Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Forest Lair Plans For 2015



Here is a list of posts that will most likely appear here soon (actually, considering my laziness, you shouldn't trust these “most likely” and “soon” though...^^)

Zoo photo hunt
Postcards & magnets
Video games live
Hobbits, swamps and dogs
A warrior llama
Fanart for N.K. Jemisin's novel
Review of World Maker by exist†trace
My new arm warmers

...and a lot of other things, I guess I'll have to post every day. :D

Also, I want to read so many books next year! Like Ancillary Sword, The Kingdom of Gods, Noriko Ogiwara's fantasy novels, The Shadowed Sun, The Slynx, Norwegian Wood, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, The Mirror Empire, Childhood's End, The Fifth Season, Lagoon, more Sailor Moon, more manga in general, some steampunk, Agatha Christie, Octavia Butler... Damn, where will I find enough time?!

What are your plans for 2015? ^o^

Monday, December 29, 2014

Art: Agnia's Winter


My friend Agnia wrote to me the other day, “Lately I just wanna grab a cat, get under blanket and spend this winter like that, with Placebo and coffee.” 

Well, of course I had to draw this*. (^-^)ノ


I was listening to the most appropriate music when working on this drawing.

Friday, December 26, 2014

Keiju, the Unusual Hedgehog



Our hedgehog Keiju is unusual. Normally Finnish hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus) hibernate from autumn to Vappu in May, but this one wakes up around Christmas to enjoy delicious festive food.

Before that she will be sleeping in all sort of places.

Saturday, December 20, 2014

Russian chocolate


When sweet hobbits* agreed to meet my mom in Moscow and bring a package from her to Finland, I asked her not to buy too many sweets**. “Just one chocolate block is enough.” But my mom's memory is very selective, it seems, because apparently she only remembered “buy chocolate”. :D Here is her idea of “one chocolate.”

Sunday, December 7, 2014

Villa Elfvik & Hazelnut Coffee



Today there was a Christmas market in Villa Elfvik, one of my favourite places in Espoo. They were selling local organic food and many cuuuute decorations. It was so crowded! And we ate cakes. :D

Thursday, December 4, 2014

In Which I Promote Rurousha, Again


Today I'm gonna show you the funny side of Rurousha (I've shown the fluffy side here earlier). Since Ru makes me chuckle and ROFL all the time, I decided to make you suffer the same fate. :D

Here we go!

Rurousha loves trees.

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Books I read in November: boxing, space opera and hamsters


November books are presented to you by Losik!

Boris Akunin “Любовник смерти” [Russia]
Thora Kerner, Jin Baron “Japania mangan avulla 1/2” (Japanisch für Manga-Fans) [Germany] 
Ann Leckie “Ancillary Justice” [USA] 
Suzanne van Rooyen “The Other Me” [South Africa, Finland] 
Tiitu Takalo “Kehä” [Finland] 
Nekota Medetai “Hamsteripäiväkirjat” vol. 4 (Hamster Club) [Japan] 
Arthur Conan Doyle “The Return of Sherlock Holmes” [UK] 
武内 直子 「美少女戦士セーラームーン」 vol.4 (Naoko Takeuchi “Sailor Moon” vol.4) [Japan] 
Marjane Satrapi “Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return” [Iran, France] 

Historical mystery novel by Boris Akunin. 
Thrilling even though I guessed the bad guy. :D

Saturday, November 29, 2014

Science Fiction & Fantasy Short Stories Online


Sometimes I like to read short stories. I don't do it often, because I prefer longer immersion into an untrodden book world, but short fiction is a great way to quickly read something and discover new authors (or even genres!). Here is a list of places where you can read science fiction and fantasy short stories.

Где можно почитать англоязычную фантастику и фэнтези (в основном рассказы, но и немного поэзии и комиксов):


Anything to add? Leave a comment below.

Update: a huge list here.

Thursday, November 27, 2014

Fanart: Mally's Puppies - わんわんの世界


Since it's not a secret that Mally really, REALLY likes dogs, I decided to draw her as a puppy for her birthday. And since it's not a secret that I really, REALLY like Mally, I ended up drawing six of them. :D Each puppy represents one of many styles of Mally. But, I'm sure there is some hair colour I missed. :D

The Wan Drums!*
お誕生日おめでとうございます!   \(^o^)/


And then I thought, how cute would such a puppy look at the drummer's seat? Can those short paws even reach anything? ^^

Monday, November 10, 2014

Saturday, November 8, 2014

No Pink For Boys?


This guy went trick-or-treating and three people refused him candy because he was wearing pink. Pink costume of loofah. People and their gender stereotypes are weird. :D



My plush raccoon Pirozhok (who is also a boy) wears a pink bow on his tail. And yeah, some people asked why pink, why a bow. “Isn't he a boy?!” WHAT.

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Monday, November 3, 2014

Look at all this book goodness



Library harvest time! Guess who is happy now? ;-)


Hamsteripäiväkirjat 4
by Nekota Medetai

Hamsters! God I love this manga about the cutest (and silliest) balls of fur who eat too much and frolic adorably.

Saturday, November 1, 2014

So What Do Vegans Eat?



Happy Vegan Day, everyone! (。・ω・。)ノ♡

World Vegan Day is celebrated on 1st of November. Great time to try something vegan, isn't it? Vegans are vegetarians who don't eat dairy and eggs, and so vegan food is 100% plant-based.

Many people become vegetarians because they love animals like this one. Oh wait...


Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Cutest Porcupine Ever


Via Morning Kindness ^.^

'Awwwwww' does not describe the level of cuteness which is about to unleash upon you, my gentle reader. Please watch these videos with caution – your high-pitched squee might break windows and other glass objects in your room.


Friday, October 17, 2014

Tomboys & DapperQ


Awesome writer Malinda Lo shared a link to DapperQ, and so I found Beauty and Happiness. Just look at all those stylish people!

Our Favorite Images of Feminine Gender-Benders (including Sigourney Weaver, Cate Blanchett, Emma Watson)
The 100 Most Stylish dapperQs 2014
The 100 Most Stylish dapperQs 2013

DapperQ
“Founded in January 2009, dapperQ is for anyone who wants to make any element of men’s style truly their own. It’s for all who have been discouraged — in a million and one subtle and not-so-subtle ways — from gleaning for self-expression from the rich and robust universe pioneered over centuries by dapper gents and today reflected in glossies such as GQ, Details and Vogue for Men.”

Friday, October 10, 2014

Saturday, October 4, 2014

World Animal Day



October 4 is World Animal Day! To celebrate it I'm sharing our photos from the Moscow zoo. They were taken in October 2008 when I still lived in Russia.
4 октября - Всемирный день защиты животных! По этому поводу делюсь фотографиями из Московского зоопарка, сделанными в октябре 2008, когда я ещё жила в России.

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

What I read in September



A very manga month. :-)

Mei Noguchi “Finlandia” vol 1 [Japan]
Mei Noguchi “Finlandia” vol 2 [Japan]
Ai Yazawa “Paradise Kiss” vol.3 [Japan]
Ai Yazawa “Paradise Kiss” vol.4 [Japan]
Ai Yazawa “Paradise Kiss” vol.5 [Japan]
Marjane Satrapi “Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood” [Iran, France]
Meet the Somalis: The illustrated stories of Somalis in seven cities in Europe [Somalia, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, UK]
あずまきよひこ よつばと!2 (Kiyohiko Azuma Yotsuba&!” vol. 2) [Japan]
Andi Watson “The Complete Geisha” [UK]
Elizabeth Bear “Shoggoths in bloom” [USA]
Tatyana Tolstaya Зверотур” [Russia]
武内 直子 『美少女戦士セーラームーン』 vol.3 (Naoko Takeuchi “Sailor Moon” vol.3) [Japan]

A Japanese girl moves to Finland to become Joulupukki's assistant.

Sunday, September 28, 2014

Done!

Yay, I finished reading the third volume of Sailor Moon! ^.^ It only took three months. :D
Уряя, я дочитала третий том Сейлор-Мун! ^.^ Всего-то три месяца ушло, хы.

Friday, September 26, 2014

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Saturday, September 6, 2014

That's a lot of fantasy



Today is the Sweet Day, aka getting the books I ordered from post. Pirozhok the Raccoon helped carry them.


Oh my pretty babies, you are home now. Enjoy our bookshelves.
Note to self: Must buy more bookshelves.

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Books I read in August



Hello, ten readers of this blog! ^.^ It's my monthly reading post again. In August I read an Egyptian author for the first time, lots of Korean and Japanese manga and some other things.

The books are presented to you by the Softy Dinosaurs!

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Music Teleport Into Asian Landscapes


How about some travelling with me? Let's teleport through the musical gates of these wonderful Asian bands to their motherlands. How many horses will you hear in their songs? ;-)

Hanggai (Beijing, China) – folk rock
(Saw them in Helsinki in 2013 – pure awesomeness!)


Tengger Cavalry (Beijing, China) – folk metal, black metal

Friday, August 22, 2014

Bookworm Problems



I had a great time in the library today. Usually there aren't many people there in the evenings, so I had a whole sofa for myself. I got four books: The Silkworm (finally! I loved The Cuckoo's Calling, now I can read its sequel), two books about Japan for research and a historical mystery novel by Boris Akunin.

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

In search of a song


My husband hummed a familiar tune the other day. Something I heard in an old Soviet cartoon that he didn't watch. I said, “How do you know this Russian song?” But he swore it wasn't Russian and played me this:


But! That's what I heard in the cartoon “Nu, pogodi” (jump to 2:33) in childhood:

Sunday, August 3, 2014

Books I read in July



I want to read books from all sorts of countries, not just Europe (so far it's mostly been Finland, UK and Russia), USA and Japan, so from now on I'll be paying attention to where the author is from. In July I read Caribbean, Irish and Korean writers for the first time!

This month, the books are introduced to you by the Trio of Curious Lizards!

My July Reading

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

A Very Asian Day


Somehow today was very Asian. First, we had a lunch in a Chinese restaurant.

Mandarin Palace in Sello

Then I returned these books to the library: 

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Fan Art: Atsushi Sakurai


I rarely draw men, because it's harder for me, but sometimes I still try, and here is one of my recent attempts.

Atsushi Sakurai, Buck-Tick's vocalist.

Friday, July 25, 2014

It's Here! It's Here!


Yay, my exist†trace fan club card has finally arrived!
やった!exist†traceのファンクラブカードが届いた!

Sailor Jupiter approves!
「すごいです!」

Saturday, July 19, 2014

Igu Day Fanart


Today is 19th which means it's exist†trace's day! Their name is pronounced as igujisuto toreisu in Japanese, and “igu” sounds like 19. ;-)

今日はイグの日です!

I wanted to portray how the band looks like in their video comments. Usually two of them are normal, two are sleeping and one is hyper. (*^▽^*)

miko is holding Cheburashka, the unofficial band member.
Will we ever hear Cheburashka's back vocals?

Lots of hyperness here.

Sunday, July 13, 2014

Fanart: Diamond Warrior Mally


It's fanart time again! (^o^)

I imagined Mally, drummer of exist†trace, as a warrior in samurai-inspired armour, and here is the result.

exist†traceのダイヤモンド戦士


To be honest, I love the colours a lot.(^u^)

Friday, July 11, 2014

We play this, we play that

Sometimes it's hard to introduce someone to a new band, when their sound is so diverse that you don't know which song is The Song, the one that reflect the essence of the band the most. Some of my favourite bands are like that, switching from aggressive metal to soft ballads to pop-rock to something darker like it's no big deal. And the vocalists who can handle different styles of singing are the best!

I can't feature everyone here, sorry my dear Janne Da Arc, Dead Can Dance, Lacrimosa and many others. Only five bands tonight.

Nightwish (Finland)

Romanticide (vocals: Floor Jansen)

vs

Slow Love Slow (vocals: Anette Olzon)

Monday, July 7, 2014

Finnish dogs. Финские собаченции


Finns love dogs, there are lots of Canis everywhere I go. :-)
Любят финны собак, куда не пойдёшь везде псинки. :-)

Thursday, July 3, 2014

June Reading: LGBTQ



Because June was LGBTQ Pride Month, I only read books with queer characters. Here they are:

Wolf Kankare “Miska Pähkinä” (transgender)
Дарья Вильке «Шутовской колпак» (gay)
Arthur Conan Doyle “The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes” (asexual, aromantic)
Caitlín R. Kiernan “The Drowning Girl” (lesbian, transgender)
Joana Estrela “Propaganda” (everyone? ^^ you can get this comic book hereread a review here)
Alaya Dawn Johnson “The Summer Prince” (bisexual, polyamorous)
Julie Maroh “Blue is the Warmest Color” (lesbian, gay)
Laura Lam “Pantomime” (intersexual, bisexual, gay)

Watched in June: 
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