the first concert this year i attended was the progressive power metal band symphony x concert in hamburg, on last wednesday. symphony x were supported by dreamscape and circus maximus, two prog metal bands. the opener dreamscape was ok, but i really didn’t like circus maximus – mainly because of their singer, though. always when i couldn’t hear him i liked the music. sorry, but i can’t do anything against this, but a wrong singer can ruin the whole thing for me…
well, finally, symphony x entered the stage. i’ve already seen them last year, as an opener for dream theater, but then, they just played 40 minutes there and the audience was more waiting for dream theater than being enthusiastic about symphony x. but well, this was the opposite this time. one of the two friends with have been with me in hamburg said that this was basically the best concert he’s ever witnessed, and i think he’s quite right about that :) there were few concerts i’ve attended which i think were better… and one could also see that the guys on the stage really liked the concert. and they played through the looking glass, which i really appreciated. thank you guys! :)
unfortunately, this time, the concert hall wasn’t really filled, there were maybe 500 people, and the hall would have fittet 1000. i really feel sorry for symphony x, because they deserve much more!

some more photos from today:

the barbwire picture is actually a 1:1 excerpt from the image generated by the camera. and the ivy picture is a downsampled version of a 3616 × 6368 panorama made out of five photos.

floating:

not floating:

can’t decide which is of more beauty…

today, the sun was shining bright, even though it was really cold outside. i decided to do a small trip. here are some impressions, taken in another nature protection area nearby:

actually, i was able to catch a bird flying high up in the sky with my telephoto lens:

i’ve got another toy:

well, it’s more a tool than a toy, and it’ll become an integral component of my daily life… at least, for the next three months. here are some close-ups:

feathery and fragile fingers reaching out, fumbling for something which isn’t there, not anymore. a scenery emblazed by glaring light, soon being drowned by utter darkness. melancholy hovering like leaves in the chilly air, seizing me. exposing me.

well. today i did my first outdoor tests with my new toy. here are some of the results, which i like .

landscape.

i took the following pictures in the nature protection area next to the place where i’m staying at the moment.

trees

i like trees, as some of you probably already noticed :)

university.

two views on the more beautiful part (which happens to be the part where mathematics and natural sciences are located) of the carl von ossietzky university oldenburg.

zoom.

besides trees, i also like my new telephoto lens.

today i stumbled about a song called gloomy sunday, originally composed by the hungarian pianist rezső seress. there are probably as many urban myths about this song, which is also known as the hungarian suicide song, as there are cover versions… i like the original lyrics the most; you can read them here (both the original hungarian version and a literal translation). reads like a typical doom song, just written around 50 years too early…
for me, it seems like a really strange idea to kill yourself because of listening to a song, and in particular, it seems really strange to blame a song for making people commit suicide. for me, it sounds like an excuse for not having to search for other reaons… maybe it was the last straw to tip people off, or suicideers decided to listen to it on or shortly before their suicide because it expresses their feelings.
but anyway. i’m somehow wondering whether a doom metal band has covered this one, too; the only metal band i found who did this is a german black metal act called negator; a video of a life performance can be seen at their homepage (don’t watch it if you don’t like black metal); they are performing sam m. lewis‘ english version of the song. i didn’t like it too much, first of all because i don’t think black metal fits here and, secondly, i’d prefer something more close to the original lyrics.

it is autumn and the leaves are falling
all love has died on earth
the wind is weeping with sorrowful tears
my heart will never hope for a new spring again
my tears and my sorrows are all in vain
people are heartless, greedy and wicked…

literal translation of the first stanza taken from phespirit.info.

just listened to ayreon‘s latest prog metal opera 01011001 (binary ascii representation of the letter y). it features, next to fifteen other singers, ex-the gathering singer anneke van giersbergen and katatonia‘s jonas renkse and also features, besides some other solos, a synth solo by keyboard virtuose derek sherinian, who also played with dream theater for a few years. featuring a story on loss of emotions and rediscovering, on messing with peoples destiny, of attempts to help which make everything worse, which lead to ultimate destruction. it’s a great story, with great music, and great vocalists. what else do you want?

“face the facts, there is no way back
arise, it’s time to act
face the facts, our future is black
arise, we’re on the wrong track”

from beneath the waves by ayreon.

just more or less finished a project. well, it’s done except actually receiving the last part (which i don’t have to do myself), putting everything in an envelope and sending it off. that feels really good.
and my todo-list is clearing up, too. just kicked out five organizational points i wrote down, and one i forgot to write down. this feels even better.
now it’s time to concentrate on getting some interesting things done :)