アンドロメタモルフォーゼ

Blog Move!

Aah, I haven't written on here in a long time, mostly because of a combination of lack of time and devoting more effort to my other sites.  Also nothing too interesting has been going on recently that I'd feel the need to write about.  But, that's probably going to change since there's going to be big changes in my life coming up soon, which is why I decided that along with those new shifts I'd renew my personal blogging at a more low-key level over at wordpress.  Hopefully I'll be able to keep up with it better now that I'll have more freedom and exciting things happening. ^_^  Right now there's nothing there and it's still under construction, but over the next few months I think I'll try to start updating more frequently.

Cold + Snow + Wind = :(

I arrived back at my apartment yesterday, and just a few hours later it started to rain, then snow...T_T;;  I'm glad I missed it while traveling but it means trudging through nasty slush to go to class tomorrow, not to mention the cold and wind that's predicted to continue until like, Thursday or so. *sigh*  I wish winter were over already...or at least that it wouldn't be so wet.  Mostly I dislike it for the uncomfortableness but also the inconvenience of not being able to wear a good percentage of my wardrobe in this weather.  My pretty suede boots, flats, and cutout booties are all unusable and it frustrates me.  The weather also discouraged me from doing my grocery shopping, so I'll have to do it later in the week.  Hopefully this semester will be less busy than the last, since I have more time and my courses seem like they might be a little less work-intensive.

One thing I managed to successfully do over break was get some more work wear.  I actually found a decent suit in my size, two pairs of pants, one pencil skirt, two shirts, and two pairs of shoes (heels and flats).  Plus they were all decently priced or on sale!  However I still really need more tops, which are the hardest thing to find since proper fit is a major problem.  I'm also rather picky about my clothes...I want to look professional but still classy and fashionable, and finding a happy medium between drab, boring outfits and inappropriately loud or sexy items is a bit of a challenge while still trying to save money.  My suit is dark grey with a silvery inner lining and the pumps I got have grey and a bit of silver snakeskin, which makes them the second pair of shoes I own with a silver snakeskin pattern. ;P hehe  The flats are black leather and patent with a round silver metal embellishment on top.  I'm still looking for the perfect affordable and comfortable pair of black pumps but no luck so far...every time I found one I liked they didn't have my size or were exorbitantly expensive.

Another great thing that happened last week is that my translation blog surpassed 100,000 views!  It's already several thousand past that now, but it was a bit of a milestone so seeing it happen made me very happy.  I'm so glad people enjoy reading my translations, so thanks to everyone who's checked them out!
Randomly, something that's also made me happy recently is that girugamesh have been doing more and more video comments lately, which is always a good thing since they're hilarious.  Satoshi in particular seems to be hyper and crazy almost all the time, he's like a little kid! XD  I love it when bands do video series, girugamesh has been doing the latest one for sc24 cafe...a lot of other bands also have their own weekly shows on the website.  vistlip's "Rough the vistlip" is one of the most interesting, they're another amusing band to watch.  I also loved the funny fashion check they did for their new album release...they acted like scathing gay fashion critics, saying things like "How vulgar!" and "I can't forgive these wrinkles!" lol ^_^;  They even called the handprints on Umi's sweatshirt "slutty" and asked "whose are those?", hahaha.  One of the funniest parts is when Yuh the guitarist asks, "Well, then what should I do to improve?" and bassist Rui snappily says "Think of it yourself!" XD

もうすぐ戻らなくちゃ

Ugh, I go back to school next week... -_-;  Break always passes so fast, there's still lots of stuff I wanted to do but I guess I'll have to wait....at least we have more days off in spring semester.  I spent the past week with some Japan friends who came to visit, so once again I kind of disappeared for a while and didn't post anything.  Over at my translation blog the requests have been pouring in faster than usual, so I've got some catching up to do.  Right now I'm doing some last minute shopping for things I need while the sales are still on.  I spent all yesterday looking for clothes for work and couldn't find my size in anything...I swear, when I go back to Japan I'm gonna buy a ton of clothes to stock up. *grumble*

Canticum

Anyways, I've also recently been listening to forbidden days rhapsody's first release, 'Canticum'.  It's atmospheric and almost entirely instrumental, but beautiful and moody with a feeling that matches the cover perfectly...somewhat dark and gloomy but with blooms of colour and light throughout.  The album finds a good balance between the stimulating and soothing, overlaying chaotic electronic harmonies with minimalistic violin, piano, and guitar melodies.  Seeing as Mika, ex-drummer of RENTRER EN SOI is part of the group, you can definitely recognize some similar hints in their sound.  In some moments it's reminiscent of RES' very early work and the elegant, delicate melodies they often used. 

It's interesting that vocalist Satsuki's solo work also sounds closer to RES' early music...probably the members wanted to take different directions and play in other, lighter styles that just didn't fit into the concept and progression of RES.  Even though I miss RES they were brilliant while they lasted, and the subsequent work of the members is great as well.  I think it's wonderful to hear them evolving and going to new places with their music, rather than having them stagnate and feel like they're trapped in a concept that's run its course.

forbidden days rhapsody 1st mini album「canticum」PREVIEW

I read the GazettE manager's blog post this morning...he mentioned a conversation he had with Uruha about his jogging.  Uruha always goes jogging in the middle of the night and has been doing it quite a lot recently since the band's been having shows and they need to be in shape.  He said when he went to buy more jogging gear he bought some item that's probably normally used by serious athletes running in the Tokyo marathon and the shop clerk asked Uruha if he was able to participate in such a big event. ^^;  Sakai was like "How rude!".  Anyway, the manager said he thinks it's great that Uruha's aiming to be healthier, but now if they could only get him to quit drinking! XD haha, I don't think that's happening anytime soon...  

久しぶり〜！

Wow, I haven't written anything in quite a long time...and I don't even have any particular reason why I haven't been writing, especially for the past few weeks, since I finished the semester early this year and have just been relaxing and enjoying the break.  I suppose it's because I was working so hard non-stop all the time that once I had nothing in my schedule all of a sudden, I kind of didn't know what to do with myself.  Of course I caught up with translation requests and stuff, but there was definitely a period where I felt so restless and just plain weird that I couldn't get myself to do much of anything at all.  Sort of like I couldn't stand to do anything productive anymore, but conversely was irritated at myself that I wasn't doing anything useful. >_>

Well, now that Christmas is close and the holiday season is in high gear, we've been making obscene amounts of treats at my house.  So far we have gingerbread cupcakes with lemon frosting, candied orange peel dipped in chocolate, almond crescent cookies, ginger-lemon cookies sandwiched with apricot jam, and two traditional British Christmas cakes (basically a rum fruitcake with marzipan covering and white royal frosting).  Oh, and tomorrow the plan is to whip up a lemon meringue pie and start the preparation of the duck for Christmas dinner.  It's insanity.  There's only four of us eating all this stuff!  And I've certainly not been doing enough exercise to compensate for it since I came back...I've already noticed I'm losing muscle and getting a bit pudgier in places. -_-lll lol  Well, it's the holidays, so whatever...

DIM SCENE TOUR FINAL AT SAITAMA SUPER ARENA

I've actually already gotten most of my Christmas presents because I picked them out myself.  One was the GazettE's new DIM SCENE DVD, which was amazing!!  The guys were all in great shape and gave a really top-notch performance.  I loved the way they used the LED screens and lights and the crowd was just going crazy!  There were older people, little children, even BABIES in the audience and everyone was so riled up and excited it was infectious watching it...I wish I could've been there for real, it looks like it was such a blast!  Though Ruki's hair became increasingly annoying as it got frizzier from all the headbanging, his vocals were brilliant and I was also surprised and happy to see how outgoing Aoi was...he kinda stole the show (for me at least) with his singing, dancing, little MC, and all those cool moves.  And, it was great to watch Uruha play the guitar from 'DIM SCENE', 'Without a Trace', and '13 STAIRS[-]1' live...I've been dying to hear them since the album came out!
Though perhaps some of the performances of older songs on previous DVDs are still slightly better imo, DIM SCENE is a concert I find myself able to watch all the way through without skipping any songs at all, which is quite rare.  The setlist was superb and though RCE perhaps had more striking, singularly memorable moments like the opening of 'Gentle Lie', DIM SCENE more than makes up for it with sophisticated, gorgeous visuals, crisp images and good editing where you can see the members clearly, and a frantic, explosive, intense energy that rivals all their DVDs to date.

Skagen

Since my old watch broke, my parents got me a new one as another present.  It's a sleek, elegant Skagen with smooth black leather strap, a very thin, shiny silver case, and crystal indicators.  I love how minimalist and small it is.  I always have trouble finding watches like everything else here, since I have small wrists, but luckily Skagen makes stylish petite sized watches. : )

Well, as I wait for Christmas to officially come, I've been spending my time watching lots of movies and episodes of a Japanese tv show called Tensai! Shimura Doubutsuen.  It's the cutest thing ever, I used to watch it sometimes in Japan.  It's the perfect mix of cute, fluffy animals, funny happenings and touching moments, haha. ^_^  Oh, I'm also writing nengajo to send to my host parents since the New Year's coming up...2010 is the year of the tiger!

I'll also be working my way translating a good portion of girugamesh's new album 'NOW'.  I like the album but similar to 'Music', I think girugamesh are definitely still composing in a style that's akin to dance music in that it's best experienced not listening to the CD, but during a live where you can feel the energy of the beat and move to the music properly.  For sure it's not my favourite work by them, but still a fun collection of songs I'll be rotating through for a while.

OMFG, IT'S HERE AT LAST - 9GOATS FULL ALBUM!!!!

9GOATS BLACK OUT

FIRST FULL ALBUM 「TANATOS」

RELEASE MARCH 24, 2010

キタ━(ﾟ∀ﾟ)━！!!
Amid dreading the horrible impending doom and busyness that awaits me in my last stretch of presentations, papers and finals for the next two weeks, this announcement was like a ray of divine light in my life!  I cannot express how incredibly happy this makes me...I plan on pre-ordering it as soon as possible!  I can't wait to hear what they've been up to all these past months!

Black Friday!

I usually don't go shopping during Thanksgiving sale weekend because the crowds are murderous and I normally spend the holiday at home with my family, but this year I finish the semester so early it wasn't worth the trip back (since I would come back and then leave again in a week for X-mas break) so I've just stayed put in my apartment.  I went out on the dreaded Friday, but the crowds weren't so bad, probably because the rainy, windy weather put some people off.  I also popped out again today to get a few things I had my eye on yesterday...I ended up spending yesterday mostly on clothes, today on shoes.  Despite the dismal conditions outside, I managed to get some really awesome deals.  I bought some dressy collared shirts, a cute Silence & Noise strapless dress in blue, a pretty black sequined tank, and a pencil skirt that was almost 70% down from the original price.  Oh, and I replaced my favourite little clutch-sized umbrella that broke while I was in Japan.  I was excited to see they had it in silver this year, so I went for that instead of getting the black w/ polka dots like I had before. : )

I finally got a few pairs of shoes I'd be looking at for a while but hadn't been willing to take the plunge on because of the price.  Despite things being reduced, I try not to fall for that alone and always consider whether the final price I pay is really worth it for the item.  I'd been wanting to get some more adventurous, stylish shoes for going out in, so when I saw the deals on these gorgeous booties I grabbed them right away.  I seriously waited to the last minute on these.  They've been hot this season and selling like crazy, so I barely managed to get my size while they were still available.  I also got these super cute, versatile heels 50% off (I looove the 80's flair...I adore anything glam ^^).  And I didn't pay more than $65 for any of them. :D

Abi

Savior 27

Auteri

motivationなし

I've been feeling so tired this week and I don't even know why...I'm just fed up and want a vacation for real.  I can't bring myself to focus on work at all, so I've been wasting most of my time going online, watching some stand-up comedy, and basically spacing out.  This always happens every year around this time when it's close to the holidays and the end of the semester.  Hopefully I'll manage to pull myself together enough to do a decent job on my next paper about mental illness that's due next week. -_-;

By the way, something disconcerting I've become more aware of recently is how many people find tattoos objectionable.  Of course most people from older generations who aren't used to it aren't too enthusiastic about them, but increasingly I've come across a lot of people from younger generations, even some my own age, that find them totally unappealing.  I get that not everyone finds them attractive, and that's perfectly understandable, but to go as far as saying they're disgusting or grotesque is very extreme and I found the fact that some people say such things pretty disturbing and shocking.  I suppose it's because within the social circles and scenes I'm part of tattoos are pretty common and considered a beautiful way of expressing oneself and embellishing one's body.  I mean, most of my friends and I find them very attractive when done in a nice way.  I think really cliche tattoos just picked out of a book without thinking much about it can be ugly and stupid, but if you get a tattoo that means something special to you done by a skilled artist, then it's a very beautiful thing.  I don't know, that sort of negative sentiment about them really threw me off because I usually think of tattoos as enhancing a person, not negating their other positive physical features and general attractiveness.  The same can be said of piercings, though I'm personally more picky about them.

Then again, I don't consider my values or preferences on most things anywhere near mainstream sensibilities, so I guess it's to be expected that I can't relate much.  But that does make it harder to carry on those sorts of conversations with the average person, especially in this country, because we generally have very little in common.

Life, Music, and Paris

Haah, the last few weeks have been pretty crazy...I've been in the process of preparing applications, making sure recommendations are done on time, and writing a ton of papers.  So many deadlines to deal with...it's rather stressful. >_<  But now I'm almost entirely ready to hand in my application, which hopefully if I get in will mean I'll be heading back to Japan for another year, perhaps longer.  I'm really keepin' my fingers crossed on that, cause I know for sure that Japan is the place for me, at least at this point in my life, so I'm determined to find some kind of work there.  If all else fails, the only other place I'd want to be is NYC, or maybe the UK.  It's a tough world out there right now though, so naturally I'm a bit nervous about the prospects.

On another note, we watched the very interesting documentary 'Paris is Burning' in my gender class last week.  It's about drag, ball culture, and the gay community of 1980's New York.  It obviously deals with issues of gender and sexuality, but also poverty, racial discrimination, and inequality.  It's a really touching look at how these people dealt with the prejudice and hardship they faced in their lives by creating the balls and "voguing" as a way to express themselves and be who they wanted to be, imagine they could achieve all that they wanted, even if only for a little while.  I think the idea that fame lives within, that despite the limitations of the real world you can feel just as fabulous as any celebrity without the money or having people know who you are is something that can resonate with a lot of people.  It's also extremely interesting to see how certain aspects of gay subculture worked their way into the mainstream (e.g. Madonna's 'Vogue') and now influence the fashion industry that the voguers at the balls admired and emulated.

I know it's been said before, but I really do believe that the LGBT movement and women's rights are among the most vital issues of our time.  Fighting to improve women's rights would also do so much to help alleviate poverty all over the world, and finally surpassing the hurdle of equality for all genders and sexualities would help push many other equality movements as well.  It's so sad and hard to understand how people can be so close-minded, intolerant, and downright despicable to other human beings sometimes, especially when it's a dispute over something like who we love.

Moving to the music front, I can't stop listening to 'LORELEI' by DELUHI!  I love how they mix in that arabseque acoustic solo and the Middle Eastern influenced sounds...it's really beautiful and goes surprisingly well with their metal style.  Although incorporating that kind of aesthetic has been done to an extent by various groups before, I think DELUHI is the only one so far to continue drawing the theme through their music more consistently, rather than it being just a phase.

In other news, the Lady Gaga's video for 'Bad Romance' is out and causing quite a stir.  It certainly has some impressive visuals and outrageous fashion...it could take a while to deconstruct all of what's going on here.  I like how she injects intelligence, serious creative direction, attention to visual elements, and avant-garde style into the cesspool of mainstream pop.  She also has good sensibilities, is level-headed, and represents values and a female presence I find far more relatable and real than the sugary, vapid plasticness of most other normative women in pop.  Although she works in pop, she does have a sort of rockstar-ish, dirty and tough atmosphere that's very appealing.  People always give dance, electronic, and pop music a bad rap, but I don't think that comes from a problem with the medium itself, but rather is the result of misinterpretation, lack of knowledge, and the uninspired way it's used by some artists.

Across the pond, Patrick Wolf has put out a video for 'Damaris' off his album "The Bachelor" that was released just this summer.  It's quite surprising, although the concept and presentation is fairly simple, because most of his music videos thus far have been either solitary or with groups of dancers/characters, but never featured such an intimate two person relationship.  The parallel between Patrick alone at the grave and the scene with the two of them lying together in white was particularly beautiful and well done.  It's at once sweet but heartbreaking, and we get to see yet another vulnerable side of Patrick that's very different from the other two videos from this album.  In 'Vulture' there was vulnerability in a physical sense, while 'Hard Times' focused more on strength and overcoming difficulties.  Though his work has always been eclectic, I was quite happy to see him bring a bit of the traditional English aesthetic back into his videos visually, because I will always be enamored of his 'Wind in the Wires' period with all that great imagery from Cornwell.  The video for 'Damaris' also has a definite mythical quality to it that goes perfectly with lyrics.  I can't say it's my favourite video by him, but it's certainly another wonderful addition to his body of work.

I should be doing work, but...

カラス

I just have to say I'm really excited about カラス, the new self-proclaimed neo-visual kei super unit made up of Tatsurou from MUCC, Hiroto from Alice Nine, Mizuki from Sadie, dunch from jealkb, and Kenzo from Ayabie.  They first got together at this year's JACK IN THE BOX event, but now they're going to record a studio version of an original song they made together!  I wonder if the unit will stick around and put out a few significant releases or just fade away like S.K.I.N. did, but for the time being I'm eagerly awaiting the release of the song, which is called 'LASTICA'.  It sounds very interesting from the preview clip on their myspace (the last few seconds sorta remind me of the British band Muse's work in a way...a little futuristic but more industrial).  I think the whole group and the sound is refreshing in the midst of the current v-kei scene...I always love it when artists collaborate and mix things up because it's just a great opportunity for new creativity.  I also find it very interesting that they're actively using the term "neo-visual kei"...perhaps this represents a move among artists to really take hold of that term and clearly define it for themselves, since it's been more of a word used by the media and attached to bands thus far, so the meaning of it has been relatively vague.

Fifre 120

Also, shifting over to fashion again...though there's no way in hell I could ever afford these (or rather, permit myself to spend so much on one pair of shoes), I can't help ogling and admiring this absolutely amazing-looking pair of Fifre 120 Christian Louboutin ankle boots. *_* They're so pretty....but so, so outrageously expensive. T_T  Just looking at the price makes me want to curl up in a ball (let's just say I could feed myself for half a semester with the money it would take to buy these).  But they are lovely to look at...Louboutin always makes such gorgeous, classic designs. <3

またかよぉ〜

Yggdalive

Ugh, I have yet another paper to write this weekend, and I have no idea how to approach it because the topic is so vague...what a bummer. -_-;  I'm also hoping to translate DELUHI's new mini-album 'Yggdalive' in the near future...I don't have time to do a full post and rant on in detail about it, but it's pretty awesome so anyone who hasn't heard it yet should go give it a listen!  Leda's guitar work is love as always. <3  There are deliciously heavy metal-inspired riffs, some seriously high powered drumming, uplifting choruses, a sweet bass solo, a few funky/popish moments, and the shockingly soft and smooth "Hoshi no nai Yoru ni".  DELUHI has really expanded their horizons beyond my expectations with this release, proving they can rock a number of different styles skillfully and naturally.  For a first effort I was surprised how well they pulled off a lot of the new influences and styles.  Plus the sound quality of their work has taken a significant step up from previous releases as well, which is great.  I also can't wait till the full version of the "REVOLVER BLAST" PV comes out.  At first I wasn't too keen on it, and it's still not my favourite track, but the full song turned out to be a lot heavier than the chorus let on.  Here's some more samples:  "Wake Up!"    "Follow the Future"    "Flow Snow"

houndstooth coat

I'm pretty excited for next week because the new coat I ordered should be arriving.  It's a really cute black and white pleated Victoria houndstooth coat by BB Dakota.  It was so much cheaper than I expected (even less than the average for a similar coat at many other, more popular brand stores...but I think they tend to hike the price) and definitely miles away from the $3,650 or so price tag on the Alexander McQueen designs it takes inspiration from. >_<  I'd actually been endlessly debating over whether to go for a black or a white coat but this one totally solves that problem.  I can't wait to wear it with my tall, black suede high-heeled boots. :D  I've been refreshing my wardrobe lately not only for the fall/winter season, but looking for more sophisticated, classic pieces, because I've realized I need to expand beyond my existing functional/casual and not-so-work-appropriate rock-inspired looks.  I need more mature, career oriented items too but it's always so hard to find my size in those areas.

In other news, the GazettE's manager posted some more interesting anecdotes today.  Apparently the band hasn't been meeting up a lot lately since they're making songs and on break, but they had a photoshoot and such recently and when he and Kai were talking about posting photos on their blogs Kai showed the manager a certain photo on his phone and Sakai asked "Is this a pro wrestler?" to which Kai said "No, it's me!" and was like "See, look!" and proceeded to flash his newly buffed-up arms!  Then the manager was all like, "Wow, they've gotten really big!" 0_0.  I knew Kai had started working out to increase his muscles (he even got a personal trainer, I heard) but now I'm really curious to see how much of a difference there is!  Is it that drastic?! o_0  Also, apparently Aoi decided to invite everyone at PSC to dinner (they made a reservation for close to 20 people, he said) and Aoi paid for them all!  Sakai was super happy and said, "What a manly thing to do!  You're the best!  Thanks!" lol ^^;