The journey continues. Nightwish – Wishmaster

 

I couldn’t get into the flow of “Wishmaster” despite many sessions of listening and I was going to give up on the third album by Finnish maestros Nightwish but the music from this album kept on existing in my surroundings and I am glad it did as eventually it all clicked in and became one wonderful masterpiece where there is place for anger and fight, the same as for dreamy atmosphere and nostalgia.
The selection of songs and their mix among each other give the album this specific feel and can make you feel all ready to face the biggest evil in one moment to feeling very vulnerable in another.
There isn’t much energy going throughout but opening track “She is the Sin” or titled “Wishmaster” will give you some kicks of energy, while still keeping your soul within the realms of fairy tales and innocent dreaming that suits so well “A Dead Boy’s Poem” or “Come Cover Me”, pieces that are much calmer, slower and very on the edge of romantically induced coma, mainly thanks to Tarja’s vocals that wrap around you like a death wish.
“FantasMic” or “Wanderlust” are much more symphonical and almost mystic taking you to the edge of what is discoverable but not much further as to preserve what hides underneath the shadows.
“Wishmaster” isn’t the band’s best album but it is there in top of their creations, especially that it was produced early into the band’s existence it serves well as a stage of perhaps big town concert, teasing you with promise that the next time you’ll have to gather all of your energy to GI and visit a huge city full of lights and fireworks…
Providing you can gather yourself after the dark, hidden in deep woods story for children who are not so easily scared.

Cujo – Stephen King

 

I wasn’t very keen on taking “Cujo” by Stephen King off the library’s shelf. The whole book’s cover with that bit at the back wasn’t really selling the title and probably it didn’t do the best job at it as it wasn’t mentioning that the book will go deeper into the roots of love but let’s not get ahead out ourselves.
Cujo is a St. Bernard dog, a very calm, friendly and such a cuddly creature that it is hard not to pet him once you are near him. His owner, Joe, owns a car repair workshop and here the Trent’s family meet the big dog, which gets to love the little boy named Tad and vice versa.
One day Tad’s mum is put in a situation of needing to use the car but realising that something is wrong with it. As her husband left for some business she has no other choice than to take the car and little Tad to Joe to see if he can resolve the problem. It is awfully hot day and she hopes for a quick resolution.
Cujo on the other hand is not the same anymore and initially it is put down to the weather. What people don’t realise that the dog might carry rabies as not long ago it was bitten by a bat while it chased a rabbit to a hole in ground.
If not the rabies, perhaps Cujo became obsessed by a psychopathic policeman who murdered women in the town many years ago. King really leaves this to us but it is not the most important aspect of the book.
What occurs is, the huge dog, once a loving creature rapidly becomes a violent killing machine and we get the scenery now set with the blood driven dog against the few people around it and little Tad who the dog loved before the metamorphosis occurred.
As we get the “access” into Cujo’s head we can see what’s happening in his thinking processes and how the dig struggles between the feeling of love he once has to the boy and the need to kill every living creature…
The action takes place during one long hot day and Tax and his mum eventually get trapped in a choice of risking the death from the teeth of the dog or remaining in a car in a middle of nowhere with the heat and lack of any food and drink available…
While reading the “Cujo” I felt really thirsty as it seemed the hot day pictured in the book was somehow reaching me and I felt really alone not able to find a solution. It was a devastating experience for me as a dog lover because no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t picture this particular story to finish well and as I mentioned at the beginning the story was about how deep the love can be and in this book King captured it pretty well but I’ll leave it up to you to find out if the love wins against the forces of destruction…