Happy 78th birthday, Benny!

 Wishing the maestro himself, Benny Andersson, a very very happy 78th birthday! Grattis på födelsedagen!

Cat Plushies

 So many years ago, over a decade by now, I had the idea to make for myself custom ABBA cat plushies based off of the cats that Owe Sandstrom designed for Agnetha and Frida's cat dresses!  But as we know, I am a girl with procrastination tendencies and hyperfixations, likely ADHD but I am currently undiagnosed, so the project was left unfinished with just the base of Agnetha's blue cat sewn.  I actually never posted about it, and even though I see this unfinished cat plush around my sewing area every once in a blue moon, I could not for the life of my find it so you'll just have to believe me that it exists.  

Recently, ABBA the Museum came out with the same independent idea of selling plush versions of Agnetha and Frida's cats, and let me tell you I was soooo happy when I found this out because a. obviously as they're official they are going to be so much better than any sloppy cat plush I was trying to make, and b. it means I don't have to finish my plush concept anymore!  I fell in love with these cats as soon as they came out, determined to get my hands on them ASAP, and that time finally arrived!

With Black Friday deals (which aren't really much a deal but certainly work to entice impulsive and kinda financially irresponsible buyers like myself), the cat plushies were on sale at a reduced price, so I couldn't help myself!  

And here they are!

I honestly think these are absolutely brilliant.  They are extremely well made, and each cat has printed on details.  I will say, they are not 1000% accurate, like there are designs and sequins that are not in the exact same place as the original cat, and some creative liberties were certainly made as it's really difficult to translate a 2d drawing into a 3d cat plush.  (Also Agnetha's cat is missing the greenish tinge on the ears but that's me being nitpicky.) For what it is, it's really really good and I couldn't be more impressed.  As a collector of many stuffed animals, these two are going to fit perfectly in with the monstrous amounts of plushies, webkinz, and famous social media stuffed animals that is my room.

Frida's cat:

Agnetha's cat:

Overall, I am quite happy to add these two cats to my ABBA collection, and I also got this fun ABBA t-shirt as well because who can say no to more ABBA t-shirts?

Happy 13th birthday, Benny Anderdoll

 Today marks 13 years since I officially completed my fourth and final homemade ABBA doll!  Happy birthday Benny Anderdoll!

Happy 79th Birthday, Frida!

 To our beloved princess, 1/2 of ABBA's impeccable vocalists, absolute powerhouse and crazy talented singer...  Dearest Frida, happy, happy 79th birthday!

 

Collection Update

  So it's been a good minute since I've done a proper collection update.  The last one I did was in June last year, and since then amassed a few more ABBA items.  Obviously some of these items I have already talked about considering I've already written reviews for them, but I'll include them in this because they deserve to be included in one big post.

To start, I purchased ABBA's new compilation album The Singles - The First Fifty Years in its CD format.  I haven't actually ripped the CD or listened to it, so I can't tell you if the mixes are different or not, but even if I don't necessarily think this compilation album is worth getting, I'm happy to have it in my collection.  Now the booklet claimed to include rare unseen photos of ABBA, and from what I can tell there's only two unseen photos, and they're just outtakes from photo sessions that we are already aware of.  I personally live for outtakes, especially ones that show the "goofy" side of ABBA, however I'm not sure this compilation album which is supposed to be a bit of a conclusion to ABBA's story, something to round it out, is the place for these "goofy" photos.  I'm not complaining of course, please ABBA provide us more goofy ABBA photos, but you know, just a thought.

This year my hyper fixation was ABBA books, as I really enjoy reading over the weekends, especially big books that take a while to finish.  

The first one is Frida Beyond ABBA, a book that, as I already mentioned in my review, is a must have.  It's amazing, well researched, and such a respectful book and a very good read, too.  Of course I can't help but question a couple of sources, specifically the ones that come from Bright Lights, Dark Shadows, but that aside, this book is in my opinion one of the best ABBA books to exist.

Speaking of Bright Lights, Dark Shadows, I purchased this book specifically because I wanted to know if it was a good book.  I've always seen so much praise for Carl Magnus Palm, people considering everything he says to be true, as if he is the only ABBA expert, which of course is strange when there are things in this book that are not accurate and are counter to things the ABBA members have said....  There is no doubt that this book was well researched and a lot of work was put into it, but I just question the sources, especially where they come from tabloids which are known to be untruthful, and also what are the intentions of the including extremely personal details in this book?  Why do I have do know that Agnetha had intense diarrhea and vomiting after the Boston plane incident?  Out of respect to the people, wouldn't it have made sense to just tell us that she was really sick?  Regardless, I respect Carl Magnus Palm for putting in the effort for this book, especially as the original version of the book was released at a time when there were hardly any "accurate" ABBA books, I just, don't like the book.  Out of curiosity, I have gone ahead and pre-ordered the new and revised version of the book in hopes that maybe things have been edited and changed, and I will definitely compare and contrast them when i get my hands on the book.

I purchased this book due to a misunderstanding on my end, and it's a pretty good book on it's own, telling in great detail how the record companies would promote ABBA's music back in the day.  It was a good read, but also not necessarily my interest area.  However, the section at the end all about Michael B. Tretow's tapes are absolute Gold!  It was written in the style of ABBA The Complete Recording Sessions, a book that I have yet to get my hands on and hope to someday get my hands on a physical copy, and if the section on Michael B. Tretow's tapes was that good, I'm sure the Complete Recording sessions will be awesome!  

Back in February I purchased a couple of things from ABBA the Museum, including this souvenir book.  It's very short, very sweet, but lovely, nonetheless.

Speaking of ABBA the Museum, do you remember back in the day I used to sell cat dress t-shirts on Zazzle?  They would sell like crazy, and shortly before my zazzle shop got shut down, ABBA the Museum came out with their own official ABBA Cat Dress t-shirts, and I couldn't help but feel that I inspired their cat dress t-shirts!  I am not complaining in anyway btw, and this all alleged, but I'm glad that since 2014 ABBA have been selling t-shirts that look so much better than the silly little drawings I did with MS Paint hahahhahaa, but I finally got my hands on the shirts that I may or may not have inspired.  Here they are as modeled by me and my sister. :')

Of course to celebrate ABBA's 50th anniversary, I went ahead and got myself some Waterloo themed apparel.  I just gotta say, as someone who has bought a few different concert/band merch, I'm happy to say that ABBA Voyage and ABBA the Museum's t-shirts are some of the highest quality merch t-shirts I've ever purchased, and I love wearing them.

Late last year I bought this small denim jacket from the ABBA Voyage store.  Very expensive haha, but it's such a cool jacket and I enjoy wearing it.  Unfortunately even the smallest jacket is too large on me, the sleeves are too long and it's a bit oversized, but that's more of a me being too petite, but it would be nice if they sold it in XS.

At ABBA's polar music store, to celebrate the 50th Anniversary, they sold this ABBA necklace with a star guitar charm and a little 50th anniversary charm as well.  Sadly it doesn't feel as high quality as the ABBA necklace as sold at ABBA the Museum that I have worn every single day since buying it, and I saw a lot of reports that it breaks easily, so I don't wear it much at all, but it's still nice.

That is a second stud in my ear not a weird red splotch on my ear haha

The Polar Music Store was also selling official ABBA earrings, which I immediately jumped on!  I have been dying for official ABBA earrings ever since I got my first piercings, so I'm glad they released them.  Although when they first arrived, the ABBA logo on one of them was put on backwards, so I had to flip it myself, but other than that, they're nice and sturdy and I have worn them pretty often.

I decide to add ABBA's 1986 live album to my collection.  I don't listen it often as the studio overdubs bother me, but it's nice to have it in my collection.

I also got ABBA Oro, so I could finally have my hands on all the Spanish language tracks in one place.  Also I just have to say, although I love ABBA's classic logo, it kinda looks out of place on this cover idk way.

I always feel weird including my own custom things amongst collection updates, but I got a poster of my birthday drawings that I did last year.

And although not directly ABBA related, I went ahead and got this CD and booklet on Swedish birdsong that was produced by Benny, as 1. I love Benny, and 2. I love birds, so it was the perfect fit.  Now it sits amongst all of my bird-themed items in my room. :D

So that's all I have for now.  I should mention I have been meaning to do a post like this for a good while now, but alas, the undiagnosed ADHD got the best of me and I kept on procrastinating....