Caffeine Junkie

Done! But yet not

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 14:18:19 GMT

Today I wrote the KanKen, that Kanji test I have cramming for the past ~~months~~ while.

It went pretty well!
Not perfect, but quite well.

I was kind of surprised to see how diverse the crowd was.
As I expected there were a lot of high school kids (the level I'm doing is good for that age) but also a lot of much much older people (like gray-haired old ladies) and some really young kids too.

I was the only visible bird, and got some special looks when I walked in with the pink and the feathers and the pink feathers. :D

The results should come within a month. Now I can stop studying!!! (for a little while)

GEEK OUT

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:12:07 GMT

I love my DSi.
(Yes it IS the special edition gyakuten kenji one with the Blue Badger on it. 8D)

I also &heart; my pokewalker. I walk a lot, and now I can level up my monz while I do it!
Sweet! 8D

More importantly, and much more geekfully, I am studying for yet -another- test.
This time, it's the KanKen (漢字検定), Level 3.

This is the sort of thing you do when you pass JLPT 1 and think to yourself
"Now that was just not enough studying."

Luckily, I am A GEEK and thanks to this fact I have learned a lot of kanjis through games, of all things 8D

I wonder, if I post a bunch of kanji in groups, will anyone be able to guess what the game was?

I) Freaking obvious, but hey, it's ON THE TEST 8D 　
魂
塊

2) Probably not very obvious at all.
峡
潤
虚
礎

3)This one could go on a while longer but that's enough clues.
刑
護
被
裁

4) Not actually a game (well, not yet anyway)
紺
欧
軸
菊

*Not all from level 3 of the Kanken. Some are lower levels.*

Indulge me and guess 8DDD
Prizes are feathers. And maybe pecks. Or something.

You're never too old...

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 03:08:22 GMT

...to be a Fruity Bassist.

Today tetsu is 40 years old! That means -all of L'Arc- are now officially ~~old~~ un-young.

Celebrate the day by eating a banana, shopping for shiny things, and PAINT OVER EVERYTHING WITH PINK.

Here's some awesomeness that you might not have seen. Sweet Sweet Banana <33

*raises pink glass of banana juice*
Here's to 40 more years of fruit.

GET

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 10:24:59 GMT

I GET!

I GET A LOT!!
A lot of -stuff- even.

First and most visible, I GET new LJ layout, thanks to asuka_tsuzuki.
You were so quick to answer my request, I'm so grateful :3

Second:

Pocket Monsters HEART GOLD!
Yellow Baado GET yanen.

With the pokewalker on it, even.

Right now I am watching the monz anime on the tv 8D ~~how shocking~~

BUT I am not actually gonna start playing it Just Quite Yet, because there is something else I wanna gets:

http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/images/B00260GJKC/ref=dp_image_0?ie=UTF8&n=637394&s=videogames

8D;

Yeah... for a good month or so I have been playing through the Gyakuten series, and now am on the 4th one, and I wanna get this game anyway, and if I get a DSi then I will have two DS (DSes? DSii?) and then I can trade monz with myself and get to be REALLY EPICALLY geek.

So I'm gonna do that.

It's tempting to start squeeing about this newest fandom of mine but there's not much I can say that won't spoil ppl so
IF ANY OF YOU -awesome- people are already into it let me know so we can squee.

I mean srsly, it's epic. And the English translation is fucking awesome. I've been playing in both languages and loving every moment and so you are all gonna play it kk?

Other get!

Hetalia DVD 4, France's Character CD (which sux... what a waste of Onosaka Masaya's voice DX), Hetalia anime fanbook....
8D 8D 8D 8D

Oh and I officially made my KanKen appliction for next month because I'm a crazy person.

OH YEAH AND

FF8 got re-released on the PSNetwork and I got it and am playing it in Japanese for the first time.
Gonna have to squee more about that in the near future :3

Come and Geek with me.

Bleg: Urgent need for new Layout!

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 13:08:41 GMT

UPDATE: Thank you Asuka!!

8D;

As you may have noticed, my LJ layout exploded, apparently because the photobucket account of the person who made it for me died.

Since I have had this layout for years (not even gonna think about how many...)
maybe somebody could make me a ... new one? 8D

PLZ?

I know i have lots of awesome people reading this sooo

Who wants to give a bird a birdful new layout?!

Whoever fulfills this request will get love and feathers :3

OMG YES

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 09:17:55 GMT

I realize only like, one person reading this cares, but I have to say it loud anyway -

HETALIA AXIS POWERS MOVIE

is being made right now and set to be released sometime in 2010.

KESESESSESESESESESESE.
*flaps around the laughing sexy dude*

Inazuma Rock! 2009 - REPORT

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 07:10:56 GMT

Yesterday I went off to the edges of Lake Biwa, the only thing in Shiga, to attend INAZUMA ROCK FEST 2009 and thereby watch my second tetsu live of the year.

Lake Biwa, Shiga Prefecture. The lake -is- the prefecture. There is nothing else to see. ~~unless you go stalking tetsu's old schools~~

Since tetsu was only set to perform on the 20th, and he wasn't early in the lineup, I didn't want to go to early. I'm lazy that way.

I met up with chenka at JR Osaka just in time to catch an express to Kusatsu. You haven't heard of it.
According to the website, there was supposed to be a shuttle bus from the station to the actual venue.
So we followed the signs... for.. a long... long.. time.

Just when we were beginning to think the bus was a LIE, we reached this little baseball field full of buses.
The buses were not pink.

It took about half an hour to get there.

Tada~

There is actually an extensive "Free Area" first, where you can buy goods, food, good food, and drinks.
Past all that is the place where they actually check tickets and you get access to the stage.

Since it was still the act before tetsu's, we first went to buy goods!

Of course, it was tetsu goods we wanted.

Next to the booth for tetsu ICE, there was a staff lady handing out pink drink straps to members of the fan club.
You had to show your phone logged into tetsu-tetsu to get it. So, I got it!

I also bought a tetsu ICE uchiwa, and a towel.

Might not seem like much, but recall that I kinda already own all the Mukimpo goods 8D;;;

Finally, I stopped by the general festival goods booth and bought....

Because who can say no to COOKIES.

Haven't actually eaten them yet. This will probably change before I finish writing ^^v

Okay, so goods in hand we headed to the stage area, where we had to separate due to being in different blocks.
I was in B5, which was the far-right of the B row.

During the performance by SEAMO (some rap/hip-hop crap) I stayed near the back, not wanting to block off anyone who cared.
Then as soon as it ended I happily danced my way as far forward (and center-ward) as I could. Keeping in mind the strategic location of people taller than me, I got a good spot in the centre of a gaggle of fangirls, none of them blocking my view of the choubiness 8D

The actual stage was still pretty far; I could see the artists but not enough to make out their faces.
Luckily there were two immense screens on either side.

The only problem was my old nemesis: THE SUN!! D8
It was glaring in my eyes so I had to keep a hand by my face to block it.
Stupid sun. Who needs it, srsly?!!?

Before tetsu's turn came, there was an owarai act whose name I don't recall. I really don't follow this side of the culture >.>;;;

At long last, the pinkness came around!!

First his band members walked onstage, all wearing the same BANANARS t-shirts they had at JITS.
Finally, tetsu himself ran out, banana gun in hand, smiling like himself. PRRROU ^-^!!

He was wearing the BANANARS t-shirt with a long Union Jack vest, and a puffy black skirt over dark pants. I couldn't see his shoes.
In his (now kinda longish) hair, he has twisted light hair extensions, concentrated on one side.
He also had panda-eyes and a little makeup.

In short, it was tetsu ^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^

The first song was Fresh, the perpetual un-release.
He ran around with the banana gun, taking time to "greet" the whole crowd with it.

^_____^

After the song, his only MC was "Prrrrrou~"

Prrrou! Prrou!
The next song was REVERSE, which fit quite well the fading light of mid-afternoon.
He did some spinning around between verses. To me, his voice sounded sweet like caramel~
Ohmychoubiprrou.

Finally he did an MC properly, with actual human language in!

tetsu: Prrou! HI EVERYONE 8DDD
us: HI TETCHAN!!!!
tetsu: Been waiting long?
us: YESS.
tetsu: Thanks for coming to Inazuma for me. Hey wow, it's all standing! You mean you guys have been standing this whole time?
us: Yep.
tetsu: Standing? For the whole day?! STANDING?!?!?! 8o

me: (You should have seen JACK.)

tetsu: Woaaw.
OK! I'm gonna give you an older song, full of memories! WONDERFUL WORLD!

And then the bird squeed to death and went away.
I mean, no, obviously I survived, since I'm writing this 8D;;

Wonderful World live!!! What a treat!

It clearly has been a long while, since tetsu flubbed his lyrics near the start and so the first few lines were "lalalala" 8D

It should have been, well, wonderful right?

Yes it SHOULD have, but then during the bridge, something horrible happened...
A... RAPPER... came out and messed up the second half of the song!! DDDDD8

TETSU WHY DO YOU MAKE IT SO HARD TO LOVE YOU!?!

Okay, stay genki... *preens feathers*

While the rapper guy (Micro from HOME MADE Kazoku; he does the same "service" for a.b.s. on one of their singles... I blame all this on Takanori)
was doing his thing, tetsu picked up a real banana and started waving it around, like that hand motion rappers do except with a banana.

Micro was trying to get the crowd going but clearly no one cared...

Micro: I SAY INAZUMA YOU SAY ROCK!! OK! INAZUMA!!
crowd: ....
Micro: INAZUMA!!
tetsu: Prou!

At this point Micro noticed the banana and took it, and tetsu gave him a big 8D smile 8D so the audience understood that, messed up as this was, it was in fact tetsu aproved. *SIGH*

So the rapper tried again, this time armed with a banana (tetsu is just 8D ing around while this happens)

A few rounds of INAZUMA!! ROCK!! INAZUMA!! ROCK!! ensued
and Wonderful World eventually ended, half-unrecognizable... *shakes head*

Just.. WHY?

Anwyay.

The next song is Roulette! Everyone who went to JITS should remember this one, the SPINNY one!
Micro still hadn't gone away but at least he limited himself to urging the fans to SPIN!! their towels at the appropriate times.
This song was -not- ruined. *phew*

SPIN SPIN JUMP JUMP PROU PROU

At the end tetsu gave Micro another banana to throw, which he did, and then gave him a hug a sent him on his way.

Oh fine, choubiprou, I can't be mad at you... *siiiiiiiiigh*

The next performance was a rather somber and serious one: SCARECROW.
tetsu just stayed at his mic in the middle of the stage, focused.

It was very special since of course, it's not exactly possible to hear any of his old songs live.

Next thing I knew, tetsu was saying "last song!" and everyone in the audience was saying "EEEEHHH".

He performed Lonely Girl, which is not at all approriate. This song is firmly associated with JITB now, and furthermore it is about SNOW and XMAS... argh...

Still. I can't fault my tetsu.

Even though it was a short live, he was having fun and I enjoyed it and I'm really glad I came.
These chances are so rare. *wibbles*

After the last song, his Fruitiness threw a few more bananas into the crowd and left.

There was another owarai act, and then the next artist came up - BUCK-TICK

I didn't really know them or their music, but I gotta say they were the only actual ROCK band there that day.
The Saturday lineup had more real rock, but for Sunday, no.. Even I won't pretend tetsu counts as J-Rock when he's not with L'Arc.

BUCK-TICK felt longer, but that's probably because they didn't have any MCs or breaks between songs, and since I didn't know the songs.

After them was one last owarai, and then the last artist.

I wanted to stay until the end because I had a rather strong Hunch.
You see, the final act was, of course, T.M.Revolution.

The entire festival is really Takanori's baby. He planned it and invited all the artists, and it is partly a Shiga-promotion fest (endorsed by the local government) and partly an eleborate scheme for him to spend a lot of quality time with our pink fruit. So yeah. I HAD A HUNCH.

Before TMR started, I learned that he has a fan-nickname - Turbo. Or rather "Taabo" as the Japanese say it XD
This explains the "Turbo Surf" goods that puzzled me on the way in...

At this point the sun had set completely and the stage had a lot more lighting on.
At long last the musicians came out, and then out came the GAYEST LITTLE VOCALIST YOU EVER DID SEE.

Seriously. Unbelievable.

I knew Takanori has some eccentric outfits but seeing it in person is a whole new level of omg.

The thing he was wearing... well it looked like the worst minds behind the wardrobes of Gackt and Koda Kumi had combined to make it.

The top was a blue pleathery thing that would not be out of place on a Gundam pilot, with a big shoulder pad on one side and black gloves.
The bottom was a puffy frilly blue and black short skirt that would not have been out of place at the Moulin Rouge.

Then his legs...oh god his legs... His legs have been burned into my mind forever >.<
He was wearing knee high blue boots with black socks above the knee, and hot pants barely longer than the miniskirt...
Giving him one immense Zettai Ryouiki.

I NEVER WANTED TO SEE TMR's THIGHS BUT NOW I CANNOT UNSEE THEM!!

At... at least they're nice thighs @.@

He performed mostly singles, so I knew... er... all of them 8D;;
The fangirls around me knew all the lyrics and were singing along so that I couldn't always hear Takanori himself.
They also did a lot of dance moves.

It's really quite amazing how intensely his fans love him!
Takanori is a great performer, full of energy and spirit, so I couldn't help but smile and get into it myself XD

His MCs were mostly about Shiga and thanking everyone for comign to see him in his home prefecture.

Until one MC, where he just screamed:
Taka: LET ME HEAR YOU SING!!! TETSU!!

tetsu came bounding out onto the stage, banana gun in hand, and all smiles as he joined Takanori for one song.

They performed WHITE BREATH (the same one they did at JITB last December), alternating parts and singing the chorus together.
They ran to opposite sides of the stage, then back to the middle, and when they met again tetsu sprayed Taka right in the face with his gun
*cough* yeah..

After the song there was some nice little talking~

tetsu: SAN KYUU!
Takanori: No, thank you!
tetsu: 39. You're 39! Happy birthday (Taka's bday was the previous day)
Takanori: Oh yeah! I am! Thanks~
tetsu: We're the same age right now :3 (tetsu will be 40 in another 3 weeks)

Taka kept thanking tetsu for joining him in -their- home prefecture (tetsu: Now they know!!) and for helping him with this event and basically gushed all over him.

BTW tetsu had changed his clothes. He was now wearing a white T-shirt with some happy pattern on it and a shorter red vest, with a long black and white skirt I remember seeign at ToK.

He showed the vest to Taka, pointing out the big err.. sequins (I think? blocky things that catch light) on it.

tetsu: I wanted to match with you but I don't have enough.
Taka (leaning very close to tetsu's chest to see the vest): Oh... Um yeah, I have over 5000 of them on me.

tetsu also let Taka have the banana gun, and he threw it into the crowd.

In the end, tetsu gave Takanori a big hug!
tetsu: *HUGS* See you next year!
Takanori: *dreamy voice* Next year... yeahomgIdon'tknowwhattosayomg TETSU!!
Crowd: *SQUEECHEER*

So yeah. THAT is what I had a hunch would happen :DDDDD

Taka's performance was, in total, at least twice as long as the other artists, but hey this is his festival, he deserves it.
About midway through he tore off the top part of his costume, revealing a shiny sleeveless top and an airy sort of frilly thing than ran around his arms. ~~GAY~~

After it was all over, the crowd called for an encore, and we got one.

Sort of.
This being TMR, it was more of an MC... epic-length SPEECH is more like it.

For the encore, he had taken off the gaudy costume and just wore a long black shirt/dress, presumably with the hotpants still on, and had ajusted his long socks so they were high up again (They'd been falling the longer he danced around).

He had a special guest "live by satelite" who turned out to have been backstage all along - Sanma!

Sanma is a TV show host, but he doesn't do many musicians so I guess most of you won't know who he is. Anyway he is from Shiga, hence this appearance. Sanma came out onto the stage.

Sanma: WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WEARING!? It's so -unisex-.

Sanma: If I wanted to dress like you, where should I go shopping?
Taka: Well, first you have to put yourself in my shoes. Think "I'm Nishikawa, where do I go?"
Sanma: ...So, you can't buy this stuff in stores, then.
Taka: That's right. I had it specially made.

8D;

Sanma changed (right there on the stage) into a more Takanori-esque sleeveless top and they did a song together.
Sanma didn't know the words so he ran around making mock-Takanori poses and molesting the band members. It worked XD

At the very very end, Taka thanked everyone profusely and swore that there will be another event like this next year :3

The only announcement at the end was that this will be on Fuji TV in November, so yay! MAYBE SOME TETSUNESS!

On the way out, I met back up with Chenka and we ate yummy festival food. I had a doner kebab, Taco-rice, and matcha ice cream.
Then we had to take the bus back to the baseball field and walk back to the station, and finally made it back to Osaka around 11 pm.

I've had Roulette and assorted TMR songs stuck in my head ever since :3

If/When they announce this for next year, I hope more of us will show up!!

O.O wtprri?

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 10:28:57 GMT

Weirdest Pokemon Ep Ever.

Evil! Togepi?
Team Rocket's... Rocket?
Random Evangelion jokes?

In.. POKEMON.

That was fucking crack.

So yeah, the whole thing was a shaggy dog story where the heroes spent the whole ep in a Team Rocket base, only for an Evil! Togepi to hijack the whole thing, revealing that it is really a giant pink rocket. It Charms Pikachu, Meowth, Piplup and that kancho-ing froggy thing, launches the rocket into space, and then Kojiro takes control in Gendo Ikari mode.

In the end Rayquaza smacks the rocket and they all get blown up, heroes and Rockets alike.

I haven't lolled so hard in ages.

PokeCrack 4 Evar.

JITS Live Report!! 2009.8.15

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 13:50:30 GMT

I just got home from Chiba, where I attended JACK IN THE BOX SUMMER 2009, held for the first time ever in Makuhari Messe.

This long post is a live report with details heavily slanted toward the obviously more interesting bits. I'll let you guess what those are from the list of artists 8D

In order:

Zoro
Girugamesh
cali≠gari
MUCC
Kinniku Shojotai
acid android
Kiyoharu
Karasu
Ken
BREAKERZ

(Intermission)

tetsu
DEAD END
Sid
VAMPS
44MAGNUM
MAVERICK DC SUPER ALL STARS

Bias? What Bias?! 8D
Sadly there were no surprise guests or sessions this time, but it was still an epic awesome show.

I took a Shinkansen from Awesometown to Tokyo early Saturday morning, and caught up with live_addict before taking another 30-minute train to Makuhari. Chiba is a suburb on the far side of Tokyo, so yeah... takes a while.

Once in Chiba, I had a loving reunion with din_84, finally back from America, and rieke611 who was recovering from a cold.

After some lunch, we were ready to tackle the JACKathon!

Our first worry was finding a locker in which to stash our bags, but as you can guess, everything was full.
But! It turned out Jack-sama (or possibly his staff) had provided for this: There was a "cloak room" of sorts in hall 4 (hall 3 was the goods and snacks room, hall 2 was the main party, and hall one was... probably the artist's area).
The way it worked was that you paid 1000 yen for a bag (a plastic trash bag, in fact) then put all your stuff in it. They then labeled it and gave you the number so you could pick it up after. Simple.

Thousands of trash bags lined the room, and yet some morons still brought big rib-smashing handbags into the main event hall... *sigh*
ANYWAY.

hikari_umenoki had arrived many hours earlier since she took a night bus, so she was lining up at the entrance to get first dibs on a good spot. Thanks to her I didn't have to go through any trouble getting a good place!

Unlike previous years, this summer event was standing-room-only. It was also the first time they held it anywhere other than Budokan, so yeah.. Organizational Fail was encountered >.>

The biggest problem was that there were no gates inside the main area, so when ~~VAMPS~~ a popular act was up, the press of mad fans got really unbearable. All the staffs could do was go "Sumimasen, you are killing people, please back up", which works for maybe half a minute before people start pushing again. So yeah. Ow.

Oh, and incidentally, I was dressed for the awesome in:
The MUKIMPO T-shirt I bought last JACK
Hot Pink Ken C.H.Lion panties
jean shorts and high socks :3

The stage itself was T-shaped. The center part had a JACK IN THE BOX banner in the background, with a long runway extending to either side and way out in front. Not all the artists made use of it though. On either side of the main stage were monitors. Between the monitors and the stage were the JACK lion-deer-dragon thingys, one on each side and both facing each other.

Between acts, the monitors showed some promotional clips (for albums and singles) and rolled out a list of upcoming lives. They also had the rules scrolling by but it was so small I doubt anyone could read it even if they cared...
During the performances, of course, they showed better angles of the artists themselves :3

All the equipment was set up on what looked like rolling platforms. Between acts, the staffs came out and rolled out the platforms to switch them. Very fast. There was no curtain covering the stage. Nobody got any extra decor. It's just pure, hardcore ROCK.

Okay, now for the actual artist part XD

It started at 13:00 with Zoro.

All I know about them is what I've seen at JACK, and I'm not really interested in knowing more. Nothing about them really caught my interest, not even the bassist who is so feminine that I seriously thought he was a woman, last year. >.>
They did 4 songs plus an MC, IIRC. Not bad for an opener, really.

Second up was Girugamesh.
They are a band that I would like to like, but every aspect has some repelling element and I just can't get into them. The worst part is the heavily distorted bass, but really everything about them feels like it COULD be so good but it has just enough flaws to not work at all.
Bleh.
They did have a funny video message after their show, reminding the fans to drink lots of water and not pass out.

Third, cali≠gari. I don't know any of their songs. Musically, they didn't really stand out. Apparently they had disbanded and reformed just this year, more or less just so they could come to JACK XD;
The vocalist was wearing the gayest outfit seen all day, and that is REALLY SAYING SOMETHING when you consider the other acts. 8D;;

Next was the first band of the day that I actually cared to see: MUCC!
The crowd got going considerably more than they did for the first three artists; no surprise there.
"ARE YOU READY MOTHERFUCKER!?!"
When they kicked off with Ageha, which I TOTALLY LOVE and listen to practically every day, things were rocking hard （＞｡０）~~♪
Tatsurou danced his way, barefoot, up and down the runway several times. So did Miya, but not barefoot. Yukke pranced around quite a bit too! Just not on the runway.

Before starting Faze (sp?　ファズ) Tatsurou demonstrated some lovely physics fail...
You see, when people are standing in very close proximity, such as when crammed into a live venue, it is not really -possible- for them to sit down within that same area. This fact is lost on Tatsurou. He got everyone to sit down and JUMP BACK UP IN UNISON!
It was more of a crouching jump due to the above physical impossibility of everyone actually SITTING, but the effect was still pretty cool, if painful XD;;

After MUCC finished, it was time for Kinniku Shojo-tai. They are more of a humour-type group, with the lyrics having a lot of Engrish and the members all wearing weird costumes. The vocalist was in a yanki-style long coat (with the band's name in the wrong kanji, because yanki are just fail like that) and the bassist with IMMENSE 80s hair, and one guitarist in EYE SEARING hot pink suit. XD;;;

It was funny, especially when the guy started screaming "I DONT LIKE HUMAN!!" In Engrish.
However, if the live had been any longer than it was, I think I would have gotten really sick of the screaming. So they're pretty good, in small doses only.

Next up was an act that needed no introduction, indeed, no words of any humanly-recognizable kind: ACID ANDROID!!
Seriously, yukkie and his band just got up on stage and started rocking. No intro on the screen or anything. Just awesomeness.

yukkie is really LOVED by the fandom. Everyone was cheering for him wildly and having an awesome time.
It was my first chance to see a real AA live, and it was awesome.
The tracklist was:
enmity
egotistic ideal
daze
ring the noise (live version, obviously)
let's dance.

During the instrumental bits, yukkie just turned around and head banged. He didn't do any MC, in fact he didn't even pause between songs. Just half an hour of pure acid. ＼（～о～）／♪
let's dance is really awesome live, and it left us all wanting MOAR YUKKIE.

Oh yeah, I bought Acid Android socks. /m/

After yukkie came a new visitor to the JACK mayhem; one that you may remember from this lovely flash to the past. That's right, KIYOHARU!

I've always really liked his voice, especially the rrrrr-rolling thing he does (I have a thing for Kansai accents, OK?). However, unlike L'Arc, Kiyo actually has gotten -uglier- since the days at Namba Rockets. >.> He's hideous, but he sounds sexy, and that is enough.
Thanks to the monitor, I could see that he was also barefoot and had an oriental carpet under his feet. Eccentric?

He walked up and down the runway with eerily straight movements, and I got a good look at his rather emaciated body. Kiyo needs food badly.
I most enjoyed the last two songs, COME HOME and SANDY. CHU CHU PA CHUCHU PA CHU PA! ρ(^о^)ノ
Wee~

The next listed was something called KARASU, that I had never heard of and neither had anyone I spoke to. Turns out it was the closest thing this JACK had to a Session! This new band is made up of Kenzo from Ayabie, dunch from jealkb, Mizuki (sp?) from Sadie, Hiroto from Alice Nine, and Tatsurou! Actually since the latter got on stage before the screens finished the intro, everyone was already squeeing xDD

This new act did two covers and one original song. One of the covers was Red, by Creature Creature. All I can say is Tatsurou >>> MORRIE. I would have loved to see tetsu playing this, but hey. It was great. The other was Like@Angel by Kuroyume (AKA Kiyoharu's old band) Their original song, LASTICA, was Le Awesome as well, and I really want to hear it again :3

Thanks, Tatsurou, for being such a crazy moron and throwing together random-ass super bands. /m/

Next up was the one whose goods I spent the most money on, the 8Dsome dancing singing energetic crazy sensation, the one and only Ken!!!

He kicked ASS. Started off with "S", which is audio sex, and then gave us a short MC (He apologized for not having the time to talk more XD) and went into ETERNAL REST, which I enjoyed almost as much as I had in Namba, then In Physical (the Engrish Masterpiece. I EAT YOU.), Gimme Your Name (again, audio sex) and finally Spin Along. Every time I hear it, I can't help but think Spin Along would have been better as a L'Arc song...

Ken was all smiles and he ran around the whole stage and 8DDDD!!!
The pole-dancing chorus girl was there too, and since I'm quite certain she's really a girl, that means there was a confirmed female at JACK. WTF. o.o

Actually, since I wasn't being crushed by the crowd so much, I was better able to enjoy Ken's show. v(⌒о⌒)♪

After Ken, it was time for the act I'd least wanted to see...
For some bizzare reason ~~HYDE~~ BREAKERZ was present at JACK this year. WHY?!

Okay, to be fair, the music is pretty decent pop-rock, and entertaining. So why do I dread this part?
Well, it's because of DAIGO. And as my Bunneh put it so nicely, DAIGO is a LOLCAT. Really. Everything was okay, until he started talking:

DAIGO: OMG like Hi! I'm like, so happy to be here, like seriously, yay, wow! Like, so, yeah.
>.<;;; JUST REMEMBERING IT makes my IQ drop like a stone. SRSLY NAO. If only he could shut up...
DAIGO: Like, wow, so many of you, like, totally know me! Like, omg, we are like totally best friends! Like, I'm so happyWISH!!!
Also, his songs will not get out of my head.... T.T

There were some dancing girls in the background for one song, and it was visually entertaining sicne they actually did some fun stuff, unlike a certain useless poledancer.
At one point, DAIGO kissed another of the members. On the lips. Ghey 8D;

He did briefly cover Southern All Stars (like he did at Halloween), and yeah Daigo can certainly sing. He just can't string a sentence together without sounding like a retarded puppy. (-.-9)

Incidentally, "wish" is a highly contagious virus. You'll see.

When BREAKERZ were done, there was a 30-minute intermission. I didn't budge because I knew exactly what was coming next, and there was no way I would risk missing it :3~

The monitors played all the tour/album/single info several times while we waited. It had already been 6 hours since the start of the live @.@
JACK is a true marathon, not for the weak.

At long last, the long-awaited FRUIT took to the stage!!!! (〃＾o＾)～♪
tetsu started off with empty tears, which of course I had never heard live before. He sounded so sweet, and the lighting went all pink and soft and Awwww. <3333

tetsu and his band members were all dressed alike in matching t-shirts, except at the start tetsu had a loose punkish vest thingy over the t-shirt
so you couldn't tell. He also had a 1.5 skirts on over his dark pants and white shoes. He has gotten so damn THIN over the last months, it's really unbelievable. @.@
He took off the blazer-vest thingy midway through.

During the live, I had a hard time making out what was on the t-shirt, but his Fruitness posted a pic of it so I saw. It reads BANANARS - BANANARS SUBLIMINAL YELLOW TOUR - fresh fruit for rocking vegetables. XDD

Naturally, he performed TEH JACK SONG, labelled Fresh, but still marked as a "temporary title". It's that "new song" he's been playing at Jack for years. Will he ever finalize it? Will he ever *gasp* release it?!! 8o

Then there was Reverse, another of his sweet and cute songs.

Except for Empty Tears, tetsu was fruitishly running back and forth around the stage. He went down the runway spraying the fans with his banana gun (I have the same one!) and I even got some of the drops! VERY REFRESHING.

tetsu was smiling and genki the entire time. He did a nice MC that was actually one of the longer ones of the day.
tetsu: PRRRRRRRRROU!!!!! MINNA GENKI?! Genki? Genki in the back? Genki in the front? MINNA GENKI? 8DDDD

He said that it was his first live performance all year (O RLY.) and went "Where have I been all year?" (lol) That's what I'd like to know 8D
He also confessed that when he was planning the outfits his members would wear, he forgot to order a T-shirt for himself, so he had to get it delivered at the last minute.

He went on about the genki and the happy, and then... >.> tetsu went "WISH". <.<
It's a virus, I swear XD;;;

ANYWAYMOVINGON.
He talked about this new song that he wrote just for JACK and he seemed very excited about it. As you all probably know by now, it is called Roulette!! The song is bouncy pop, the fastest paced song he did that night, in fact. I really want to hear it again~
The lyrics were about spinning through space, and honestly I thought it was calle "UFOlette" at first ^^;
It's loopy. He didn't say anything about releasing anything though. BUT There is still Inazuma to look forward to!

OH and during tetsu's part there was a big BOOM and colourful streamers came out and fell on the crowd. AND I CAUGHT SOME!! I caught a bit of orange streamer, then later picked up some pink from the ground, and then had some green donated after the show XD
Three colours of genki for me!!

tetsu's last song was lonely girl, which is that sad ballad he did last JACK. I really think that song is better in winter. It felt kind of out of place in the summer show, but hey.

tetsu was followed by the legendary band of the 80s, DEAD END.
As you might expect, a lot of rather... -older- fangirls were happy for this act ^^;
Since I have their Greatest Hits CD I recognized most of the songs. Obviously I had never heard them live before.

The music is quite awesome, and it's -very- obvious how much they were the inspiration for L'Arc. Indies L'Arc is so blatantly DEAD-END like, it's adorable XD;;
Though I must say, MORRIE is really creepy-looking. It's his eyes o.o Too intense o.o (Also he is SHORT.)
CRAZY COOL-JOE has the BIG HAIR that you might remember from decades past.
These guys may be old but their music is still hot. And apparently, they're going to make another album soon.

By this point, I was getting really exhausted and considered leaving partway through DEAD END to get a breather and a drink, but I didn't. I wouldn't have been able to get so near the front again had I done so.

The next act was the long-awaited darlings of the year, Sid!
Mao was wearing this weird clip across his forehead and I COULD NOT TAKE MY EYES OFF IT, SERIOUSLY.

They played Uso first, which is awesomesauce.
I wish I hadn't been so drained, cause honestly I don't remember much about their actual performance. >.<

At one point some silver streamers came out, and I caught a handful, and then 200 fangirls fell on my knee. Really.
It was so densely packed in there that when one person toppled, everyone went down like dominoes. I was one of the last to fall down, and if I had been paying attention I wouldn't have, but streamers are Shiny >.>

Must make a point of going to a proper Sid live one of these days.

Okay, after Sid, the crowd contracted to the point that people were fainting left and right. Guess why?
That's right, it was time for VAMPS! Me, Bunneh, and Sherry huddled for protection, expecting to get crushed, but it wasn't as bad as I feared. Hmmmm.

The segmented started with a very familiar clapping and guitar riff. Yes, it's THAT song. LOVE ADDICT. With all the jumping and clapping, to the point that the ground was shaking under us. Woohoo!

HYDE looked absolutely -terrible-, I'm sorry to say. It was my first time seeing him since the start of this tour, so this is going to be old news to everyone who cares about VAMPS, but his arm tattoo is AWFUL. What the fuck was he thinking? It's nasty!
His perm makes him look like a clown, and he just looked so tired in the face.
HYSUS WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO YOURSELF?!
Also K.A.Z. is half blond now wtf.

They went through REDRUM before doing a little MC. I don't remember what he said cause this late into JACK I was not up to memorizing any words. Sorry.

I do remember he said "ARE YOU FUCKING READY" and for a moment I thought there might be some L'Arc, but nooo he was only setting up TROUBLE. K.A.Z. sings in it, I had no idea 8o It is quite a lot of fun live. Well, it's a fun song to begin with XD

The next song was Dolly, always fun Live because of all the headbanging potential /m/

Next was ~~Hunting~~ several minutes of noise during which HYDE strode his stuff and spewed water at the crowd. You know, just being his smurfy self.

Lastly, no surprise, they did SEX BLOOD ROCK N' ROLL. It kicks ass, live, way better than on the album.

I didn't go nuts during VAMPS, simply because I'm seeing them this week. Twice, in fact. And I won't be dead from 8hours of live beforehand. So it will be better 8D

As soon as VAMPS was over, the arena MYSTERIOUSLY got a whole lot emptier. Indeed, the front rows were pretty much vacated, and suddenly there was breathing room for all. HMM. GEE. I Wonder Who Those Fangirls Were Here For o.o

The last real band of the day was 44 Magnum, who I don't really care for. The MCs were just gibberish to me; I suspect they had broken out the champagne hours ago backstage.
But then! A word caught my attention! He said "L'Arc~en~Ciel" o.o
"Mumblemumble! Mumble! KEN!!"

And next thing I knew there was Ken, standing over Magnum's guitarist with a big 8D on his face!
I was hoping he'd play something, but nooo Ken was there to sing. 8D
He did STREET ROCK N' ROLLER with the Magnum guys, and that is pretty much all I remember for that segment.

BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE!

Of course! It may not be xmas, but it's still JACK! That means MAVERICK DC SUPER ALL STARS!!
That's the bit where they go nuts and throw autographed plastic balls into the crowd.

The main vocal of 44 Magnum stayed on and introduced all the vocalists of all the bands. Since he does not enunciate, I was like "WHO?" until each guy actually stepped out on the stage, so it was quite a terrible choice of introduction, yez.
Everyone was out except tetsu. He didn't do the finale last year, either. Why? Is there something about throwing balls around that makes him uncomfortable? Even K.A.Z. was out there!

yukkie was shuffling back and forth, sipping a latte. Then he hunkered down in a corner with K.A.Z. Tatsurou had stolen the yanki-coat from Kinniku's vocalist. Ken was all 8Ds. HYDE was stalking MORRIE 8D. Lots of people went "wish" but Ken did a version with middle-fingers instead. XD

During the ball-flinging, it sounded like they were on the verge of starting up Link, but nooo. Cocktease D8
They just group-mangled SATISFACTION, and it was loltastic XD
I didn't catch any balls.

When it was really over, I shambled out of the place with my companions, and we somehow managed to zombie our way back to the hotel. Seriously, I amazed we survived. THAT LIVE WAS OVER NINE HOURS!!!!

I'm still sore after sleeping away most of Sunday, and my knee ached from having 200 fangirls fall on it.

Executive Summary: It was epic, but the lack of surprises and sessions made it a little... underwhelming. Luckily, there will be a regular xmas JACK, at Budokan, this December, so all is right with the world, yez?

Oh and there's going to be a 2-hour televised version in a few months. Look forward to it~

Rule Brittannia?

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 09:49:28 GMT

The UK is taking over Oricon!
Seriously! http://www.oricon.co.jp/

Number 2 on the daily chart?! That's just bloody brilliant.

Yeah, I bought a copy on the day it came out. 8D

Gocha Maze! 7/25

Sat, 25 Jul 2009 15:59:59 GMT

I failed at posting and put a gocha ep here instead of on the comm where it belongs. This post is just staying for the comments ^^

Gocha post: Here

LE Update

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 01:02:56 GMT

MOAR UPDATE -

This time a new song!

Darkness in the Heart has a nice long sample. This one is a darker, more moody sort of song.
Please take the time to listen ^-^
----

The band myspace has a better version of Brand New Day up for sampling!

You know you want to hear it. http://www.myspace.com/luminescenteye

(Just to warn you, it autoplays.)

BandSpace?

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 11:25:29 GMT

It's time for more PROMOTIONS!!

Remember LUMINESCENT EYE?
Of course you do.

The band now has a MySpace! Barely.

It just got built, somewhat out of the blue, but I can promise that there WILL be music samples uploaded to it sometime -soon-

What we want right now is Friends, on the myspace of course, so that when songs and news goes up there will actually be people around to notice 8o

Now I know at least some of you have been on MySpace since a little before the Paris live, for reasons concerning a vampire smurf, yes?

Won't you consider adding a less eye-bleeding band to your list? :3

Please spam around and get your friends to add the band too.
Feathers for everyone who does!

Ken Live Report @ Namba HATCH 6/18-19

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 11:11:53 GMT

I saw the Ken! He is sexy! And METAL!

Now I'm sore, but damn it was worth it.

I went to both Namba Hatch lives, but I remember the second day more. Like it was yesterday. Mostly because... it was yesterday 8D
So, this report is mostly about the 19th.

More importantly, on Friday's live, I had ticket number 12. That's right, two digits. 1-2. TWELVE. !!!!
Best ticket luck I've ever had, and it wasn't even an auction. @.@

The process of getting in more or less first is... very Japanese.

As you all ought to know, numbered lives work by getting people to clump up more or less by number and then letting them in group by groups
For the first bunch, they use a much smaller group, going 1-5, 6-10, 10-15 and so on.
I'm usually much later and they tend to use groups of 20 to 50 at that poins. Not so at the beginning!

Entering Hatch (Which btw is the building next to which I shook Ken's hand all those weeks ago), the security guy walked us two by two, in exact order, past the doors, past the ticket takers, past the drink bar, quietly waiting at every spot... It wasn't possible to run ahead. Some girls tried to come up from behind but they got politely asked to take their spots again.

In fact at the very entrance where we needed to pay an extra 500 yen for drinks (don't ask... it's a Japan thing) I dropped a 50 yen piece and thought I would lose my spot but nooo. The line gently waited for me. I stayed number 12 despite near fail!

The security guy's step by step guidance lasted until we were right in front of the stage. It seems to be the case for the first 50 or so people (enough to fill the front row) then the normal chaos starts. I clung to a spot at the front gate, maybe a meter or so left of Ken's mic stand.

400 tickets later, my Bunneh (hikari_umenoki) joined me up front through the simple strategy of going "pardon me, my friend is up front". Amazing, I know. Only in Japan!

Hatch apparently doesn't have a curtain, or maybe Ken just didn't want to use it, because the stage was completely visible the whole time.
We could see the staffs walk around, adjusting the equipment and testing the instruments.

The stage itself was pretty simply decorated, with just a big CH Lion head at the back and some screens around that would show different coloured patterns with each song. The lion's eye changed colours, too.
And of course, several CHLion plushies were set up on the equipment; drum kit, amps, etc... Rawr :3

After a lot of waiting, the lights dimmed and the live started!

Ken opened with "S", which everyone knows is a frigging sexy song!
He was wearing all black and gray, a black jacket with shiny silver scarf with black pants and shiny black shoes. This being Ken, you can guess how tight the pants were XD

His Thursday outfit had been much more colourful: Red jacket over a white shirt that had one black stripe running up and down and one red stripe left to right, and a hat that he threw off before the first MC.

Of course, as soon as the music started, the crowd started CRUSHING. In the front, there isn't much to do except hold on for dear life. Bunneh managed to get a bit more space while I just held the bar since I would probably fall over if I didn't. The top of the gate was rounded and padded, but despite that I am still bruised where my stomach was pressed into it. Sometimes I couldn't breathe x.X
For the entire live pretty much all I could do is move my head, since body movements were restricted to whatever the crowd was doing. It's not possible to do your own thing, at least not with bird-level strength.
So, headbanging galore~

So yeah, "S". Everyone yelled out "COZ I'M S!!!" with him 8D
Ken has really dramatically improved his singing since JACK IN THE BOX. He also thought up some dances and actually knows how to occupy his hands without a guitar. Lots of dorky dancing throughout~

After "S", it jumped right into SPIN ALONG. I did some screaming and headbanging and tried to not die 8D;;

The band playing with Ken are the same people as for JITB, with the addition of a skinny girl with obvious plastic surgery singing backup sometimes. Mostly she just models the tank top, really. Useless~

After that kickass opening was the first MC. All his MCs are in hard Kansai-ben. Which is very sexy 8D

He talked about rehearsals and how much fun he had making these songs and getting ready for the lives.
"It's so much fun it's making my cock hard". <--- Ken MCs are not for kids.

He asked the crowd "Who's S? Who's M?" Lots of shouts in response, of course.
Then he asked the same thing to his band, but none of them would admit to being M (and they weren't all S...)

He talked about random stuff and toward the end decided that his cock wasn't hard after all...
In Ken pants, it is kinda visible anyway XD;;

He took off the jacket at this point, so for the rest of the live Ken's lovely arms were exposed.
I think he's somewhat less toned now compared to back in the L'Arc tours. *sigh*

He then performed a cover of MUCC (!)
I think the song was Fuyu but I really don't know MUCC well enough to be sure >.<
In any case, Ken was visibly channelling Tatsurou with the jumping and spinning around XD;;

From this point on my memory is more fuzzy and I'm not at all certain of the song order. Apologies if this is wrong.

The second segment of songs was definitely more low key, with songs like Relax Over and a few other songs that I didn't recognize at all. At least two of those were other covers, and not the ones from his singles. With Kengrish lyrics, it is pretty much impossible to identify them 8D;;

In Physical was performed with a mini light show of lasers over the audience. Ken reached his hand into the pretty lights~ Which of course doesn't have much effect. It's just light.

He had a megaphone for the choruses, so it got nicely incomprehensible, too XD
"DO YOU FEEL ME BABY?!" <- megaphoned

Deeper and Speed both sounded great, far better than either did in JITB.
Please don't let past live performances detract from the awesomeness that is Ken. He really learned how to make an awesome show.
Running around from side to side and smiling at all the fans everywhere... he is so CUTEH.

In the second MC, Ken asked each member what their hobbies were. One of the guitarists just said "Playing guitar" (KEN COPYCAT!) and the other, who is often late, got yelled at by the crowd that his hobby is being late. I didn't catch the actual answer -.-

Hatano-san (the keyboardist who also does L'Arc's keyboards, in case anyone doesn't know) said that his hobby is cooking, and he shared a simple recipe with the fans. Take maguro and avocado and serve with a sauce that is half soy, half oil, with a dash of mirin and gochuujan (spicy red Korean sauce of awesome), then sprinkle with sesame seeds and enjoy. Sounds great 8D

Also the bassist (Takashi from... 44 Magnum, I think?) wiped the sweat off Ken's face and bulge (yeah.) and then trhew the sponge at the crowd 8D;;;;

Back to the show!

The next section included such sexyness as Gimme Your Name and ETERNAL REST.
The latter really caused some crushing pain in my ribs x.X
But that is not Ken's fault.

I got sprayed by the drops of his water bottle when he threw it to the crowd, way past my feathered head.

Oh, of course, Ken did take smoke breaks XD Only two or three for the whole live, though.

There was a third MC that went on for a while since the staff were pulling out a lot of fainted people. I think ETERNAL REST was really too much for a lot of people, especially when some idiots tried to copy ken's dancing and promptly fell down to be crushed. >.<

Ken asked who in the room was from Osaka, so of course the bird went WARK!!! Coz this is MY TOWN.
Then he asked who came from far away. One loud girl answered "Saitama" and Ken repeated it, simultaneously moking the high pitched nasal squeak of Japanese fangirls. XDDDD
The actual farthest origin was a girl from Taiwan, who I have actually run into before, several times :3

He also asked for suggestions of what to talk about, and the one he picked up was... food. -.-
Come on fandom, we can do better than that! Not that ken really minded.
He told us all about the teppanyaki he ate for dinner last night. Fascinating, I know.

There were more songs and much more engrish in them, then Ken abruptly walked off stage as he is prone to do.
Everyone knows that means its ENCORE TIME!

The crowd wasn't exactly unanimous on what to shout, though. Lots of "en-co-re", but also some "Ken-chan" and random stuff...

When Ken finally came back, he had changed into the black tank top that is one of the tour goods. Very sexy 8D
The pants he changed into made his bulge rather more visible, to boot. 8D
Hi thar.

He asked what we wanted to hear, and lots of people yelled GUITAR!!!
And then.. he actually got his guitar... and started playing..... LOVER BOY!!

That's right; Ken played LOVER BOY at his own live and it was focking EPIC.
He played the guitar solo and pretty much any guitar part that he wouldn't have to sing during. His singing was le smex, too, as it obviously would be on such a kenish song. I really wish I had a recording of this @.@

That one song was worth alllll the crushing of the crowd and then some.

I could see Ken's guitargasm face like two meters away 8D!!!!!!
*squee*

After that hotness he calmed us down with Save Me, then concluded the show with My Angel.
Ken is so CUTIE himself. :3:3:3:3:3:3

When it was done he waved and wandered genkily off the stage.
The final music was the same Enya song that L'Arc always uses *aww*

I got my feet stomped and my ribs crushed and my back pinched and my arms pounded, but it was allllll worth it.

Go to Ken.

The tour goods are extremely varied, including tour usual tank top and tshirt (and PINK! underpants), wristband, towel stuff, as well as accessories, bags, pouches... and the most ADORABLE lion plushy EVAR!!!

Another cool twist is that the photobook/pamphlet is available not only as a book but also as a USB digital mode 8D

Pic shows the USB plus wristband on birdarm.

HAVE A SHARING! Contents of USB

Ken Liveeee

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 15:07:43 GMT

Just got home from the first Ken live at Namba Hatch.

It was awesome! He really practiced hard. His stage presence is immensely better than it was at JITB las Xmas, for one.
Dancing, smiling, sweaty, Ken. Yes.

Too tired to report, so I'll maybe do it after the 2nd live, tomorrow night :3

MUKIMPO DAY > you

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 11:38:09 GMT

6/9 has come again.

Happy Mukimpo Day to all~

I celebrated with a chocobanana parfait and then a chocolate cake with bananas. <3

In other not-news, it's been a year since the final of L'7.
So much has happened since then it feels like longer. Mostly because of the people I met for and because of that tour.

I'll still be here when you get your butts back here in 2011. :3

LIVE IN PARIS

Tue, 19 May 2009 14:27:07 GMT

Just finished watching.

T.T 8D ^.^ o//o

Thanks for the memories.

(And yeah, I'm on this one too)

LUMINESCENT EYE

Sat, 16 May 2009 04:27:35 GMT

Or, What the Bird has been up to the last two months.

Long story short, just go here : http://luminescent-eye.com/index.html
(English site doesn't have much yet but the Japanese version is mostly in English anyway so don't worry about that)

Ever since the Finale of L'7 in my awesome city of awesome, I have befriended a wonderful group of people who are not only L'Arc fans but also musicians.

I got to see the musical talent initially through cover bands that some of you will have heard of, maybe? ;3

This extended into a crazy event simply known as "the session" which is like 6 hours of Karaoke but with live music. Awesome, much?

These things were all L'Arc-centric, but it so happens that there is life beyond L'Arc, at least for some of my friends.
Some of them are actually active in the Osaka Indie music scene, so I got to go to a lot of lives.

This would have been enough for me, but almost exactly two months ago, I got much more directly involved.

(Check the profile to put faces to names. ^.^)

As it happens, one of my musicians friends, hiro (vocalist), decided to start an original band. He is tired of doing L'Arc covers and wants to develop his own style, so he wanted a band to let him do that. With that goal in mind, he teamed up with KAOL (read Kaoru, bassist and fish enthusiast), over cream soda. The soda was bad but the idea was good, so KAOL dragged in his old friend SYOTA (guitarist) whom he has known since high school. hiro has an apparent skill at discovering talented young pretty people and so he pulled Yuusuke (drummer) out of seemingly nowhere, and tada, a band existed!

Or so you'd think, but that would be far too easy.
In a strange coincidence, hiro got contacted via mixi (a social networking site for JAPAN ONLY since 2008) by a guitarist looking for a band. From the guy's videos, he seemed really skilled, so it was very tempting to make it a five man band with twin guitars.

The catch is that this new guitarist is, in fact, Alex, a Russian. Who can't speak Japanese ~~(nor English -.-)~~. He was getting his girlfriend to write the initial messages for him, but in order to work with the band he would need to use English.

That is when I got called up. Emailed up. Whatever.

For the stalkers on my LJ who don't know, I'm actually a professional interpreter/translator. At first I just wrote emails into English for coordination, but when the first band meeting came around, I showed up to interpret directly. ~~With no other pay than coffee.~~

In case you couldn't guess, all the guys have intensely strong accents. The Russian is not that good with the Angliski, and the other four are very intensely Kansai-jin. HARD Kansai accents all around. Actually I love this fact so it's not a problem, but still woth mentioning if only because, when I did my English-to-Japanese job, KAOL pointed and shouted "OMG She's talking in Kansai-ben!". XD;
(don't hold that against him, he's adorable really. And it is pretty rare for a bird.)

Because I rock at what I do, I still managed to get things across back and forth. Woo.

The first meeting, and the first jam session, went smoothly and before long they were composing songs. SYOTA has an amazing talent for it, despite having never been in an actual band before. All the guys are very serious about this project, and as the only staff member, so am I.

I went from Interpreter to Manager, Photographer, and whatever else needs doing.
So now you know what has been eating my time, and why I haven't posted any new Chronicle translations since, oh, two months ago 8D

Now go on the site and check them out for yourself!
Be sure to check out the music demo! And tell me what you think! It will get passed on 8D

If anybody knows a good (read: active) j-indies comm where I could do some PR, please let me know!

(cross-spammed wherever I feel like it)

Parisversary

Fri, 08 May 2009 05:48:11 GMT

May 8, 2008, was an epic day of awesomeness (and pain) that has actually already been documented but still needs to be commemorated.

That is why I will be having a parfait at the one and only Cafe L'Arc-en-Ciel (note the -, it's supposed to be the cafe that inspired tetsu) with My Bunneh, and we will reminisce.

L'7 Paris Live - A day of Win

*Feathers to all who I met there, however briefly*

I SMELLED KEN!!!!

Sun, 26 Apr 2009 14:40:29 GMT

Today was the long-awaited and muchly advertised day of Ken handshaking in Osaka!!!

SQUEE!

He also did a radio talk before shaking hands with literally over a thousand fans.

THIS BIRD WAS THERE AND SMELLED KEN PERSONALLY ~~omgsqueediesneverwasheswingagain~~

The event was held at Minatomachi river place, which is a set of docks and stairs (lots and LOTS of stairs) leading to the Rivers of Osaka.
It's also right behind Namba Hatch.

Since I had been there before I had no trouble getting there 8D

Even though the emails and instructions SAID it wasn't first-come-first-served, obviously no one believed that since the place was pretty full even an hour early.
In fact, some people I know showed up at 5 am (effectively, on the first train into Namba) just for this!
Yeah I know some crazy people 83

live_addict got there a bit before me and saved some space in the line, which was on some stairs.
Riverplace is 90% stairs though so that's not actually very descriptive...
We were joined by spherehunter and hikari_umenoki, (everyone else I knew and saw is only mixi ~~and can't read English anyway~~),
then proceeded to get rained on for a couple hours.

The set-up was that anyone who had the proof-of-purchase ticket from IN PHYSICAL (BUY IT) could show up and get in line.
From 11 to 2, the tickets could be traded in for another ticket with a number on it. That number is the order in which we could go shake hands with Ken.

In THEORY the numbers were supposed to be random, and in THEORY people who bought more than one copy of the album could get in line twice (or more) and get multiple numbers.
Neither of these things were true and I DONT KNOW WHY!!! (Maybe it worked out badly in Tokyo the day before?)

In any event, my feathered butt was number 1015, and the totally NOT ACTUALLY RANDOM numbering system meant were all in sequence there.

Problem was that there was still a lot of time to kill. We went off somewhere warm to eat lunch, then came back to Riverplace at 2pm, when the instructions were going to be announced.

Then we left again, and came back at three when things actually got started. KYAAA.

At 3, Ken came out and did a radio show with FM Osaka. I don't think it was broadcast live, though I could be wrong there, and anyway I don't have an Mp3, but here is my AMAZING BIRD MEMORY TRANSCRIPT!
IN TRANSLATION!

(The questions came from fans via questionnaires that we didn't fill out in time. I think.)

- KEN TALK!! -
*Please read in hard Kansai-ben while appending -yanen to every other sentence*

IN PHYSICAL was playing in the background at low volume the entire time.

First, he thanked everyone for coming and for listening to his album.
It was raining and windy, so of course Ken commented on the cold!

Ken : It was cold in Tokyo yesterday too! Hey did anyone come yesterday too?
(a handful of hands go up)
Ken : Which was colder? There or here?
(garbled Kyas)

Then he asked for a show of hands: How many people listened to IN PHYSICAL 10 times or more? 20 times or more? 100 times?
(Some people actually claimed to have done this. The album having come out just a few days ago, this is barely even possible with it on repeat constantly and not sleeping or ever turning it off...)

Next the radio host guy took out the questions from fans and read some selected ones to Ken.

First, since this is Osaka, and Ken is from around here (fuck yeah ^.^v), what is his best memory of Osaka?

Ken : Well, back in the day I had a job in a tanning salon in Osaka. One of my customers was a trannnie, and there was a big debate between me and the rest of the staff about whether we should put him in with the men or the women. I always thought he should go in with the women, because he said he was a woman on the inside and that's what he wanted to do. So what ended up happening was that if there were no girl customers, we let him go in the women's section, but otherwise he had to go with the men. I really thought we should just let him pick, but oh well. That's my best memory of Osaka.

There was also a question about the song "S" (which is awesome) and how Ken saw himself as S vs. M.

Ken: I feel like an S when I'm practicing my guitar, and I push myself really hard, and then when I get tired I force myself to practice some more.
Crowd : Uhh.. That's M?
Ken : Whaddya mean that's M? I'm being totally S with myself!!
Ken : Okay, I guess the side of me that is being forced is M, but the S side is stronger. I'M S.
Ken : I feel like M when it comes to food. I can never decide what to eat in restaurants, so I let other people decide everything for me.
(crowd not impressed)
Ken : What? It's not M enough for you? Well too bad! I'm an S all the time! Nandeyannen!

There was a question about how he drank so much water during the recording of the album.

Ken : Oh yeah, that. Well see, I read that to make your voice sound nicer, you shouldn't smoke, and you shouldn't drink coffee, and you should drink a lot of water. Well, I can't give up smoking, and I can't give up coffee, but I can drink water, so I figured I'd just drink tons of water to make it work. But then I had to go pee all the time. I'd be recording a song, and then I couldn't focus, and I had to go pee for ages.
Host: Is there a brand of water that you prefer to drink?
Ken : Brand? No way. Just tap water is fine. Or whatever. I really don't care about that. Do you guys actually know the difference between brands of water?
Crowd : (mixed answers, but noticeable YES)
Ken : YOU LIARS! There is no difference. YOU CANT TASTE WATER YANNEN!
bird (unheard) : ~~YES YOU CAN AND I WILL MAKE A BLINDFOLD BET WITH YOU TO PROVE IT.~~

More album questions -

he was asked about the importance of synths and piano, which are prominent on this album, but I don't really remember the details of the answer... Just that he had fun with it but guitar is much more important to him, really.

As for the lyrics...

Ken: You know, I can write songs pretty fast. I can make up a new song from scratch really fast. But when I write lyrics fast, they end up really dirty and perverted. So for this album I made an effort to not make the lyrics dirty.
Crowd : ....... o.o
Ken : What? Whaddya mean it still sounds dirty?
(everyone quotes some choice pieces at him)
Ken : Oh come on that's not dirty :3 When I say "I eat you" I'm not saying what it means. I didn't say what I'm eating. If you want to imagine something dirty, then it's your own fault. My songs are not dirty, but my listeners might be. 8D

Also, his favourite song from the album is My Angel.

Randomly, someone asked Ken if he is the Rain Man.
Ken : No, I'm not. I didn't bring the rain. I can't control the weather. Yeah, I know the forecast said it wasn't gonna rain, but it's really not my fault. I have this guy on my staff though, y-san, I think it might be his fault. You can blame him.

Next there were questions about lives.

Someone asked if he'd been to or was planning to go to any VAMPS lives, but no, Ken hasn't seen hyde around much lately.

As for Ken's own lives...

Ken : I'm going to focus on the singing. I think I've come a long way, but I still not to focus hard. I can't play guitar and sing at the same time, so yeah, I'm only going to sing. During the guitar solos, I'll be drinking water and just taking a break. I won't smoke though. (..!!!! This I need to see to believe)

Then there was a question about whether he likes it when his fangirls show up in miniskirts.
Ken : Miniskirts... Well the thing is, it doesn't matter, because I can't usually see. Even with the fans in the very front, I can't see their legs, so I can't tell who's wearing a skirt. But bikinis on the other hand 8D OF COURSE BIKINIS ARE AWESOME! It's obvious. Bikinis are great, you don't need to ask.

About his hair -

Ken: I don't think about my hair. I just let the staff take care of it. So when I don't have any lives or TV or anything, I let it grow out. Then the staff tell me if I need to cut it or not. It's easy. Right now it's getting long (it was longer than when he was seen on TV for Deeper), but it'll probably be different when I come back here for the lives.

He was also asked what TV shows he's been watching lately, and his reply was GARACTICA!! 8D
Which of course has Deeper as the ending theme.

Some grumbling went up from the crowd. Apparently it doesn't play on regular Kansai TV... (I don't watch the Japanese version so I didn't know)

Ken : Oh. Uh.. get better channels? I dunno. It's not my fault. I don't decide these things. Oh I know, you can rent the DVDs! Season 3 is about to come out on DVD. Go rent it. It's really good. And you can hear Deeper.

Then there was a lottery with the shake-hands numbers. I didn't win and didn't know the girls who did.
The winners got autographed t-shirts.

There was also a bizarre interlude where this guy who rides around on a hand-held wheel with another guy holding his legs up (like a human wheelbarrow) appeared, TV camera in tow, and met Ken on the stage.
Ken was impressed by wheel guy's er... PHYSICAL attributes, and talked both him and the leg-holder guy into taking their shirts off. Then he molested their nipples. (Really. I am not making this up.)
Ken refused to take his own clothes off though, claiming "my belly is too chubby".

In total, the talk was about 45 minutes. When it was over, Ken left and the lining-up-by-numbers began.
They announced that it would take at least an hour to get through 800 people, so if your number was higher than 800 you could leave until 5 or so.
That is exactly what we did.

Just after 5, we came back, and got in the line, and then OMFGISHOOKKENSHAND! AND I SMELLED HIM!!!!!!!

Really, this rare opportunity to smell a L'Arc member was the top priority.
I was so focused on getting his scent that I almost forgot to look up..

Bird : *Takes hand, leans in. SNIFFS*
Ken : ......Haro?
Bird: *Looks up* Ehehe, hello 8D;;;;;

My brain took a snapshot of the moment, though.

His hands are big and soft and warm. Very smooth. Handshake is smooth, not very hard but definitely present.

His scent is... Okay well I associate smells with colours, at least when it comes to people, so I would have to say Ken's scent is black. Jet black, obsidian even, with a starry-nigh-sky sheen over it.
It was also slightly peppery, but I'm pretty sure that was his rained-on wool sleeve. Above the black core, he smelled like a rained on, slightly sweaty Japanese man.
Nothing special, actually. I wouldn't notice this in the streets.
BUT HE DID -NOT- SMELL EVEN REMOTELY LIKE CIGARETTE SMOKE!!! YAY!!!

When I looked up at him (he isn't actually THAT tall, by non-Japanese standards...)... His dark eyes were sharply looking AT me. He was definitely not just going through the motions.
He was shaved, but not very cleanly, like maybe he shaved yesterday but not this morning. He was smiling brightly and sincerely.

It's Ken. He really loves his fans.

And I shook his hand and smelled him. 8DDDDDDDDD

Now I have three more members to sniff. Gotta catch 'em all.

Lastly, here's a pic of my Ken-touched hand, taken minutes after the Moment.

Hours of waiting in the rain and wind, for a few seconds with Ken... Worth it?
YES. IT WAS.

Enjoyed.

(talk x-posted around)

Ken - IN PHYSICAL review

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 12:48:18 GMT

Mmm, smexy.

I bought IN PHYSICAL the second it was physically possible 8D;

Here's a quick review typed up as I appreciate the album in surround sound ~

1. Repose in Sound Sleep
- A Ken song without Ken's voice! Good in principle yes? 8D
It's a nice little intro to the album, but... I don't feel the album is really tied together by anything, so the song doesn't actually introduce a -theme- or -mood- or anything. It's just "Hey look what I can do" by Ken-chan.
Which is actually TOTALLY OKAY because he is awesome like that.
Yes.

2. "S"
- Everyone already knows this song is le smex, right? *drools*
It's about sex, by a sexy person, dripping with evilly sexy intent. As a total "M" I just melted in the dirty thoughts.
Muscially, it is pure rock; messy, heavy, dirty Ken rock. This (and hand-shaking) is the reason to buy the album, if you needed one!
VeryBirdApproved.
Oh and the PV: DoubleVeryBirdApproved.

3. In Physical
- Ken-chan wrote this song while mentally in 1985? *cough*
Actually, it's pretty good. Sounds like... Epic Space Opera with the 80s on the side.
Also has lyrics that made me crack up: "I EAT YOU NOW" XDDDDDDDDDD
Bird Approved.

4. Spin Along
- Another heavy rock song, this time also heavy on the engrish. It's so Ken.
Features a lovely guitar solo among all the hardcoreness. My favourite track after "S".
Bird Approved! Obviously.
5. ETERNAL REST
- Mneh. It's not awful, but it's not very good either.
Methinks Ken had too much fun with the synthesizer. It jumps from "empty" to "full" very abruptly. Catchy enough but just...
Something's missing. Not quite bird approved.

6. Speed
and
7. Deeper
- Since these were singles, I don't feel the need to comment on them again here.

8. Gimme Your Name
- Another naughty piece. ~o~ Ken is a very dirty man.
This song is hard rock again, so rawr :3
Catchy, dirty, heavy, what more can you really ask for? Maybe for the guitar solo not to have his voice marring it, yeah.
Still, Bird approved.

9. Relax Over
- Mneeeh. The only good thing is the pretty guitar solo, which is relatively long, too.
Not quite bird approved.

10. My Angel
- Aww the Engrish of winnage 8D So Cutie.
Quite appealing, and will probably be approved by many people. It's not exactly what I prefer, but still likeable.
It ~~is blatantly~~ seems related at the core to twinkle twinkle. Aw.

11. Save Me
- Yes, Save me from this song X.x
This is the song I -least- want to hear live. Ow. @.@
Okay so I already don't like slow stuff, and this is slow, but it's a vocal-heavy KEN song. That is pain. This will never go on my ipod.
NOT BIRD APPROVED.

Conclusion : It's a good taste of Ken. As an album, it definitely lacks a little something. Or three little somethings, even. *sigh* Of course it's Not L'Arc, but if you can get past that and appreciate Ken's lovely composing and kick-ass guitar, then it is worth listening to. ~~Just skip Save Me. Save yourself.~~ Focus on "S". Yessssss.

Go buy it and support Ken! You know you wanna. Coz you're "M" to his "S".

GLAMOROUS SKY ENGLISH

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 15:26:39 GMT

Fucking Rocks.

Download it here. Before Fliday.

The translation's a bit off; it's so him.

BTW anyone want my poster? Provided I can think up a way to ship it without too much damage, that is.
It just shows the cover pic but is much larger. Free + Shipping. Any takers?

CHRONICLE 4

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 11:56:29 GMT

...

It's the most Japanese chronicle yet.
Which means that yes, it IS pretty fucking weird 8D

It's also awesome. In its own peculiar way.

MY HEART DRAWS A DREAM's segment was so moving that I felt the need to write out the full title.

If someone that knows more about Japanese art could take a look, and then please tell me if there's some kind of joke I'm missing.

Quibble -
I Wish 2007 wasn't included, but since it already exists on DVD I guess that's not surprising.

Oh and the making film is way better than C3's was XD
hysus can DANCE babeh~

Ken - Deeper SOUND ONLY

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 10:13:36 GMT

Found this via mixi, turned out it was also on youtube

Radio quality is not enough! Single - DO WANT!
I forgive his singing when the guitar is so... himself.

*Feel free to repost video, its not mine in the first place*

MWHAHAHAHAHAHA I DID IT

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 08:36:21 GMT

Today I got my JLPT results in the mail.

Birdbrain

has

PASSED

Hellz yeah Kanjis I pwnz you nao.