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Post by anaix3l on Feb 1, 2022 4:34:56 GMT -5
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Post by AeroCooper on Feb 1, 2022 6:29:43 GMT -5
^ Not a chance. Geography is definitely not my strong point. Honestly, I could get Canada, USA, Mexico (obviously), then India, Sri Lanka, Italy, and...I'm out.
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Post by anaix3l on Feb 11, 2022 12:57:57 GMT -5
A little rant. Kreator have been announced as headliners for Rockstadt Extreme Fest. My initial reaction? I was obviously super happy about it! Rock and metal festivals have been short-lived in Romania. Rockstadt is the only one that's strictly a music festival (not a part of a larger arts festival) and has made it past 5 editions. And they've had great lineups throughout all their years of existence. It's also held at the Râșnov Fortress, a beautiful medieval refuge castle on top of a hill. Râșnov is a little town close to Brașov, where I was born. So it all sounded perfect. A band dear to me coming to play in a place that's also dear to me. I instantly clicked the link and went to buy tickets. And that's when the string of nasty surprises started. First, the festival has grown to 5 days. Not quite in the freakish manner that Hellfest (7 days, 6 stages, well over 200 bands... which averages to over 30 bands a day) has, but still. The poster looks great, it's full of names I'd love to see. But from a practical standpoint... a 5 day festival ain't happening for me. Sure, the kid in me got excited seeing that poster. But I have to be realistic. Given my recent knee and back injuries, I don't have a snowflake's chance in Hell of physically getting through something of the kind. Plus, on some days it would be really hard to choose. Should I see Sacred Reich or Cattle Decapitation on the last day? They're on different stages at the same time. Now this also means a pretty sharp increase in price for the whole festival. Relative to the price for 2020, the current one has increased by almost 60% (and they've only added 1 day to the original 4), making it twice as expensive as Dynamo in Eindhoven (for which I bought a ticket last summer). Okay, fair is fair, Dynamo is only 2 days. In a much more expensive country, but eh... Still, as I said, I don't see myself physically lasting through a 5 day festival, so I thought let's just go for a day ticket now... Except there's no option to buy a day ticket on the website. A bit of digging around revealed two more unpleasant surprises. One, the price of day tickets has gone from 150 lei for the never happened 2020 edition to 250 lei this year. That's a 66% increase. Oh, well, that's the equivalent of 50€ and that's a pretty normal price to see Kreator and a handful of other bands. Two, the festival is not selling day tickets anymore. You can only buy them from a facebook group, IF somebody else decides to sell. I don't even have a facebook account. But just in case I somehow manage to get my hands on a ticket... when do they play? Uh, oh, after midnight. Do I still have transportation options to leave Râșnov at that hour? Um, are you kidding? In Romania?! What about 1 night accommodation? Well, the cheapest option costs about the same as I paid for a 4 star hotel in Innsbruck. And by the way, Innsbruck is expensive compared to most places I've been to. Cheapest accommodation in Râșnov looks like this: The place also has no reviews on booking.com My room in Innsbruck last summer: 4 star hotel, about 2 thousand reviews, averaging a rating somewhere between 8 and 9 out of 10. Which I personally found harsh, that room is a dream. I'd love to see concerts here. Fucking Hell, they're so rare anyway. Which is why this whole thing is terribly frustrating.
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Post by VoodooMedicineMan on Feb 11, 2022 21:35:15 GMT -5
Sounds like a trap. That's Transylvania, which is known for vampires and blood sucking bats. After midnight should raise even more suspicion. The event looks interesting, although I can't imagine doing multiple days. They are limiting it to 5000 passes in case Covid measures go into effect. It sounds like if you want a single day pass, you need a ticket for last years show, which you can then trade in for a one day pass. That process looks like it could be a hassle, so maybe people will look to sell them on the secondary market. www.rockstadtextremefest.com/2022/tickets/info/Good luck, and if you manage to get in be sure to wear a garlic necklace and brush up on your Castlevania skills beforehand.
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Post by anaix3l on Feb 11, 2022 22:45:27 GMT -5
I have seen that and, as mentioned in my post, a bit of digging through their social media revealed that if you want a day pass, you have to head to facebook and see if anyone is selling them there. Neither of which is my thing. I've never had a facebook account and I really don't want to make one. And I'm the same person who couldn't sell her extra Alice Cooper ticket a few years back. Not one who's good at finding and striking deals.
Also, I was born in the area. And my dad used to work at the cutting tools factory just down the road from the festival grounds. Brașov is literally some 15km away. It's just that transportation options are so shit those 15km are a problem. I mean, I have walked that distance back from venues after shows in Bucharest, it's not that big of a deal. But this is not 15km through a pretty flat city, it's 15km going up about 500m and then back down. Through the forest, where there are bears, wolves, poisonous snakes. Never mind the supernatural jokes, there are plenty of natural ways to die on that path, especially when you're an already injured animal. I'm still considering it in the back of my head, should be fine if I'm careful... And obviously in a better shape than for this past month. But I'd still need a day pass to attend.
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Post by VoodooMedicineMan on Feb 12, 2022 0:24:21 GMT -5
I feel the same way about Facebook, never had an account either. Actually no social media, just old fashioned message boards.
Do you ever drive anywhere or have access to a car? If not there must be some ride sharing options there. They've been pretty successful in other areas as alternatives traditional public transportation. I know you like the adventures, but that should cost less than a hotel and be safer than walking.
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Post by anaix3l on Feb 14, 2022 4:19:00 GMT -5
I don't have a car, haven't driven in forever and I probably shouldn't do it now anymore given I've been having these spikes of back pain that may make me lose control of my limbs for a few seconds when they happen.
And yes, I could ask someone, but to be honest, I'd rather risk meeting a bear than tell the humans that could come pick me up with a car that I'm going to this festival. Maybe this doesn't make much sense to people here, but I got so much shit throughout the years over my taste in music and over going to such concerts. I'm just not up for more. If I were to ask someone to pick me up, I know I'm going to hear nasty things about it all the way back. And for the next twenty years if I'm still alive...
I generally try to fly under the radar when it comes to this kind of stuff.
Nobody around me knows when I'm going to concerts. They might find out I'm going abroad right before I leave. Some trips they may not find out about at all.
If you saw my room, you couldn't tell I listen to this kind of music. Not without going through what's under the bed or in the back of my closet.
This is very relatable (and funny enough, the concert scenes in the video are from an actual Kreator concert)
Music is a very private matter.
At 2:43, notice the opaque plastic bag she puts her wristbands and band hoodie into. She later changes into concert attire and does her makeup in a hallway. I've been lucky enough to have more privacy, either living alone or having a hotel room all to myself. But I get it. I've often even been apprehensive about being on the street dressed like that.
It's better not to look the part at a concert than not to get there at all.
At my first concert ever (Whitesnake and Def Leppard), I wore one of my dad's shirts. Which funny enough, looked very much like the one Coverdale was wearing. Even funnier, he noticed and pointed out his wasn't buttoned up.
I wore either a blue shirt or an oversized blue sweater every single time I saw Motörhead.
I wore a pink Aristocats t-shirt when I saw Slayer.
I wore a Tom & Jerry cardigan at so, so many shows... Amon Amarth, Hammerfall, Amorphis and many, many more...
I went dressed as an Angus copy when I saw AC/DC.
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Post by VoodooMedicineMan on Feb 14, 2022 18:48:18 GMT -5
^ That makes sense, I can sort of relate. In my younger days it was easier to get a group of people together to go to concerts. Now I find it easier just to go alone. I've never gotten much grief over music but there's certain topics I find are best to keep to myself. I notice you complain about your back a lot. Have you tried a lower back brace to help stabilize it while it heals? I've had great luck with these things in the past when my lower back issues didn't clear after week or so.
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Post by anaix3l on Feb 24, 2022 15:28:46 GMT -5
^I haven't tried, but I have been considering it for a while. I'll look into it. In other news, today marks the 5th anniversary of Atonement ( gorgeous cover artwork as well). I discovered Immolation back in 2009 and they've grown into a pretty big obsession. They sound juuust right for me. As brutal as it gets, but not sacrificing anything on the altar of simply sounding brutal. Their songs have such a good flow musically.
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Post by anaix3l on Mar 2, 2022 7:04:56 GMT -5
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Post by anaix3l on Mar 8, 2022 1:29:27 GMT -5
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Post by anaix3l on Apr 4, 2022 14:34:04 GMT -5
Nothing can shatter your heart into a million pieces quite like losing work you've put a lot of effort into...
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Post by VoodooMedicineMan on Apr 4, 2022 16:25:49 GMT -5
Nothing can shatter your heart into a million pieces quite like losing work you've put a lot of effort into... Ugh, that stinks. What happened, did you physically lose something or computer issues? I think I've done this every way possible, multiple times. The worst was one time I was consolidating files from multiple computers onto a single external hard drive when I dropped it.
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Post by anaix3l on Apr 5, 2022 3:52:00 GMT -5
What happened, did you physically lose something or computer issues? I think I've done this every way possible, multiple times. The worst was one time I was consolidating files from multiple computers onto a single external hard drive when I dropped it. So I had been writing tech articles for this website. I started in early 2015 after the Malmsteen show in Bucharest was announced and redirecting all money I had for bills wasn't going to cut it, the show was at the Palace Hall, which is... well, just what the name suggests, the concert hall of an actual palace. Fancy-schmancy venue, all shows there are always very expensive. So I tried my best to get my shit together and somehow produce an article. I didn't manage to finish that in time to still catch a first row seat, but it was enough for second row. And then other articles followed. It wasn't paying a lot for all the work I was putting in, which was sometimes months for an article, but it was nice because it was a no bullshit thing. I wrote articles, I got paid and that was it. I could also update my articles myself whenever things changed. It was a much nicer experience than writing for more "professional" publications where I had to go through talking with a lot of people, none of which knew what I had discussed with the others and worse, sometimes made stupid assumptions that lead to problems I had to wait forever to get fixed... in one case literally a year. Writing has always been difficult for me. It was never something I was good at in school. Well, that could be said for humanities in general. So it took a lot to write an article, sometimes dropped some of them more or less temporarily. Earlier this year, the website got acquired by a big company. With all the shit that went on this year, I didn't think much of it, especially since they said not much would change. Yesterday, I logged back in. And... I cannot get to my about a dozen drafts, some of which were already massive, in the realm of 7K words and represented months of work, not just writing the words, but also research, creating demos and all that. I have no idea if they still exist, if they can be recovered somehow.
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Post by VoodooMedicineMan on Apr 5, 2022 9:15:57 GMT -5
You should contact them and explain your situation ASAP if you haven't already. It sounds like they are consolidating platforms and the drafts aren't going to make it over. If they are even semi-competent, they won't delete anything for at least 3 months. I'm sure other contributors are in the same boat as you. It may be a little bit of manual work for them so you'll probably get some pushback at first, but they should be able to retrieve everything.
Going forward, if you're not familiar with it, look into the free (15GB) version of Google Drive. The old versions were kind of clunky, but now it's just like a local directory that automatically syncs to cloud storage. It's a good place to copy any important work or source files for when crap like this happens or you have any type of hard drive failure. Plus it has version history if you ever need to revert a file back to a previous state.
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