So, after nearly a decade at this site, LJ finally does something that makes me actually rage. No popcorn and laughing as the masses storm to news posts complaining, this time I'm actually worried.

A while back I was invited to help out with BETA testing new LJ services (I got this invite via lj_releases).

They have just announced BETA testing of a new friendslist.

LJ is planning on redoing everyone's friendslists in the style of the new comment page and update page. They want to copy tumblr and make your friendslist into a dashboard-like system page (infinite scrolling and all). It's also been renamed to "feed" (this I don't mind too much, though). In fact the whole dashboard idea with infinite scrolling wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the fact that everyone will be locked to one specific layout. The system style comment pages are bad enough, but now I'll have to strain my eyes reading my flist? That defeats the purpose of this entire site. The font, use of whitespace, oversized boxes and UI elements ... all contribute to making the page difficult to read, on a site where all you do is read. Aaaah. Even just the possibility of adjusting the font (style and size) would make this suggestion easier to swallow, but it's still not something I'd want for my journal. It would not improve my LJ experience in any way (in fact it would most likely make my daily LJ activities more time consuming).

Now, I wasn't able to make the BETA page display my own friendslist, so I apologise to the random users who are featured in the screenshot, but to give everyone an idea, the below image shows you what your friendslist probably will look like in a couple of months.


(Click for big)

[A couple of more screenshots]
I never switched over from Dystopia, so that adds to the weirdness. You're going to have to picture this with the standard LiveJournal drop down navigation + no blue sidebar to the left. Click the screenshots for bigger versions.

Top of page with links to journal, archive, profile


Example of text heavy post as displayed on friendslist


New buttons to the right replace the navigation strip. One tab for filters


One tab for Archive/Calendar, you can filter your feed to display posts from one specific date. These buttons follow along as you scroll down the page (infinite scrolling).



All friendslists will look the same.

Snippet from the locked post at lj_releases:

The friends page has been redesigned as a system page for all users, and is now available for Beta testers. There is a link at the top of your friends page allowing you to switch between the new and old versions, and will later go into public beta testing. You can switch back and forth between both versions throughout beta testing.

PUBLIC POST AT lj_releases ABOUT THE NEW FRIENDSLIST: http://lj-releases.livejournal.com/79480.html.

You can also see the proposed changes for yourself by enabling the BETA on your own journal (instructions from ruljautonews):

It's trivially easy to test beta features.
1) Go to lj_ru_beta and request to join.
2) Wait to get confirmation that you've been accepted into the community (this could take a few hours.)
3) Go to this page and choose Go To under Beta.
4) That's it, you're now testing the beta release. All site-scheme pages should now display a big "BETA BETA BETA BETA BETA BETA" in yellow letters across the top.
5) You could make comments in the lj_ru_beta post, but if you do please keep this in mind: the majority of commenters there don't speak English and if they do it's not their primary language. Machine translation of Russian is lousy. "My hovercraft is full of eels" lousy. While you can engage in basic dialogue and get a feel for what the other person is saying, don't get too hung up on anyone's phrasing.

You can easily switch back to the old version.

Make sure you let LJ know what you think of these proposed changes, I can't be the only one who thinks this is a horrible idea.

ETA: It's nice to see that I'm not the only one worried about the proposed changes, but please direct your feedback through the proper channels. This is a private journal, I have no affiliation with LJ. Please also be respectful when addressing the LJ staff. They are just doing their jobs. Thanks!

ETA2: Russian news post about the BETA test: http://lj-ru-beta.livejournal.com/7013.html

ETA3: Added more screenshots.

ETA4: Additional info at ruljautonews: http://ruljautonews.livejournal.com/27964.html

ETA5: An update on the new site scheme.

ETA6: Public beta has now been announced. Official announcement.

ETA7 (really?): RUSSIAN NEWS POSTS CONFIRM PAGINATION AND ABILITY TO CUSTOMIZE FONT AND BACKGROUND IN THE FUTURE, ruljautonews HAS MORE: http://ruljautonews.livejournal.com/28207.html

So, three weeks ago I went to see The Ark. Twice. Because they're breaking up. And they've been more or less a kind of a big deal to me for the past ten years. And they're BREAKING UP.

Both of the gigs were incredible - some of the best I've seen by them. They played a lot of songs I think I'd only heard live when I first saw them in 2002 (Laurel Wreath!! On both nights!!). I went through all kinds of emotions and was thoroughly entertained and then left feeling satisfied, empty, bittersweet, happy, sad & loved.

I'm sad they're breaking up, but sometimes it's the best decision for everyone, isn't it. I am hoping there will be some amazing comeback gigs in like five years from now, and have already started looking forward to them.

As per usual, I took photos. Here's the best of them! They're mainly of Ola, which always just kind of happens, but honestly, the spotlight's literally on him most of the time so it's actually difficult to take photos of anyone else when you're not exactly in the front row.

(the colours/contrast/brightness might be quite wonky on some of these. my monitor is very dim on purpose and i haven't looked at these on any other computers...)


THE ARK | TAVASTIA, HELSINKI | MARCH 3rd & 4th 2011



( fifteen more. they get a bit bigger if you click em.Collapse )

♥

just a few photos from ruisrock and flow festival, both of which were forever ago:

( Read more...Collapse )

i had all these tiny gig reviews thought out, too, but turns out i'm too lazy to type. ask if you care?

Super random and not relevant to anything, really:

Ten minutes ago I was planning on listening to Jay Reatard for the first time in my life because - while never listening to his music before - I've heard of it and thought it might be fitting for my current mood, but ended up opting for something completely different in the end, because moods, music, blah blah, you know how it goes.

Three minutes ago I read Jay Reatard has suddenly died today.

Not a ~~tragic celebrity death~~ story, but a true one and way too fucking creepy for me right now. :|

2007 | 2008 | 2009

Only counting the ones I saw for the first time.
Hover over for name and date - pictures link to IMDB.

( Read more...Collapse )

2007 | 2008 | 2009

Hover over for title, date and price.
Except that I failed to update this in timely fashion, so from Pop Levi from Liars' Sisterworld there might not be prices and there definitely won't be correct dates, but it's sometimes between the end of January and the end of May.

( Read more...Collapse )

year changed
how interesting
what a load of shit

i don't enjoy being told to look back ... or to look forward

"best albums of 2009" list coming in a few days, though i'm not much enjoying making that either. i've become one of those horrible people that don't get passionate about music (currently playing track aside) - by 2011 i expect to be only listening to adult alternative, radio nova and "pretty much everything, except for country and rap lolz".

-19°C (-2.2°F, if a random online converter with Comic Sans all over is reliable) outside. I'm supposed to be picking up my someone from the train station in a while, and I don't want to. :|

In other news, I found a full roll of film while cleaning the other day! They turned out to be Actionsampler shots from May(ish) 2008. Also included one from 2007 - that one I found while cleaning my computer.



( Read more...Collapse )

Share the love with our $10 holiday coupons! If you're a Paid or Permanent user, you can send up to 10 Basic or Plus users a $10 coupon to upgrade to a one year paid account.

Recipients can upgrade for $9.95 (instead of $19.95) for one year by enrolling in our automatic payment plan or make a manual payment of $15 (instead of $25). Please note that these coupons are not transferable and cannot be used to renew existing paid accounts.

So basically, if you don't have a paid account and would like to buy one, ask me and I'm happy to give you a coupon which gets you a $10 discount. :)

------

BOO to LJ for not having the Give More promotion this year, though! My extra userpics are running out, and I've used that promotion to get me (and someone else!) them for free for like two or three years now. Way to give xmas presents to free users only, Livejournal. >:|

It was a good gig. I wasn't overwhelmed by emotions (like I was the first time I saw him), which is what I'd been secretly hoping for, so in that way it was a bit of a let down. And when you think just how incredible a Patrick Wolf gig could be with a different set list etc, you're bound to get a little bitter, right?

However, he seemed to be in a pretty calm/mellow mood which was a relief - had he been bitchy I'd've been forced to call it quits with him forever, I think. He said he's happy to finally be in Finland, and that he was very happy backstage when he heard music (TV OFF opened) because on the plane he'd become nervous thinking all Finns listen to is heavy metal ...while burning catholic churches.

He also said the stupidest things, like "Stay Finnish. Stay amazing." and that we were a very "sexual crowd", I don't know... He promised to come back soon.

And he talked about kantele! He said he has two at home and he plays them a lot and he really wanted to take one with him but all their strings are snapped, haha.

I don't remember the set list, really. He started with The Childcatcher and Tristan, and that was sort of the high point of the gig for me - Childcatcher especially. Most of the songs that aren't my big favourites sort of worked live, though; for example Who Will. But I think I like The Sun Is Often Out more on the album, and The Stars is pretty bad anywhere - though I liked that one the first time I saw him, hmm.

In any case, while a set list of his designed by yours truly would be drastically different, it was entertaining and I'm happy I went. :)

( a few more shoddy photographsCollapse )

With the experience of nearly two episodes, I'm inclined to believe that GLEE has got to be one of the most annoying shows ever.

>:|

The characters are probably over-the-top on purpose, but I fucking hate them all, etc etc.

Also, did you know The Office's Oscar is actually almost 51 years old?
Also, I need new icons because I'm bored of most of my current ones but I don't want to make any myself and despite seeing gorgeous ones every day I don't want to use any of them.
Also, I can't be bothered to go to the grocery store.
Also, I love Project Runway Finland so fucking much.
Also, Patrick Wolf in one week. Hmm.
Also, STRESS.

(click the photo and then click "all sizes" to see a slightly larger version)

Flow Festival, August 14th-16th;
Frida Hyvönen, Pintandwefall, Le Corps Mince de Françoise, Joensuu 1685, Vampire Weekend, White Lies, Grace Jones, Handsome Furs, Lily Allen, Fever Ray



( ahahah, these are of horrid qualityCollapse )

-Tove Jansson

Why sleep when you can browse through your photo folders, spam your journal and listen to Muse out of all the bands in the world?

But really, I should find some of those old live bootlegs. :|