie, impressive appearance of Sharon den Adel, she looked like the ugly stepsister. She was wearing a black corset that ended just above her breasts, exposing her skinny upper chest and shoulders. She has a rather nice G-clef (husľovýkľúč) tattoo on her left shoulder. Unfortunately, she is very thin, and the corset didn’t look good on her, which is saying a lot, because corsets generally look good on anyone. Anyway, Anette is pushing forty, and it could be seen. I have no problem with an older singer, but she was trying to look like a schoolgirl, and didn’t quite manage to get it right. The skirt and little-girl hairstyle didn’t help much, either.
I could have forgiven her for the appearance easily. That’s not why I came to the show, after all. But she couldn’t sing well. It was especially painful in the older songs. It happens that singers can’t handle the complicated parts sometimes, and come out a bit flat. Anette, however, couldn’t handle the more demanding parts of Tarja’s songs at all. It was rather sad. The only older song she was doing quite okay in, was Nemo. Other songs… well, whenever I thought she was doing okay in some, she screwed up badly a few measures later. That includes Amaranth, which sounded nothing like I hoped it would sound. :-( The two songs that sounded more or less okay were Sahara, and Seven days to the wolves.
Just a quick note, I wasn’t biased against her. I like the new album and had very good will to accept her and appreciate her as a singer. I understand, that she is in a very tough position to appeal to the fans who loved Tarja, and that singing songs that weren’t written for her can get very difficult. But this wasn’t just below average. It was excruciatingly awful at times.
Worse yet, I couldn’t quite appreciate her voice. It sounded different to me, than on Dark Passion Play. And it wasn’t pleasant, not even when she was talking, which she did with a thick accent. The overall impression she gave, and that’s considering way more than just appearance, was that of a rat. Honestly, if I worked for casting and needed a were-rat, she would be the first one I would talk to. You’ll understand what I mean when (and if) you see her live. The event lost an unprecedented amount of goshu points because of her.
As if wanting to suppress her somehow, the sound was set to emphasise the guitars and drums, you couldn’t even hear her in some parts. While I have to be mean and say that this wasn’t a bad thing altogether, Nightwish music isn’t about making so much noise that you can’t hear the singer.
Our position was great, we ended up in the third row from the stage right in the center. I have no idea how that happened, because when we arrived, we were like ten rows from the stage at least, but eventually, we somehow got forward without much effort on our part. This doesn’t usually happen. :-)
The audience was better than on WT, but still… let me design an IQ test. We start at 150. Imagine following situation: Tuomas is playing a silent solo, Marcus and Emppu have their fingers across their lips, and motion for the crowd to be silent. For every second you keep yelling, you get -10 points. Hm, most people would end up somewhere below 60. Anyway, I had to laugh when, after the encore, a pretty large part of the crowd behind me started shouting “Ještějeden! Ještějeden!” :-D
Although several times I just had to smack my forehead after something (read: Anette) went wrong, there were some really bright moments in the show. Namely the Islander, with Marco and Emppu playing acoustics. Also, Jukka was doing awesomely at the drums. I never noticed how good he was in the studio albums, and it rarely happens that I notice drummers at all. But at times, it just struck me how well he played.
Emppu and Tuomas played their parts well, too, although at times you couldn’t really hear the keyboards because of the settings mentioned before. Marco was amazing, and although maybe Anette didn’t think so, he was the real frontman of the band. Not even his tries could save the show and interacting with the fans, though, because it was still lousy. Some instrumental parts were nice, even though I really missed the strings and brass. A lot of Poet and the Pendulum was just playback, and the difference between playback and live playing and especially singing was very unflattering.
Overall, I give Nightwish 55 goshu points. I can’t say if it is a világos. If you are a very forgiving person, mad about the band, and want to see them live at all costs, just do so, and it may be világos for you. The word forgiving being the keyword. I have seen some people around me who obviously enjoyed it. That made me think that it is very individual, and you won’t know if it is a világos, until you get in and see for yourself – hence the Schrödinger. Unfortunately, I am a more demanding person, and declare Nightwish a second band, after Kamelot, that screwed up at their live performance.
In a final attempt to redeem the band, it wasn’t really all bad. If I look at it the way that I spent fifteen bucks and just went out, it was a nice way to enjoy the evening. However, if I think of this as a concert of my number one band, it is really disappointing. There indeed was a huge gap between live performances of Nightwish and Within Temptation, and as much as it pains me to give my favourite band a negative review, I don’t feel like having much of a choice. Bottom line: Anette Olzon doesn’t have what it takes, and I don’t think the band will be doing well live, unless she is replaced. Feel sorry about that? Well, yeah. So do I.
It’s been ten days since the last time my dearest readers had a chance to bask in the fresh glow of my amazing posts, and as this weekend is mostly free, save compulsory events such as Nightwish concert, I have decided to spam around a little. ;-)
Precisely two weeks ago, with one of the people I know here, a Tibetan student of international law, we have decided to try and shoot a few outdoor portraits. My longer lens seems to be very nicely up to this job, although I am still a far cry from achieving perfection with it. On the lighter note, I learn something new every time I take it out for a shoot.» » Read more of “Portrait test run” inside » »
, (My dearest Obu is advised not to read this one. ;-))
Photography. Greek for the words “light” and “write”. Thus, it comes as a little surprise, that it gets rather tough at night, since there generally is so little light to “write”. This becomes especially difficult if you do not have a tripod, and have to shoot those atrociously long shutter times hand-held. Still being at the honeymoon stage, I took my Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 for a walk. It did not particularly surprise me, that the cannon made it possible to shoot decent pictures at night as well. The Bean. Famous and often visited, it was a real pain to get this shot off without people standing all around the place. :-) Sometimes the picture itself doesn’t look blurred, but merely soft. Alas, there is no recipe for sharp pictures with long shutter times, other than tedious trial-and-error, or a tripod. This shot would have been much nicer if it was sharper: » » Read more of “Handheld hunting in the darkness” inside » »
Yesterday at the ZOO, I was also able to shoot a few children as well. Those little folks make for quite cute pictures, whether it’s their playing and action, observing something, or just generally doing whatever they do. Some of these shots are not very sharp, but I like them anyway. Unfortunately, with kids, all you get is snapshots. There is no time to set stuff up properly, and think much about the picture, so luck matters, too. Kids are at their best when they don’t know about the observer, and are occupied somehow. » » Read more of “Photographing kids” inside » »
For the time being, me and my Canon are an inseparable couple. We are fond of each other very much. I go out with her regularly, touch her body everywhere, and by now know fairly well where her controls are. No need to worry, though, I didn’t get married. However, after several months of deciding and choosing, I finally ordered a digital SLR camera.
In a struggle to get things done before cold fall comes, last weekend was really stuffed with things to do. Traditional German Oktoberfest, some sort of Asian celebration, fabulous Within Temptation concert I wrote about earlier, and of course the Celtic Festival, held at the Grant Park below the fancy Chicago sky line. With free entrance, of course. :-)
A quick note about pronunciation: when I pronounced Celtic as [sel-tik], people would look at me as if I came from another planet. In Chicago, it’s pronounced [kel-tik], although the dictionary recognises both ways. Also, Chicago is pronounced [shi-kah-goh], not [chi-kay-go].
The most remarkable advantage when comparing such festivals over here and back at home is, that some really awesome artists show up here, who would never even contemplate going to some fest in central Europe, minor by comparison. Although I sort of missed our beloved sedlácká gotika. :-)
Chicago Celtic Festival was not all about music. Although I didn’t really care, I am sure that some people would find the Art Fair, sheepherding demonstration, men-in-kilts leg contest, or Gaelic football game rather appealing. For me, it was “just” a music festival. There were so many great musicians, and I don’t even know some of their names, so I’ll focus on the really worthwhile stuff. Like Guinness. :-D Oh yes, that’s one of the finest beers in the world, and I found it very satisfying to take care of further undisclosed amount of this heavenly beverage over the weekend. I was worried after my last experience with this beer at the inn U hodného psa, which was negative, (hello, ZZ,) that I didn’t like Guinness anymore, that either me or it had changed. But fortunately, that is not true. Guinness is as great and as enjoyable as ever. Definitely a highlight of the festival, muhaha. ]:-> I have missed a lot of good music on Saturday, namely famous Dolores O’Riordan, former lead singer of the Cranberries, plus the Irish music group Lunasa and Welsh musician Jon Langford. Reportedly, they were all fantastic. Sunday, however, was not a wee bit less interesting. Damien Dempsey, an Irish rocker, was not exactly my cup of Celtic, but the Canadian family band Searson was quite a different story. They are three pretty ladies playing fiddles, bass guitar, and grand piano, and two guys at drums and acoustic guitar, playing fast-paced, energetic Celtic music. Very, very neat. At times they would also use a ten string lute, or step dance.
Colleen, their violin player, (on the picture above,) was playing her fiddles like a little goddess. Overall, I was very pleased with their performance. If you wish, you can listen to them for a bit on their myspace profile. However, the song choice over there is poor, and they seem to have matured a lot since then. My impression on Sunday was much better than what I hear over there. The biggest discovery, though, was the evening’s last band, Salsa Celtica. As the name suggests, those folks play traditional Latin-American rhythms with classic instruments like bongo, brass, and keyboards, (they had four people at percussions only!) imbued with rather nice Celtic melodies using fiddles, various whistles, and bagpipes. Unfortunately for my taste, they are significantly more Salsa, than they are Celtica, but it was really something fresh and interesting. I strongly recommend everyone to visit their myspace and listen to all the songs over there. Except maybe Grey Gallito, that one is a little weird. Unlike the Searsons, however, their myspace tracks sound fairly well and give you a good idea of what the band is up to. It is truly innovative. As for the conclusion, I award Chicago Celtic Festival 2007 a neat sum of 70 goshu points, and do not hesitate to label it a világos. :-) Also, I got a rather nice green t-shirt from this one. Whee!
Although Within Temptation are often considered mainstream and pop-metal by metalheads, I have wanted to see this band for years, so when I saw their tickets on sale for $13 in House of Blues venue, 15 minutes walking distance from where I live, there was no hesitation. I got second thoughts when I was reading the Celtic Festival programme, and realised that I would miss Dolores O’Riordan, (ex-Cranberries lead singer,) because of this… but didn’t change my mind.
People at ticketmaster.com deserve to spend several eons in a torture chamber, because the tickets cost me $26.52 in the end, which is more then double of the advertised price. Of course, one has to pay various taxes, facility charges, convenience charges, online order charges, picking-your-nose fees, as well as other undisclosed general charges. Still, it was an okay price for such a show, and they promised me $25 cashback on Nightwish tickets, so they are forgiven for now.
Wow. Robert and Jeroen really look like twins. And so do Ruud and Martijn.
Before I start with the “review” itself, let me fill you in on the rating system. For the good stuff, I will be giving away goshu points. If an event gets many goshu points, it basically means that it was a világos. (Pronounced velaagosh, hence goshu. :-P Syn.: ownage.) If I present something as a világos, that means it was a fantastic and extremely worthwhile event, and those who could have come, and did not, are therefore dubbed various degrees of noobs, and possibly even criminals.
An event needs at least 60 goshu points to be a minor világos, at 100 points it is a supreme világos. Very rarely it even gets above that. An example would be Therion Goes Classic in Miskolc, which with its 1.3x metal-orchestra multiplier and 1.1x front row multiplier, recieved 125 goshu points, and thus became an utter MegaVilágos, which makes it extremely difficult to surpass. Confusing, I know, but some people get it already as an inner joke, and it will grow on the rest of you, I’m sure. ;-)
They let us wait for almost three hours since the scheduled start, filled with quite pathetic gay^Wboy wannaberock bands. They were in fact so lousy, that the friend who was there with me blacked out, so that she wouldn’t have to listen to them. (It was a bit scary, I had to steer her out of the crowd, but she was alright for the rest of the night, even jumped with me a little.) Good old Astral Doors, seriously.
Most important complaint comes first: the audience sucked. I’ve never seen such pathetic crowd on a concert in Europe before. Not only was there no mosh-pit, but it was clearly above those people to decide when to clap, wave, jump, punch the air, or scream. Consequently, most of them did nothing, and the rest did any of the above in random fashion, but never all the same. I particularly disliked the emo kids. (Oh my, they really do exist!) Those boys wear thick makeup and dark lipstick, nail polish, have hoodies on their heads, and talk like sissies. Hateable at the first glance. Oh, and the biggest idiots were guess who? Polish!!
Sharon den Adel is a remarkably enchanting woman with fabulous voice. When she came to the stage and started singing, I froze. It was simply fascinating. She was wearing a dark dress with a corset, with cleverly sewn sleeves that would bare her entire arms when she wanted. Not only could Sharon sing incredibly well, she also made a hell of a show. I especially liked her mimics, and the kind of dance she did with her hands. She must be double-jointed, because some of her moves were just otherworldly. And mmm, so sweet, that alone was worth several goshu points. :o) Although a few times she didn’t manage to reach into the uppermost octaves and her voice came out a little flat and out of tune, the overall performance was brilliant. As were her bandmates, who played tirelessly and sounded flawless. The impression was much heavier, than their studio albums. Unlike Kamelot, who did the same and screwed up big time, these guys managed to pack a lot of punch into their songs without sacrificing the melody, or quality. I have a nagging feeling to write a couple more superlatives, because they definitely deserve it, so let’s pretend that I did. ;-) As for the tracklist, it was okay. It was really fat, I think they played 18, or 19 songs. As this was The Heart of Everything tour, most of them were, naturally, from the latest album. It is quite cool, although a wee bit more rock on expense of metal. From my favourite Mother Earth, only three songs were played. The encore was three, as usual, and the final dot was one of their most awesome pieces, Ice Queen. At that moment, any reservations I could have had regarding the choice of tracks just disappeared in a puff of smoke. :-)
Overall, I subjectively award Within Temptation 83 goshu points, which makes for a major világos, approximately on par with Blind Guardian show in Trenčín, fall 2006. :-) Thanks for the amazing experience and I’ll definitely see you later when I have the chance. To my European homies I definitely recommend to attend the show in Vienna, on 3rd of October. Get your tickets ASAP. It may not be the cheapest concert in your life, but it will be well worth it.
Finally, a taste of what it was. It’s világos multiplier is like 0.05x, and the sound is crappy, but at least to have an idea. By the way, the show over here was even better. And heavier. And Sharon was doing much more cool stuff. Yah, whatever.
» » Read more of “Cityscape climbing” inside » »
