Liebster Blog Award II

For the second time, I got the Liebster Blog Award – in this occasion, from Ducky ^^

If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you might remember my previous Liebster Blog Award post, but if you don’t, you can check it out here ;)

Anyway, if you’re too lazy to click on the link and you have no clue what this is about, here are the rules:

• Post 11 random facts about yourself
• Answer the 11 questions that the nominating blogger asked you
• Ask 11 questions to the bloggers that you nominate
• Nominate 11 new bloggers (they must have less than 200 followers) and link their blogs in your post
• Make sure you tell the bloggers that they've won!!!
  
  

Got it? So, here we go!

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Post 11 random facts about yourself

1. I’m currently obsessed with black and gold LOL

2. I’ve just turned 24, which means this is my third Year of the Snake! :D

3. I’m reading a 608 page book in German (it’s a Japanese book by Natsuo Kirino, which makes it even better) without using the dictionary. Surprisingly, I can even follow the plot! I can’t say I understand everything, but I definitely know what’s happening, which makes me extremely proud! I’ve read until page 331 so far ^^

4. The top 3 most played songs on my MP3 player right now are Babe, I’m Gonna Leave You by Led Zeppelin, Brotherhood Of Man by Motörhead and Problem Child by AC/DC.

5. The first band I ever saw live was Apocalyptica, back in 2005. They played in a relatively small venue (1000 people capacity), but they had a pretty awesome show, and their live performance was killer :D

6. I had my wildest experience with drugs at an Iron Maiden concert. People around me were smoking so much weed I got intoxicated. When I finally came out of there, I was completely disoriented. I couldn’t even find my parents’ car, which got me really frustrated. In that moment, I didn’t even understand what was going on. All I knew was reality wasn’t working quite the way it should LOL Thankfully, the effect wore off after a while, and I got back home safely.

7. I have a Washburn PS 1800 and I loooove it :D There’s no other guitar for me.

8. I’m a bit of a compulsive collector. I collect shampoos (I think I have more than 30 different shampoos in my bathroom right now! LOL) and nail polish. If it comes in different colours (or smells), I need to have them all! I also collect Sephora bathroom products, but I only buy one exemplar of each product at a time :P

 

9. I really love drawing, but I can never find the time to do it with as much dedication as I’d like >_<

10. I can’t wait for the new SimCity to come out *O*

11. I go to bed later and later every day. I keep trying to do something about it, but I just can’t go against my nature. Eventually, I’ll end up going to bed so late it will be ‘early’ again :P

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Answer the 11 questions that the nominating blogger asked you

1. Is there any Indie J Rock band you really like?

My knowledge of Japanese rock bands is limited to Dir En Grey, so I think not >_<

2. Tea is everything. So - which kind of tea is your favorite?

Earl Grey, probably ^^ I’m a fan of black tea, in general, and I also love a lot of different herbal infusions :P The thing that’s a little bit of a handicap for me is that I don’t like green tea T___T As a fan of Japanese culture, that makes me feel really embarrassed, but I just don’t like it :$

3. McDonald’s or Burger King? And why? :>

McDonald’s. I’ve never been to a Burger King, so I can’t really judge it (LOL), but, for some reason, my body always leads me back to the clown ^O^

4. Is there a Japanese street style you absolutely don't like?

I think not. I can find things I like in every style of Japanese street fashion I know. Even if there are many things I could never wear myself, I still love how they look on the people who do ^^ Probably, the style that connects less with me is gyaru, but I can’t say I dislike it :P

5. Which is / was your favorite subject at school?

Music! It was the one thing that always came easy to me. I never had problems doing homework (we didn’t get much homework, really :P), and I didn’t have to study for the exams. Plus, my music teacher sincerely appreciated me, which was something very rare. Unfortunately, we dedicated much less time to studying music than to other subjects >_<

6. Choose: One year without your favorite music or one year without your friends?

One year without my friends, totally. I see my friends very rarely, anyway, so I don’t think I would notice the difference (LOL).

7. Do you have a favorite movie? If so, which is your favourite?

I already talked about Terminator II the previous time, so I’ll say The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. Amazing movie, amazing soundtrack, amazing actors, amazing director. Probably the best film ever shot.

 

8. Is there any food you couldn't live without?

Popcorn! I eat popcorn ALL the time! *O*

9. Which book is the best you've read till now?

That’s hard to tell, but it’s probably Harry Potter. I read the first book when I was 12(?) and I’ve loved every Harry Potter book ever since :)

10. Is there anything you really want to achieve this year?

Finishing my demo! I really hope I’ll be able to make it!

11. Do you have a favourite TV series? If so, which is your favourite?

I have only three words to say: Sons Of Anarchy.

 

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Ask 11 questions to the bloggers that you nominate

For this, I’m going to reuse the questions I asked the last time, since nobody really got to answer them :P

Here they go:

1. Is there anything you want for Christmas (or your next birthday – whatever is nearer), but you know you are not going to receive?

2. If you had to describe your life with a music video, what would it be like?

3. What makes you go CRAZY?

4. If you had a huge, indecent amount of money and had to choose one single thing to spend it on, what would it be?

5. Which was the first record you ever bought? …And the last?

6. Do you usually look for a meaning in your dreams, or do you just think they’re random?

7. What’s the best Halloween/Carnival/whatever costume you’ve had?

8. What were you doing before I interrupted you with my impertinent questions? :P

9. Would you like to change your life in any way? If the answer is yes, tell us how!

10. What’s your biggest talent?

11. Who’s your biggest style icon?

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Nominate 11 new bloggers (they must have less than 200 followers) and link their blogs in your post

This is always the hardest part for me, because I don’t really know too many bloggers who have less than 200 followers >_< I could only come up with four, but it’s still better than the zero I proposed last time!

And the nominees are:

Tokyo Dreamer

Queen Of Mayhem

Crazy Mai

The Cou†ure Doll

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Well, this is it ^^

I’ll be back soon with more outfit & shopping posts, so stay tuned!

Black Death Mariachi

The Friday before last (that’s right – Friday 13) I attended a really curious event in a place called El Atelier de la Muerte Negra (something like The Black Death Workshop, translated to average English). It was basically a creepy nineteenth-century cabaret show/party (or, at least, that was the idea… LOL).

At first, it all seemed very intimidating. You had to send an application by e-mail so that they would allow you to be on the guest list. And there even was a dress code! The styles listed on the invitation were: “Paris Belle Époque, Dandyism, Victorian, Cabaret, Burlesque, Macabre, Black Widow, Bohemian, Elégance Noir… No jeans, no t-shirts”! I had never attended an event that had a dress code before, and, for one time in my life, I was afraid I might not be the coolest character around! (LOL)

I wasn't even familiar with some of those styles, but I DID know what ‘dandy’ means (:P), and one thing was for sure: this would be the ideal to take my Halloween skull out for a walk… :D

The first challenge was transforming my Halloween skull (which, I should remind you, was meant as a simple Halloween decoration) into a tie. I thought about using a chain with muskets at first, but I finally used a fake leather strap. I put it through the skull’s hitch (I twisted it a bit to make it shorter, so it would sit right in place) and tied it around my neck, just like a tie, on top of my black frilled shirt. The result was just perfect. It looked like my skull-tie had always been there! I was amazed… and proud of having created my own custom accessory ^^

When I added my black studded tail coat, my first impression was that I looked like some kind of gothic classical musician. I saw myself in the mirror and thought: “If I knew how play the cello, I could already send my application form for Apocalyptica :D”

However, I was still pantless, barefoot, and the worst of all: I still didn’t know what to put on my head.

I gave a chance to some of my gangster/dandy hats, but they all kept clashing with the nineteenth-century feel I wanted to give to this look. I desperately needed a black top hat (note to self: I still need one – LOL). I could have used a wide-brimmed hat too, but I didn’t have any either…

I got really stuck at this point.

I commented the situation with The Dude, and, after a while, she said: “What about a traditional Spanish hat?” A traditional Spanish hat?! I didn’t even remember we had one of those around! The idea sounded a little bizarre at first, but the hat looked just perfect! And it was way, way, way more nineteenth-century than any of my other hats. It took some hard sewing work to accommodate it on my head (the bastard kept falling off - LOL), but it was definitively worth it!

With my black velvet trousers on, I really looked like a nineteenth-century Mexican at this point... Like some kind of El Zorro (LOL). Of course, that was not a problem at all! The Mexican theme matched my skull tie perfectly – you know Mexicans really have a thing with the figure of Death (see the Santa Muerte cult)… And it was a great deal of Personal Jesus too!

I loved it :D

I was death on two legs; a ghost mariachi from Hell; the undertaker in some old spaghetti western movie; the ominous presence in a creepy masquerade…! (LOL)

I completed the outfit with my – already classic – dandy shoes, and I was ready to go :D

I had to deal with some El Zorro jokes and astonished looks from kids on my way to the venue. You know, it’s always funny to see regular guys dressed in jeans and plain T-shirts trying to mock the few of us who have the balls to do what we want. Why don’t you get a life, babes? ;)

Of course, at the place where we were going, it was the people in jeans and T-shirts who felt uncomfortable… As I should have suspected from the start, we were almost the only ones who respected the dress code. Aside from a couple of cabaret freaks and some regular goths, the most of the people were dressed in a quite normal fashion, so all my initial fears were over (LOL).

The cabaret numbers were rather short, and they were really spaced out. There was not a lot you could do in between… except taking pictures of the place – which we did profusely :)

We’ve been in love with this place since the first time we saw the entrance, more than one year ago. It looked so fascinating and mysterious (and displayed such an exquisite taste) we needed to know what was inside. This was, in fact, the only reason why we decided to attend the event, in the first place. And it was worth it!

(A couple of pics of the spectacular entrance we took back in February 2011)

However, taking pics of the place was a challenge at times, because it was all really, really crowded (which was great for the owners of the place, but bad for us). Plus, you had to stay REALLY tuned to know where the next performance was going to happen. It kind of reminded me of my experience camping before the Tokio Hotel concert: “The tourbus is about to come through that gate!” “OMG, no! It’s already here and they’ve come in through the other gate!” “Holy s**t! We have to run!!” (LOL)

At the end of the night, I was cold, tired and starving to death. We ended up roaming the streets, desperately looking for some hot food to put in my stomach… But that’s another story ;)

Shirt: MNG

Trousers: MNG

Tailcoat: second hand MNG

Shoes: Bata

Hat: Carnival atrezzo

Skull tie: custom