Alex J. Cavanaugh's GENRE FAVOURITES blogfest

It's time for another of Alex J. Cavanaugh's blogfests, and this time we're talking movies, music and books - our favourite genres in each. Plus we get to nominate a guilty pleasure for one of these categories. ;) Here are my favourite genres:

Movies

• Sci-fi/action combos - We just saw the remake of Total Recall, and although it had its bad sides (no Mars?!? No probe removed by nostril?) it was all in all a great remake. Also, I love the dystopian aspect of a lot of sci-fi, a.k.a. one of my fave movies of all time, Blade Runner.

Music

• Grunge/alt rock - This genre is definitely my main musical passion. When I first heard Nirvana's Nevermind, my life changed forever, and I haven't looked back. I love all sorts of other genres, and I have to say that probably my favourite genre after grunge/alt. rock is metal (particularly inspirational for dark stories, if you're listening to doom or gothic metal anyway), but at the heart of everything is and always will be my absolute love of grunge/alt. rock.

Books

• Fantasy - I guess this still has to be considered my favourite, because it's had such a massive impact on my life. Nowadays I don't read (or write) a whole heap of fantasy, having branched out into all sorts of other genres, but fantasy is still the genre that has had the greatest impact on me.

My Guilty Pleasure

• R&B/pop - I decided to go with a guilty pleasure in music, though honestly I'm not as embarrassed about it as I probably should be. R&B/pop isn't really that embarrassing, I don't think, but let me illustrate what I really mean by naming one artist that I love to pieces - Mariah Carey.

First Loves Blogfest

Today is the First Loves Blogfest, hosted by Alex J. Cavanaugh, in which a stack of people (imagine a stack of people...that'd be weird!) are participating. First off, here's the idea:

Today is the First Loves Blogfest! Your first movie, first music (song/band,) first book, and first person. Four loves, one blogfest!

And without further ado, here are my first loves!

Labyrinth

Aww yeah, baby. Still one of my favourites, this movie probably wasn't really the first one I ever loved as a kid, but it's the one I remember most fondly from those childhood days, and is arguably the one I've quoted most often from those days. I still refer to the Bog of Eternal Stench now and then. Plus, I loved the Labyrinth-inspired fan-fiction I found around the web in later days. There was some great stuff written out there! Did I mention I own the soundtrack on CD? Yeah, and it rocks. ;)

Nevermind

This was the album that changed my life, and it was the first CD I ever bought. Prior to this my favourite artist was Madonna, and don't get me wrong, I still love that lady (mostly her earlier stuff, but some stuff in the last 15 years has been decent too. hehe), but Nirvana's second album was the first album that had the kind of impact that saw my life changed forever. For that reason, it's got to be my first, most classic musical love. It didn't hurt that the guy I had a super crush on back in the days of this album was a huge Nirvana fan, either. ;) We had the odd bonding moment over this album. Ahhh, memories!

The Zagor Chronicles

This was the first fantasy (other than The Hobbit, which I also loved) I ever read, but the reason I chose it over The Hobbit was that it was a book series that had a huuuuuuuge impact on my life. This was the first book series where I decided, in no uncertain terms, that the ending hadn't actually happened, those characters had. not. died., and I was going to make damn sure they never did die, at least not in my imagination. This is where I did my first 'fan fiction' without really realising what I was doing. My best friend in high school read these books and loved them, and then I started. For us, a whole new world opened up as a result of reading these books. This was the series that firmly secured my devotion to the fantasy genre, and took me to some amazing places in my life (like, all over the world travelling, for example). Plus, check out the awesome cover art! The art was awe-inspiring on all four books.

He who shall not be named

The first person I actually loved for good reason (i.e. not just 'cause he was a famous rock star or some character in a book or movie, or some guy I went to school with but never spoke to) will remain nameless (and photographless) for the duration of this post. But let's just say that he was my first love and my first boyfriend, and he really was (and still is) a great guy! It didn't work out with us because of long distance, and to this day I still swear I will never be in a long distance relationship again. It kills lurve, man. But I have no regrets about this relationship and still look back on it fondly. I was very, very fortunate to have such an amazing person as my first love.

Thank you Alex for hosting this great blogfest!

April's book review: THIS IS A CALL

Because I swore I would post at least one book review per month this year, I'm using my spare Sunday during the A-Z to keep my promise to myself! The book I'm going to review was a present from my brother and his wife for Christmas (which Christmas? Yes, it was the most recent Chrismas...). I'm not much of a non-fiction reader, though I do believe in that saying, "Truth can be stranger than fiction", and I paraphrase. Anyway, I still start out by stating that, in my opinion, this book is not the kind you should read if you're not interested in music. Maybe you're interested in Dave Grohl, maybe you've got a little crush on the purported "nicest man in rock" (though the man himself disputes he's this ALL of the time)...but if you're wanting to read 400 pages all about Dave, this isn't the book for you. If, however, you love rock music and are interested in the history of certain genres in America (and elsewhere, for that matter), then you'll enjoy it.

The book has a great focus on the punk/hardcore scene of Washington D.C., since that's what Dave Grohl "grew" up on. It also touches on other areas like, naturally, grunge, and also the underground (or overground in the case of Metallica) metal scene. It does tell Dave's story, from humble beginnings to the monumental heights he's reached today. It also tells the Foo Fighters' story, and it was news to me that they've had such dramatic moments in that history. Back in the day, I would have known it all - as a teenager utterly obsessed with music, I knew every detail of my favourite rock stars' lives. Basically because I wanted to be part of their lives! Nowadays, I know a lot more about their music than their personal lives. I suppose that's healthier, right? Anyway...from this read I have gathered that, in spite of all he's gone through with his various bands, there's one thing Dave Grohl hasn't lost: his utter enthusiasm for life, for music, etc. This guy's gotta be just a little bit ADD, surely? ;)

I loved how the book ended, with that scene with Dave, Pat Smear and Krist Novoselic revisiting some "mouldy oldies". Oh, what I would have given to be in or near that room while that particular jam session was going on! Anyway, in conclusion this is a great read for anyone who's enthusiastic about music in general. Not just Dave Grohl. But it does help if you're interested in his story! And yes, Kurt is mentioned a lot. For other people, apparently this was a problem, but for me, who hasn't read any Nirvana or Kurt biographies (or hardly any biographies at all, really), it wasn't a bother at all. Even if it did remind me how sad the whole damn thing was.

R.I.P. Kurt, and long live Dave Grohl!

Music Spotlight & A-Z letter "N" - Nirvana (the band)

Well, I know I talked about Music in general last time, but I think it's only fitting I dedicate an entire post to Nirvana this time. This is a band that really did change my life, and I can't listen to any of their stuff without getting all nostalgic. Mostly it's the first album of theirs that I bought, Nevermind, that takes me back. It was the first CD I ever bought, and I had saved up for a fair while to get it. I was eleven years old when I bought it, and I didn't have a CD player, so I had to use my aunty's CD player to record it to tape. The tape I put it on was denoted by a shiny sticker (in those days I still bought a lot of stickers, the closest I probably ever got to being crafty. hehe) on one side.

I admit that one of my great influences in getting to like Nirvana was the guy I had a crush on in my last year of primary school. He was a huge fan of this album, and though I had already known and got to like "In Bloom", I think I can thank the crush's influence for me actually purchasing the album. Ha.

I also remember that I around the time I bought the album, Weird al Yankovic's version of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was out on all the music shows. That may even have been my first exposure to Nirvana. Of course, I prefer the original tune, but I do totally respec' Weird al's take on it. Especially the sheep. I loved the sheep.

Nirvana get a lot of flack for being completely and utterly overrated. And maybe they are. I don't particularly care about that. What I care about is the music, and what it means to me. Nirvana, for me, were the beginning of a dramatic change in my life. They led me to Silverchair (who were teased and called "Nirvana in Pyjamas" in their early days), who in turn led me to Helmet and Primus and Soundgarden and Alice in Chains and all sorts of other bands that are today amongst my favourites.

Nevermind reminds me of primary school. Bleach (Nirvana's first album) reminds me of high school. It also reminds me of video games. For the letter D I focused on Donkey Kong Country, my favourite video game of all time. Well, Bleach and in particular Incesticide remind me of other games, mostly the Mario All Stars game that I had on Super NES. Bleach also reminds me of being down south with my best friend and coming down with chicken pox. Yay? ;) In Utero is an album that has less nostalgic value, but still features some amazing songs. And I still remember the funny moment when my friends and I accidentally discovered the secret song. Over twenty minutes of silence, and then BOOM! Not what we'd expected at all. (I have the Nevermind singles box set too. There are a few great b-sides, including the beautiful "Marigold", sung by Dave Grohl.)

Anyway, I'm done talking about Nirvana and the major impact they had on my life. But I'm not done listening, or loving, this band. In closing I'll say that right now, Nirvana are at number 7 on my Last.fm overall charts. They've got 1,271 scrobbles, but of course that doesn't count the hours of listening I got done during primary and high school. If only I could go back and count up those listens. ;)

THANK THE LIGHT tomorrow is Sunday. Ha.