My Favourite Things

Here I’m going to list the things I love, like my favorite bands, video games, characters, etc. I can’t put on everything but I’ll try to cover the ones I love the most:

Bands

Lordi

This band means the world to me, my all time favorite. I would not be here writing anything on this blog if it weren’t for them. I love everything about them, from their image and catchy music to their sweet personalities even as monsters. They have helped me through a lot in my life when times were tough. There was a time that I went through a steep downward spiral in my late teen years and first year of college, and Lordi helped me get back on my feet. It was their music and the words of their frontman Mr. Lordi that inspired me to keep moving forward in spite of the situation.

Because of them, I found what I was meant to do outside my professional life: Be whatever I want to be, and do what makes me happy, as long as I do it for myself and not to please others. They also helped me broaden my horizons in the world of heavy metal and rock music. It is difficult to be a fan of them because they are practically unknown where I live, and they do not come here to play very often. I’ve had my ups and downs as a fan many times, I’ll even admit that I’ve cried over them, but all I needed to do was listen to their music and the tears would disappear. I have made many friends around the world because of them too. I cannot thank Lordi enough for being in my life and I hope that they know how much I love them.

KISS

Another band I love very much. The first that comes to mind when you think of bands with a strong visual image. They have a massive worldwide fanbase, a ton of merchandise, and over twenty studio albums. They’ve been around for forty years and even though I did not become a fan at the beginning, I am a devoted one who wishes to stay out of the drama. Love them or hate them, KISS is a band that helps me let go of my worries and cheer me up when I’m down. Every song they make is catchy enough to stay in your head for weeks.

Nightwish

The second Finnish band I began listening to shortly after I got into Lordi. This band also broadened my horizons in metal, most notably the genre it is within: symphonic metal. It goes and shows that metal can have some orchestral music combined with the traditional metal sound. I grew up listening to classical music and discovering a band like Nightwish just brought the nostalgia back in me at the times where I used to love listening to music with violin and piano as much as I enjoyed pop. Nightwish eventually led me to discover other bands within their genre and now symphonic metal still remains another one of my favorite metal genres today. They are still amazing despite having multiple changes in the vocalist and they were my first ever metal concert in 2012, so it’s no wonder they are still special to me today.

Sabaton

Power metal at its best. I discovered them after seeing them live with Nightwish in 2015. Since then I have been hooked. They won me over with their amazing sound, historical lyrics and catchy guitar solos. They’re the type of band that I must always crank up when I listen to them. I can feel confidence in myself again when I hear their music. They’re also funny guys and taught me many things in history that I did not learn in school. They inspire me to learn more of our past. Of all the bands I have discovered, Sabaton is the most memorable to me due to having had no previous exposure to their music until I saw them live, and right after a few songs I was already falling in love with the sound and was cheering and jumping eager for more. They have been my favourite power metal band ever since and they are definitely a band I cannot miss whenever they stop by!

Orden Ogan

A fantastic German metal band that combines elements of power, progressive and folk metal. They also have different themes for their albums too: Post-apocalyptic winter Earth, Wild West, etc. Six years ago, I thought I had already found the one band from Germany that had my heart, but Orden Ogan recently proved that to be wrong. I love these guys and their music is definitely unique when it comes to power metal, it can be fast and heavy but they always jump into catchy choruses that make me want to sing my heart out. They’re also very social with their fans worldwide, even funny to some degree, and some of them are geeks too! That’s a band I love all over; great music, adorable band members, and caring for all their fans near and far, even if they cannot tour everywhere.

Other bands/artists I listen to: Megadeth, Ghost, Within Temptation, Rob Zombie, Black Sabbath, GWAR, Motorhead, Motley Crue, Slipknot, Kamelot, Def Leppard, Disturbed, Epica, Delain, Hammerfall, Xandria, DragonForce, Powerwolf, and I also enjoy some pop singers, classical and soundtrack music.

Video Games

Mass Effect

I have loved science fiction since I was a little girl and come the summer of 2012 I discovered the universe of Mass Effect. I was immediately hooked and it was the first RPG game series that I would put serious commitment into playing. I love this series because it has such deep lore and diversity of alien species. Though you play as a human character, you lead a squad of teammates of different races and you can even have a romantic relationship with one of them. I have fallen in love with characters like the awkward turian bad boy but super sweet Garrus Vakarian; whom I always romance in the original Mass Effect trilogy. Then I am also head over heels for the emotional and affectionate Angara Jaal Ama Darav whom I romance in Andromeda. Every time I play this series, I always seem to get lost in the universe and play for large amounts of time when possible. I do not interact with the fandom much but when I lurk on the Internet and see other girls swooning over the aliens that you can romance, I no longer feel insecure about having crushes on alien characters like Garrus, Jaal, Thane, etc. I love the entire series, the original trilogy and Andromeda as a whole. This series couldn’t have more than what I love the most in any sci-fi video game series. I always like to give my Shepard or Ryder my name and make her look like me even if her first name is never said by NPCs in-game. When she has those traits, I feel like I am transported into the vast universe of Mass Effect like it is almost real. That’s the sort of connection you can get in any RPG game when you make your character resemble you, especially in Mass Effect.

Dragon Age

Another creation by BioWare. If there is another genre I love just as much as sci-fi, it’s fantasy. I’ve had my fair share of playing games like Skyrim, but I’ve always loved stories with deep lore when it comes to fantasy, and Dragon Age was a hit for me. I first discovered the trilogy a few years back when the third game was released and debated for years if I wanted to play it. I finally sat down to do so in the fall of 2017 and just like Mass Effect, it was another series I was deeply committed to. This time you can choose your race, your companions’ feelings towards you can change based on the decisions you make, and Thedas is a beautiful place to be.

Once again, you can also pursue a romantic relationship with one of your companions, and so far I’ve fallen for the Iron Bull; the badass Qunari mercenary. Due to this, I am a big fan of the Qunari, even if their society is very strict. I also have a crush on Sten from the first game and the Arishok in the second, but you can’t romance them! It’s also very easy for me to get engrossed in this series and play for hours. Sometimes after I finish one of the games, I’m already planning a character build for my next playthrough! The first game is like a horror story, the second is more along the lines of war, and the third is an epic action story like Game of Thrones. If I could live anywhere in Thedas, it would be somewhere in Orlais, it’s such an elegant place. I didn’t think I wanted to get into this trilogy but now I’m glad I did because now, I can’t get enough of it. It’s my new favourite fantasy universe in the world of video games.

Pokemon

These games were my childhood, and though I have not played through all of the ones shown in the picture, this is another series that I would, and still do from time to time, put a lot of hours into. I have played many different Nintendo games but Pokemon was the one that has been with me the longest. I started in elementary school playing the original Ruby on GBA, and then I expanded to Pearl, Platinum, SoulSilver, White, Black 2, X, Omega Ruby, and Moon. I have beaten all those games at least once. By beaten I meant like at least defeated the League!

I have had so many memories of playing Pokemon growing up; I would trade with one of my friends a lot and we would build legendary parties. I would sometimes kill time by running around the region even if there was nothing else to do. Lately, I feel like, with the recent games, I am finding less and less to do in the game since everything is starting to require online participation which has never been my thing as a gamer. But, still, Pokemon remains to be something I always love to play and continue forward in no matter how many new things they add. Even if there comes a time when the franchise starts making games that don’t appeal to me, I will still remain a proud Trainer and play the games I own and relive those memories.

Halo

The first shooter game series that took up in my teen years well before I had reached the appropriate age in the ratings to play it! No worries, I know many players started before they were 17! This game series is unusual for me to be writing here because the truth is, I’m not highly skilled at it; knowing the Halo community it’s not long before you are surrounded by competitive players who have high skills and have beaten these games on Legendary. I have done neither of those things because I’m one of those niche players who cares more about the story than my rank, KD, or achievements.

It’s challenging being a fan, not just because I care about the lore, but also because the parts of the lore I care about, are not the main focus of the franchise. I like the Covenant; most notably the Sangheili (or Elites as most people call them) and the Forerunners. The vast majority of the fandom prefers the human military the UNSC and the Spartans. Of course, I like Master Chief and his story as much as any fan does but I’m mainly there for the aliens. The franchise eventually went in a direction with the story and development that I disagreed with and I have not played ever since, but that doesn’t mean I’ll still play the Halo games that I enjoyed: Halo 1 – 4. I wish that this franchise would make games to explore other parts of its vast universe such as different species but unfortunately, I can only live that through the books.

Gears of War

A shooter series that I discovered not long after getting into Halo. I’m proud to say that these games are ones that I turn to play not just because I enjoy the story and the games in general, but also for anger management! If you know how satisfying it can feel to chainsaw an enemy or stomp on its head, then we have something in common. Whether you’re playing because you feel like it, or you need to release your anger without harming someone in, this is a trilogy for you. I’d rather kill some grubs than lash out at innocent strangers on the Internet if I’m in a bad mood.

Aside from that, I love the story, and I’d say that the second game was the strongest in terms of that. Playing through these games is like watching a movie, there are many parts that get you really emotional, and for some reason, I cried more over when Dom found his wife Maria in the second game rather than when he sacrifices himself in the third. I’d also say that the first one was unusually the most challenging to play through. Nevertheless, I enjoy these games and their gory action and to be honest they shouldn’t have made a fourth, but that’s just me.

Darksiders

This series has everything I love in it: cool characters, demons, angels, monsters, great soundtracks, and boss fights…I could go on forever! I love Darksiders and the whole story about the Four Horsemen fighting to maintain what they call Balance under orders of the Charred Council to ensure Heaven and Hell maintain peace between one another. This is especially true once the Third Kingdom of Man enters the universe.

Everything in this game’s universe is all based on what you’d find in the Bible and under the Creator. There’s nothing more fun than playing as one of the Horsemen and killing enemies with their signature weapons while listening to their awesome voices. Oh yeah, that’s right, the voice-acting in these games is fantastic; we’re talking Liam O’Brien, Michael Wincott and Phil LaMarr here. The games can be challenging at times, especially with things like dungeons and puzzles but in the end, it’s all worth it because it’s also hack and slash combat with is my favourite type of combat in video games. War is my favourite Horseman, but I love the other three just as much.

Other games I like to play: Super Smash Bros, Slime Rancher, any Transformers games, the Spyro trilogy, Sims, Plants vs. Zombies, various Star Wars and Resident Evil games, The Elder Scrolls, Detroit Become Human, Hellblade, Cat Quest, The Witcher trilogy, Stardew Valley, Hollow Knight, Animal Crossing, certain games in the Mario series, Alien vs. Predator, DOOM, Disney Dreamlight Valley, Little Nightmares, Horizon, Subnautica,

Movies: Dark Floors, Star Wars, Pacific Rim, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Detroit Rock City, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Wonder Woman, Transformers, Gone with the Wind, Les Miserables, Pirates of the Caribbean, Out of Africa, Alien series,

TV series: Game of Thrones, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Transformers: Prime, Transformers Generation 1, Star Trek, Chaotic, Bakugan, Atomic Betty, Wedding Peach, Spider Riders, Totally Spies, The Good Doctor, Frontier, Station 19, His Dark Materials, Anne with an E, The Witcher

Books: The Glass Castle, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Dragonlance, A Song of Ice and Fire, Halo the Forerunner Saga, Gone with the Wind, Elsewhere, Tuck Everlasting, Broken Circle, Shadow of Intent, Seven Realms series, Harry Potter, His Dark Materials trilogy, various Mass Effect and Dragon Age books, anything by Lovecraft, The Princess Diaries, Abomination Vault, Fruits Basket, Ella Enchanted, The Two Princesses of Bamarre, Uglies series, autobiographies of my favourite musicians,