Ex.ua - the opinion of a soft furry goth fool

Ex.ua was the biggest file sharing resource in Ukraine, you could find anything there - from porn to cute cartoons and serious books. It's been shut down by the authorities who claim ex.ua was breaking copyright laws by distributing movies and music users could upload and share.

Ukrainians have split into 2 main groups - as usual. Some take it as a personal tragedy and loss of access to free movies and music, while the other part - mostly musicians and their managers - hate the 1st group and say it's time to start respecting copyrights and give musicians and other talents the money they deserve.

Orchidee the arrogant bitch isn't in any of these groups.

I regret losing such a resourse because it let me watch movies right on the net without downloading. I regret losing a site where I got books for useless classes, being able to read them at home with a cat on my laps instead of getting frozen in a huge and somehow depressing library. But this is a consequence and not the beginning.

A resource like that has reasons to have been so popular among Ukrainians. 

First of all - not all worldwide content-sharing services are available in Ukraine. Or using them is such a pain in the ass that it's better to have no music and no movies.

Secondly - unfortunately most people in this country don't earn enough to afford buying all content legally. It's sad to admit, but most families spend nearly all money on food and clothing. Especially those with kids. Especially those with more kids. It's not an issue to justify piracy, I'm just telling about the current state of Ukrainian economy and it's reflection in lives of mere mortals.Free downloads are the ONLY possible entertainment for many people out here.

What is more - ex.ua was just a fast and convenient service for free file sharing, and it worked with heavy ones. You know, it's sometimes necessary to share something huge as fast as possible - like sending a rock band all pics I've taken at their concert, or receiving a whole shoot from a photographer in order to choose pics for further post-production.


I've used ex.ua a lot and I support those who are furious about it's murder.

Coming to the other side, owned by those who produce copyrighted content - guys, I'd gladly pay you for all awesome things you create.
But not all services are available in Ukraine.
But it's a bit useless for me to buy a CD since I'm always on the run and listen to music in mp3 format. Buying it that way is nice, though all those bank card codes and ERRORS (that often happen with shitty Ukrainian banks) take TIME - sorry, I don't have much of it mostly. Sometimes I remember that I need new music 5 minutes before I jump out of home - there's only time to search and click "download".
But I don't have all possible types of cards and don't trust sms code payments. Again, it takes time. It's a crucial factor for me in most cases.

Some legal and "example-like" services work ass-backwards in a lousy CUNTry like Ukraine. I cannot use AppStore properly because my cards don't work with them. there are 2 ways: either install Jailbreak or: get a gift card, register a fake American account and use the code to buy apps and something on iTunes. I'm also not sure they have archives of ancient stuff that I have on the playlist. Sometimes we're obliged to cheat.

Legal sharing services convenient to use from developed countries aren't ready to be implemented in Ukraine. Or it's Ukraine that is not ready for them yet.


The solution? 
I respect those who understand that the internet is for porn is unlikely to be fully controlled, and who don't find it necessary.

Some musicians - yeah, you know whom I mean, but it's not only them who do this - legally spread their work over the interwebs. AND they make money. Both my live shows and CDs - if the product is good, many people become fans and find it a light version of a fetish to have the physical copy of their fave tracks. Same with movies. I had a friend who collected DVDs with horror films.

Some people provide different options of either payment or content download - like a shorter free download an an extended paid one.

I honestly don't understand the aggressive copyright-holding Ukrainians who spit poison all around because they want to make money on what they make. First of all - make good stuff and you'll find a way to get a reward. Secondly - keep in mind that things made with the purpose of making money aren't sold very well. And give people a right to choose! Some really cannot buy your content for a variety of reasons. Or you want to have fans of a certain social status only?

I don't really give a shit, even though in some meaning I'm a copyright owner too. I feel honored when my stuff is spread - I only hate it when someone claims it to have been created by them. LOL)) But I know ways to get rid of such scammers.

I'm just sick of aggressive Ukrainians who instantly started hating others just because those defend a pirate-content source. They don't want to understand and accept a variety of reasons and conditions. They just want to show their importance. I think it's stupid.

I'm sick. Gonna entertain myself by trying to buy a new Adrian von Ziegler CD.Hope my card will work and delivery will not take ages. :D

Ukrainian cosplay on Japanese TV

And lolitas, of course. One sweet day I woke up because of a phone call of Alexia, the girl responsible for cosplay shows at the Otobe festival. She invited me as a lolita for a Japanese TV crew who are making a program about Ukraine so that the Japanese would get to know what country (or CUNTry?) hosts this year's Euro.XDD At least something good from this championshiT that made our university force us to study on Saturdays. >___<

They wanted to talk to Mona, the winner of last year's Otobe lolitas contest, and Mokona, our leader. Unfortunately Mokona wasn't feeling well today, so Juri was there instead. :) And yesterday I was lucky to have  coffee with Vitaly, one of the responsible Otobe people - I've heard a lot about him, but didn't know personally, and it was him who was to guide us to the interview place. I felt blessed - not all smart and polite and nice guys have disappeared in Ukraine. I really enjoyed the evening.


Coming back to Japanese TV...I didn't know what to do with my freshly dyed hair and eventually decided to wear it loose under the bonnet. Hours of straightening... The girls loved the result, but I still don't find it even nice. Perfectly straight hair sometimes becomes my obsession.

I didn't have any special accessories, just put on my fave cameo, the new locket I bought last December, and 2 fave rings - gifts from Juri and Mokona. <3 Missing lower lashes have been replaced by separate ones - yeah, true hell to apply, but I managed to put a few of those little bitches along the fake lower lashline I drew. My sister from Mexico, Mary, sent me a nice way of doing lower lashes, and I followed the lashes pattern suggested there. ^^

No nice pics are available for now, I only made a blurry ghostly and masculine ipad shot while on the bus to the destination. :P

Mind that winter has come to Ukraine with hellishly frosty weather up to -27 degrees Celsius as they forecast. T__T Makeup gets cracked, eyelashes fall off, powder gathers in disgusting flakes and the nose gets the shade of an ape's ass.Hell yeah, this is Ukrainian winter.

Having come to the haunted-looking building - I hoped there would be ghosts, of course - everyone started to change/correct makeup/help ech other etc, while the TV crew were setting everything up.

We've been here ^^ Pic not mine, it's from the net

One of the Japanese from the crew is married to a Ukrainian, and they speak English at home. We answered the questions in Ukrainian and Russian, they will later translate the soundbites into Japanese.

Mona said that the style suits European girls too since it's based on images of European women of a certain era. Juri admitted that Japanese people are more polite than those here - I agree that they're unlikely to shout the words lolitas often hear from people here in Kyiv. I was asked about how I've come to the lolita style - told them that traditinal goth style turned out too adult and cruel for me, and that's not really what I am like inside.

And thank you Japanese people for being tolerate and understanding my jokes and signs! :D Having been   asked about age I used my usual answer: I'm old. I'm so old that cannot remember my age, and the documents have been lost with archives. (Now you now why I like Kerli's "Love Is Dead" music video that much ^^) The Japanese man said that I look good! These words warmed me up greatly, and

It's also been fun helping a stunning cosplayer to move in her outfit - it was long and the 3 lolitas were following her everywhere holding the folds and tails and beads so that she wouldn't wipe the floor. Hope that girl will soon come to the lolitas meetup. :)

Going home had been a small dance adventure today. Dirty dancing on ice with curse-singing. A great show, isn't it? XD And still I crawled to the nearby shop to get coffee and chocolate. :) About to go to bed now...

Have a nice day if you're awake, and sweet dreams if you're on the same side of Earth where I am. =))

Are Dutch and Russian alike? O_o

5 AM on the clock, and I'm still working. I love it :D
Translating an article written by Vlad the Dutch friend <3. The article is in English, but the author's native one is Dutch. I'm translating from English into Russian, and words of the latter perfectly fit the expressions Vlad used in his English.

English and Russian are completely different according to me. I'm rather fluent in both even though Russian sometimes challenges my brain. So it must be Vlad's thinking in the Dutch way represented in English expressions that matches the peculiarities of Russian language perfectly?

How I wish I could speak Dutch... At least I'd make this issue clear, now I'm just too curious. Does anyone of my followers speak both Dutch and Russian? ^___~

Or maybe it's just time for me to go to sleep?

Typing and drinking the night away. :)) Sorry for the crappy look, hikikomori mode on for these days, a dance class last evening and hair healing procedures that make roots insane. -___-

Are Russian and Dutch really alike?

Exams aren't scary when the teacher is good

Having another scary exam tomorrow - History of foreign journalism. I've always hated history, but the good thing is that this teacher is a cool one, and what he is focused on are interesting facts, not the dates. So I'll definitely try telling him about the court trouble Gutenberg the printing inventor got into, and about political use of humor in ancient Rome.

Got to study until morning - see how goth I am, I even study better at night, and can't do anything against this for now. =)) The bad news are that my eyes are failing, I currently have cute stars over all I see. XD Hope it's just because of constant stress these weeks.

Even though I'm gonna have a romantic and passionate night with historical personalities, I'll try to be a good blogger and a cute goth tomorrow. Visiting my grandparents after the exam, my cousin Anya will also come over - so I have no right to look like shit. :D
Unfortunately I can only post a photo of the left part of my face due to health issues. Hope the surgery I'm dreaming of will bring me back to the look of 2005...

Ok, the main thing for now is to try memorizing that text... Yeah, they first started printing on fabric in Europe, and then switched to paper... Wait! So printed brand dresses appeared before newspapers??? I think it explains why burando is that expensive!