How Uni Life Influeced Me So Far

keep munchin' them brownies! hahaa

With the first year done and all grades received, I can discuss what major lessons this year has learnt me.

1. I became a bit more feminist. Not in a bad way (I don't think there is a bad feminism, but I might be wrong). I just took into consideration some gender-related issues (both in music and life) and became more aware of gender inequalities. This must be influenced by my essay research on female punk rockers who were subverting the dominant imagery of a female in both everyday life and music.

And being a feminist doesn't mean being all-naturalist, men hating bra burner. That's a stereotype, dear readers. I am just aware of inequalities, especially when it comes to music industry when people presume you are less skilled just because you are a female.

2. My tutors are my friends. It does sound odd, but they actually want to get along with you. Some of them can be grumpy at some point, but, they are AWESOME.

3. Marmite. It is a love or hate thing. But marmite on a toast with butter and mature English cheddar cheese is a ticket to heaven. 

4. "You're the first European I met who drinks so much tea. You're not only good in English, but you're also good at being English" my ex-flatmate once told me. This explains it all.

5. Chips with salt and vinegar. Chippies in Falmouth are amazing! I don't understand how people cannot like chips with salt and vinegar!

6. Midnight trips to library are awesome. The library on campus works 24/7, so if I'm bored I can go to the library and read the most random books I can find.

7. CORNISH PASTIES. pasties, pasties, pasties!!! The best thing ever. 

8. Creativity and weirdness is good. Being creative, weird and different is AWESOME!! Though it makes you feel lonely sometimes...

9. My English language has improved. Quite a few people said that. Haven't noticed the improvement though.

10. Student halls will hold a special place in my heart. Yep, the nostalgia, 3am fire drills and general student'ness.

11. Stereotypes are true. Especially about Eastern Europeans. Vodka shots taste like water to me. Enough said. haha

12. Jacket potatoes. With cheese and beans. Cheese first, please.

13. I've actually did good at uni this year. Four firsts and two 2:1s. NICE

14. Hanging out with mates. Guys, to be more precise. Less drama and more fun. Love hanging out with guys. 

I Literally CANNOT Get Enough Of This

I love this band. I Love the song. I love the video. I cannot get enough of them.
END OF THE STORY. 
Hard rock f*ck yeah!






Yeah buddy!
You've got one heck of a nerve
I ain't messing around here
You'll get what you deserve



KEEP ROCKIN' ON!
S. x

Abandoned Unfinished Building

Earlier this September I went to Siauliai, the same city that has abandoned fairground - the place I visited last  year. The main purpose of the journey was to see the abandoned unfinished building. My sister told me about it after her friend showed this place to her. She said she always comes here to meditate and clear her mind.
After seeing the whole site I completely agree with her. This place is outstanding! Although, none of us knows what this building was intended to be.

I took a lot of of photos and it was really hard to chose the best ones.

Happy b-day to me!

While my beloved British are celebrating the Queen’s diamond jubilee, I am celebrating my 18^th birthday. How awesome is that?

So, today I stepped into the adult world.

It’s some sort of tradition writing my a-la birthday post :D 

This birthday has been the best b-day so far! I received an amazing postcard from my sister which I will upload later :)

Here's the song that has been playing in my head for a while

Take care! 

Fuzz x

Abandoned Fairground

One of my favourite places in the world is this abandoned fairground in the middle of city Siauliai, Lithuania. It's very beautiful place which reminds us about the past which is still in present, and will always be.
My mother told me that there was a fairground like this in my hometown as well, but it was demolished as people needed metal for house-building. Too bad.

Here are some photos I took in late October, 2011:

Forbidden freedom: Rock music in the USSR and Soviet Lithuania (Part 5 of 5)

LITHUANIAN HARD ROCK

There were some bands who were playing hard rock. Here are some songs:

I really love the guitar riff of the song above which starts at 0:34. It is so catchy! 

By the way, I asked my dad how the things with rock music were in his eyes. He said that he knew one his classmate who was very artistic, played the guitar and was very good person. However, his parent's were drinking alcohol all the time and didn't take care of him. The teachers didn't like him, because he looked like a hippie. My dad also added that all the rock records they had owned back then were smuggled through the USSR customs.

What is more, I've found some old communistic newspapers which contained some articles about 'How Rock Music Makes People Destructive' and so on. I've also found a list of Lithuanian rock bands. I tried to find them on the internet, but there were no traces of them. Too bad that these musicians were forgotten.
Anyway, here's the photo of those magazines:

I'd love to quote the beginning of one article shown in the photo:

'Three broken chairs, one broken window and ten hours of music. This is how this article about the first  hard rock festival 'Hard express-88' in Kaisiadoriai cultural centre should be called'

A MOVIE WORTH THOUSAND WORDS
Back in 1990, Lithuanian film makers released a movie, called Kids From Hotel America. It's about the hard way of rock music in Soviet Lithuania, it shows how hard things were, shows the cruel reality. This movie has English subtitles. Well they aren't that good, but the meaning you will understand. In this movie there are some true facts, for example the man who burned himself was Romas Kalanta

CONCLUSION AND THE END OF SERIES

I had an idea about these posts a long time ago. While I was writing this post and searching for even more information, I started to feel proud that I'm Lithuanian because back then Lithuanians were very eager for freedom, they were all together in bringing forbidden rock music to our country. They didn't care about the penalties, limitations and other stuff. They wanted to be themselves by breaking long lasting Soviet system and laws. They were all dreamers of better life...

Hope you liked these series. I've learnt a lot about my own country. It's strange how people seem to forget this period of time.

But look what we've become. Popculture set its roots very deeply into peoples' lives. Any other different type or style of music, doesn't matter if it's new or very intellectual, if will be forgotten without ability to be heard in public...

Even in 1969 Lithuanians knew what NME is. And now… nobody knows, except those who are interested in British indie or alternative rock music… Those who want to change the rotten order of Lithuania...

Just look what Lithuania has become now: a country of loss and desperation….

Maybe this sounded pessimistic, but I am writing what I personally think.

The End

UFO Found Under The Baltic Sea?

Thanks to my good friend for telling me about this thing. AT LEAST! Something weird is happening near my country! So, this is how it all begun:

Swedish expedition who was searching for sunken ships under the Baltic sea had discovered mysterious object reaching 18 meters in diameter (about 59 ft) . However, the explorers are not willing to find out what this mysterious thing is.

Swedish explorers found weird object on the bottom of the Baltic sea. Photo made
by underwater sonar.

„The Ocean Explorer“ crew earned several million dollars after success in 1997 when they had discovered old traders' ship Jonkoping. Inside the ship old goods dating back in 1907 were found as well as bottles of wine, which costed about £ 7700 for each. This successful expedition made the Peter Lindberg, the captain of crew, to continue his research of Baltic sea.

A lot of details P. Lindberg still hadn't revealed yet. The only clues are published photos and loads of theories about the object.

Ones think this might be underground bomb, others consider it as some sea plants.

"A huge round-shaped object 18 meters in diameter was found in the Baltic sea in 87 meters deep [about 286 ft.] between Sweden and Finland." This announcement was made for local press.

The object remains unidentified.

P. Lindberg also said that there were 300 meters long tracks (about 990 ft.) leading to the object. According to the explorers there was a possibility that the object might be moving somewhere in the past.

Sadly, P. Lindberg told that he's not going to investigate the finding as "This is not what they've been searching for. We cannot spend the money only because we want to see it closely. Even if there would be new Stonehenge. We leave others to decide what this could be."

Hope you enjoyed this post!
Fuzz

Sci-fi in soviet era. Part five (the lost piece)

YES! I accidentally found one part of the legendary (at least for me) series of soviet Lithuanian comics about Gama planet. I found this goodie with other old stuff: old documents and stuff (spoilers! I'll post them here later).
When I read this I was like "OK. What the hell?" These where known to me for being sort of strange, you know... I think it is plausible that there were some comics before this one.

Anyways, here's the comic and it's translation:

"ACCIDENT IN GAMA"
Scenario by V. Mikailionis
Picture by V. Jakstas

'We used Selena's fuel tanks for the first settlements.' [Selena is the spaceship]
'These little ones have already learnt twenty two words. They will be the first grammarians of fen.' [I think 'fen' are the race of aliens]
'What's there, Soli?' 'It's the Big Five-Fingered Mother Goddess, which is me.'
'Captain, Akira is old. After half of a year a good mathematician will be needed for fen. I am sorry, I cannot return to the Earth.'
'Captain, Gedas is out of his mind' 'Maybe he's ill?' 'Or maybe he's fallen in love with Soli?'
'Regas is in danger!'
'Soli, stay!' 'No, I'm coming with you!'
'Akira, Why Soli is so worried?' 'She loves Regas.'


So this is it! The end. Sort of...
Anyway, have a great day!x Fuzz

Forbidden freedom: Rock music in the USSR and Soviet Lithuania (Part 4 of 5)

LITHUANIAN ROCK BANDS, ILLEGAL ROCK FESTIVALS AND ROCK CLUBS

“March of Rock over Lithuania” wasn’t the only festival in Soviet Lithuania. “Lituanica” was famous and very important festival as well. It was held in 1987-1988 in Vilnius and Kaunas.

On 7^th-8^th of March a new rock club in Vilnius was opened. This was very important event; to celebrate it, a brochure about the club was released. There was a lot of information about various bands and concerts as well.

On the opening day of rock club in Vilnius, a lot of bands from many countries were playing.

According to the brochure, the first club of rock was stated in Leningrad (now: Saint Petersburg) in 1981. “Back in those days, everyone was arguing about the need of these clubs, but they all have proven to have the right to exist: musicians participate in concerts, communicate much more, rock musicians don’t feel homeless and needless – they finally felt as a part of cultural life.”

The first rock club in Kaunas was opened officially on 6^th February, 1987. On this year, rock club in Vilnius had already had 28 bands.

cover of the brochure

one page of the brochure

“Today we hear Lithuanian rock again. Started with “Kertukai” (Slashers), “Gintarėlių” (Ambers), “Antanėlių”, “Gėlių Vaikų” (Children of Flowers) and others; rock which was unallowed, oppressed with instructions and limitations, which was hiding in basements and attics, which was burning in our hearts and thoughts, which made rebirth...”
One interesting fact is that all Lithuanian rock bands' names were inspired by old mythological stories, creatures or by pagan gods.

Vocal-instrumental ensemble (the name "band" was forbidden to use in USSR) "Kertukai" (Slashers). They were the first guitar collective officially accepted In Lithuania (1967 )

Lullaby by Kertukai

Kęstutis Ignatavičius, frontman of band "Aitvarai" (Brownies), with
self-made guitar. At that time in Lithuania it was able to get only
seven-stringed guitars in Russian  style.  Musicians were  redoing
or even making own new guitars. (1967)

Nuogi Ant Sleksčio (naked on Treshold) performing. They made covers of  songs by The Doors, Black Sabbath, Emmerson Lake and Palmer, Deep Purple, etc. They were called as avant-garde rock keepers.

The Sun was a students’ cafeteria and rock club, established in one of hostels in students’ town, in front of Faculty of Automation. There popclub Smūtkeliai was organizing the first discotheques in Kaunas. In fact, those discotheques weren’t as people might think. There even weren’t any discotheques but for some reason people call them exactly like that. Actually, people there analyzed albums and listened to hard artrock, psychedelica and etc. Every evening had its own theme set. The head of discotheque told the history of the album itself, translated lyrics, and when the music started playing, it was allowed to dance. Finding petroleum in my town (which is absurdly impossible) was a lot of easier than getting a ticket to this discotheque. The selection of people was without any compromise. Only reliable and own people got a chance to get in…

a document of acceptance for popclub

This popclub was formed in autumn, 1969 and it was a perfect chance for youth in Soviet era to educate themselves musically. This club in faculty’s foyer publicized the top10 list of Radio Luxenbourg and top20 of NME (New Musical Express). Later, they started arranging discotheques in club The Sun. Shortly, these events caught attention of local hippies and avant-garde youth. This club gained more and more popularity; sometimes people from other towns and cities were attending discotheques. Sadly, The Sun was needed to be shut because national safety caught them in one meeting of hippies. Then, everyone shared out records and walked away on different ways…

We Will Meet Again by Gintarėliai (Ambers)

Mom and Dad Wonder by Gintarėliai (Ambers)

setlist of Gintaeėliai

cassette of Lithuanian punk-rock band Sa-Sa

Forbidden freedom: Rock music in the USSR and Soviet Lithuania (Part 3 of 5)

ROCK MUSIC AGAINST THE SOVIET SYSTEM

Katedra in one of Marches of rock, 1989

By years of “Perestroika” (literally: Restructuring. More info here) the bands started setting free from the claws of strict censorship. At that time, underground bands got an opportunity to show themselves in public, play their own songs, which had a lot of hidden messages and criticism for occupants of Soviet Union.

On 1987 Algirdas Kaušpėdas (the frontman of famous rock band “Antis” (“Duck”in English)) came up with idea to hold a tour of rock bands in Lithuania, called as “March of Rock over Lithuania”. The idea came right after success of his band on one of the most successful concert “Kažkas atsitiko” (“Something Happened”) in 1986 which was shot as a film with the same title and shown at cinemas. It was the first time when thousands of people were able to listen to the illegal underground rock music.

Some songs of "Antis" from successful and very famous movie "Kažkas atsitiko" (Something Happened). I remember listening to their songs when I was a child.

This band sneered down Soviet system, typical Soviet life and limitations through their lyrics (if you want, I'll translate the lyrics later). One of examples is the song called Alio, Alio (you can see some clues in the video, too). They shocked people of Soviet age with their Gothic and monstrous image

"Antis"

Next year, after success of the movie, the first “March of Rock” was held and many famous bands were participating this event. It is clear that it was the first experience for both – bands and audience. The idea that it should be not localized and traveling event succeed. New rock phenomenon gained attention even of those people who didn’t like rock music. These “Marches of Rock over Lithuania” encouraged youth to seek freedom of Lithuania. They all lasted until re-establishment of Lithuanian Independence. 

Back then, quoting Algirdas Kaušpėdas, “until then, nobody had made concerts and gigs in open areas or stadiums. We were absolute carriers of freedom. Even Sąjūdis [anticommunist independence movement] hasn’t been formed yet. Later, after it’s been formed, we took our PAZ [brand of soviet bus], raised Lithuania tricolor flags and went driving to villages. People there saw Lithuanian flag for the first time [the tricolor flag, national anthem and coat of arms have been banned by the USSR government until the re-establishment of Lithuanian Independence]. I remember, somewhere in Samogitia [Lithuanian region], an old woman dropped her buckets when she saw us.”

The band Bix, the same as Antis, was one of the main supporters of "Marches of Rock over Lithuania" (1988)

There were three “Marches of Rock” before the independence of Lithuania has been re-established. Every time in those concerts more and more people were talking about Lithuania’s aspiration of independence. In countries, occupied by the Soviet Union, this genre of music was a symbol of struggle against the system and occupant regime. It was a part of the “Singing Revolution”.

If you’re interested, here are the images of PAZ-672 buses (my town has 14 of them which are still in use)