So long Harry Potter.

I just seen the last film in the series - Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 and I'm not embarrassed to say I cried quite a bit. It's all over! I remember being eight years old, holding mums hand going to see Harry Potter & the Philosophers Stone, and thinking "If I'm counting right, I'll be nearly 18 when I see the last Harry Potter! Wow! Mum, I'll nearly be 18, that's so long away!"

Not that long.
I remember 11 year old Harry, Ron and Hermione, the boys in their hand-knitted jumpers and Hermione with her bushy hair and white tights. Now they're adults. It's sad. Watching the premiere, I cried with Emma Watson. The poor girl. It must be so sad after working with those people for 11 years and all going their separate ways. Her speech was beautiful though.

I was so happy when Ron & Hermione has their first kiss! It finally happened! I cried the most during the end when the three of them were on the bridge, slowly fading away. You could see Emma Watson crying and then when they're all older and it has a close up of their faces, fading away for the last time at Kings Cross Station.

Harry Potter was very prominent in my childhood. I have memories of going to Eason's book store at Midnight to get the new books and the excitement would be crazy! I think I'm going to read all the books again, now that all my memories are fresh in my mind.

So long Harry. I need something to fill his gap! And Twilight will not suffice.

tattoo me.

I'm nearly eighteen and still have no tattoos. I'm very disappointed in myself. I love feather tattoos, and I want to get one in memory of my grandmother that I lost last year. I was very close to her. Here's some ideas that I like.

Kathleen Hanna don't take no shit.

This woman is on the right track. I admire her hugely. Bikini Kill are one of my favourite bands, not just because of their music, but what they stand for. She wrote lyrics about domestic violence and rape... and became a symbol of the riot grrrl movement. She influenced the look and feel of modern feminism. Her outfits were fun, even sexy. Hanna used and uses clothing to make a statement and to draw attention to issues like rape, incest, other feminist artists and objectification of women in media.

She has revived her former Julie Ruin alias, which was a one-album side project by her, written by while Bikini Kill was on hiatus. She has revived it now as a full band The Julie Ruin.
She told CNN: "I did kind of disappear for five years, and now I'm back with a new band and getting back into it." Asked what the new material is about, she said: “Anger. A lot of anger about things I haven’t been able to express and how anger is usually just hiding sadness so after I write an angry song, I usually write a really sad song. Family, personal stuff, vulnerable stuff, my friendships with other women, and I'm sure there'll be a love song for Adam (Horowitz, from Beastie Boys, Hanna's husband).”

She has no shame is slamming one of the biggest names in pop these days, Katy Perry, either.
"Katy Perry’s 'I Kissed A Girl' was just straight-up offensive. The whole thing is like, 'I kissed a girl so my boyfriend could masturbate about it later'. It's disgusting. It's exactly every male fantasy of fake lesbian porn. It's pathetic. And she's not a good singer. I don't want to trash other women. I mean, I think Jason Mraz is horrible. It's not just like I hate other women performers. Jason Mraz and the new James Blunt song is the worst thing that has ever been created on the face of the Earth."

And she is so right.

Spongebob on the streets.

I found this feature while looking on Juxtapoz magazines website. Apparently Spongebob is a favourite with graffiti artists. He is everywhere. Here's a few photos of him. He is quite a fellow.

LOOKBOOK.nu

Not just another fashion website. This is such a cool one! It's just random people sending in photo's of themselves in their amazing clothes! Very inspirational. Just type in a word of what you're looking for like vintage cardigan or flannel shirts and pages and pages of people wearing these pieces come up and sometimes you see where they get them.

Or you can just browse through the pages and find things you like!
Here's a few of ones I found that I really like;

Listening to...

Today I'm listening to Alice in Chains - Dirt, especially the song Dam That River. This was written because Sean Kinney and Jerry had a fight and Jerry wrote it as revenge. Dont worry, they made up obviously. I love the heavy,heavy guitar at the start. It's deep maaan.

"Oh, you couldn't dam that river...and maybe I don't give a damn anyway."

It's hard not to love The Vaselines.

... Listening to Jesus Doesn't Want Me For A Sunbeam on Nirvana Unplugged, Kurt said it was by the Vaselines. He had mentioned them a lot before as his favourite song-writers and inspirations. So I decided to find out who these amazing people were!

Frances McKee & Eugene Kelly.

They are an alternative punk rock band, with pop vibes formed in Glasgow in 1986. I see why Nirvana loved to play their songs. They are incredible. Amazing songwriters and musicians. I've played the hell out of Dum-Dum, there's some really cute songs with a hard edge. I love listening to their EPs, especially Son of a Gun, which was their first release. It's a fun listen. I actually haven't properly listened to their new album Sex with an X, I'm too wrapped up in their old work. They played a lot of the songs from it when I saw them, and I was very impressed so I'm going to download that album later. I doubt I'll be disappointed!

So when they released their first album in nearly 20 years, I got a bit excited. It's a beautiful album. Then, I found out they were on tour and on their way to Ireland, to the Róisín Dubh pub in Galway city, which is an hour away from me. My mum also is into them after I made her a compilation CD for Christmas. We headed down to the Róisín last weekend to see them, and wow. What a great live band! They played their three classics; Son of a Gun, Molly's Lips and Jesus doesn't want me for a sunbeam. They played some other songs new and old, which I loved. There was just under 100 people there, it was a very intimate gig and it was amazing. Frances was making jokes but Eugene was quiet, focusing on his playing, which was perfect. I couldn't believe how they were so young and fresh sounding after being around for 20 years. Sure, they look a bit older but they're still rockin' out!

After the gig, Frances came out selling CD's and tshirts. I went over to talk to her and get a CD and she was the nicest woman, so genuine and kind. Not at all stuck-up. I told her I found the Vaselines through my favourite band, Nirvana. She was so lovely saying how her and the band have covered Lithium for an upcoming Nevermind tribute album for the 20th anniversary and how her own son says he prefers Nirvana's covers to the Vaselines! She signed a poster for me too. I left feeling that I'd seen something very important in the history of rock, The Vaselines and Nirvana themselves.

This video is from their gig in Cork, the night before I seen them. It's pretty much the same as the one I seen. I can't find any videos from the Galway one. I have some but it takes too long to upload!

1991: The Year Punk Broke

This is a documentary following my two favourite bands; Nirvana & Sonic Youth on tour in Europe in 1991 along with other bands; Babes in Toyland, Dinosuar Jnr, Gumball and the Ramones. 1991 is said to be the year when punk rock finally exploded into the mainstream, when it broke. This is before Smells Like Teen Spirit was released and Nirvana went from being an underground band to an international phenomenon.

The raw, DIY filming style makes it even better, just like a home-video. That means the quality isn't very good but that doesn't matter. It is sort of narrated by Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth. He does, like a lot the the alt, punk, grunge musicians at that time, mock the way the press are so serious about the explosion of punk and the 'Seattle Sound.' He says a lot of things that don't make any sense but is still pretty funny.

"People of the universe... tonight, tonight will be night that the skies will open and spray forth the divine hand with pointed finger and say, "Everybody, you're not just a duck! -- you are human! YOU ARE HUMAN!" Go forth! Go forth and thrash!"

"To me... I need this elixir of... skinhead violence" (When asked about his soup)

The Nirvana guys are pretty funny too, Dave especially. Take a look at the video clip from the film below. It's hilarious! Kurt is very quiet mostly, but that's the way he always is anyway. You just see the three guys, unknowingly fooling about, not knowing what is to come upon Nevermind's release.

Babes in Toyland rock it up too. There are some good shoots of them on stage. I love that band, they're great musicians. Also there was Dinosaur Jnr, The Ramones and Gumball which all did good shows.

Apparently the film is being released on DVD for it's 20th Anniversary on September 6th which is close to Neverminds 20th Anniversary deluxe CD/DVD release on September 24th. I'm going to get them both!

krist novoselic, pothead philosopher.

I always wondered what Krist had done with his life, post Nirvana. We all knew he was very politically aware, he mentioned it in numerous interviews when touring with Nirvana. I'll post one here in case you haven't see it, it's very funny.
I also found out he did a brilliant, really interesting blog on Seattle's Weekly Reverb from '07 to '10. I loved reading it.
He opened Nirvana: Taking Punk to the Masses at the Experience Music Project museum in Seattle, which I really want to go to before it ends in 2013! I will most likely have a panic attack upon entering!

Chili's release new single/album

I'm loving the chili's new song! Cow bell and all! Yeah it's not their best, but I wasn't expecting another Blood Sugar Sex Magik! Especially without John! They're going in a new direction with this Klinghoffer dude, for better or worse? I'll let you know when I come back from their concert. They're announcing their irish dates on Monday! I've butterflies in my stomach with anticipation!

Have we photosynthesized our breakfast today?

"In the end, we had the pieces of the puzzle, but no matter how we put them together, gaps remained, oddly shaped emptinesses mapped by what surrounded, like countries we couldn't name."

Sofia Coppola's debut film, Virgin Suicides is so visually inspirational. With a beautiful soundtrack and soft focus scenes this film is a must-see! One if my all-time favourites...