Remember my report of the New York City premiere of the movies DEATH NOTE and DEATH NOTE II a few months ago?
It looks like director Kaneko Shusuke's homepage has been updated with his visits to NYC and Montreal for the movie screenings/premieres. And hey, one of my photos was actually used on the page! The photo they picked got cropped and I almost didn't recognize it though I was puzzling to myself about how familiar it looked.
(I just noticed: you can see my workplace in the page header. One of those buildings contains my firm's Americas headquarter. *is amused*)
I knew the homepage was going to be updated a few months ago, but totally forgot about it until I saw an old e-mail in my inbox and decided to check the site out.
Anyway, cool! I feel as if I contributed to Japanese film-making history somehow by helping to document events such as this. XP
This is still not confirmed by official sources yet. I'll update this when more information become available.
According to a concert-goer to the GazettE's live in Berlin today, in one of the flyers handed out after the concert, PS Company bands alice nine., Kagrra,, Kra, SuG, and SCREW will be performing at R:ID Mega Event in Cologne, Germany on December 29, 2007.
Ticket sales begin on November 1.
My favorite record label/artist management company! Ahh, how I want to live in Germany!
Update: Confirmed by Kagrra,'s official homepage. Merry Christmas, Germans.
Okay guys, how the heck do you decide which version of D's upcoming album, 「Neo culture」～Beyond the world～, to order? The album comes with 2 limited editions, each with a different PV (types A and B), and 1 normal edition without PV (type C). Assuming you can only buy one version ('cause who the hell has the money to throw around anyway?), how do you arrive at your final choice?
If you're not attracted to limited editions like me, I suppose it's easy enough to just get the normal edition. But the rest of you guys, like-minded compatriots you are, do you have any special method or reasoning to get either type A or type B?
Right now, I'm leaning toward type A because the PV included is titled 薔薇色の日々. With a title like "Rose-colored Days", how can I resist? This might turn out to be a pretty, melodic song like "Ultimate Lover".
The other PV that comes with type B is titled 久遠, or "Eternity". This one is more unpredictable as you can't tell much from the title. It can be aggressive, D-style speed metal, or a soothing ballad, or even something along the Neo Japaneseque vein of the the recent 桜花咲きそめにけり single.
Judging from discussions in the D fandom, it seems more people are preordering type B. Hmm... what do people see in type B that I'm not getting?
Off-topic:
Rentrer en Soi's live in Texas had just taken place. I'm now watching the ReS fandom closely for live reports.
the GazettE's European tour is due to officially begin. Looks like about 1000 people (or was it more than 1000) attended the autograph event in Berlin. Reports, I want reports dearies! Blow-by-blow accounts, band sightings, I want to know all about them!
Lucky Europeans. Hopefully, by the time I'm in London next July, there would be some J-Rock event taking place there.
As requested by Kazze in the shout box, the lyrics to D's live-only release, "Ultimate Lover". Original Japanese lyrics courtesy of ASAGI's diary.
I had to do the romaji myself since I love D so much and there are no other romanization of this song available. I didn't triple-check the romaji 100 times like I used to do for fansubbing (yes, I was an anal subtitler), but hopefully, there aren't too many mistakes.
Ultimate Lover
君の見る未来でもし僕が消えたとしても 今だけは
Kimi no miru mirai demoshi boku ga kieta toshitemo, imadake wa
ため息忘れて 二度と見れない瞬間とこの景色をずっと忘れないで
Tameiki wasurete, midoto mirenai shankanto kono keshiki wo zutto wasurenaide君がこの世界で生まれて 僕の世界は生まれた
Kimi ga kono sekai de umarete, boku no sekai wa umarete
変わりゆく時代の中君は 見えない永遠を否む
Kawariyuku jidai no naka kimi wa, mienai eien wo inamu街の声が溢れ振り返る
Machi no koe ga afure furi kaeru
過去は遠く霞む明けの月の様
Kako wa osoku kasumu ake no tsuki no you僕らが過ごす時間の軸では 留まることは許されない
Bokura ga sugosu jikan no jiku dewa, tomaru koto wa yurusarenai
思いきり泣いて 自分を愛してあげたなら 前を向いて君は生きていける
Omoi kiri naite, jibun wo aishite agetanara, mae wo muite kimi wa ikiteikeru
不変を求めることに 疑問を持ちはじめたのは
Fuhen wo matomeru koto ni, gimon wo mochiha jimetano wa
何度目かの別れの後 去り際の優しさが滲む
Nanidomekano wakare no ato, zarikiwa no yasashisa ga nijimu窓の向う何が見えるの？
Mado no mukau nani ga mieruno?
いつも見てた白い記憶 断ち切れない願い 過ぎ去りし日の
Itsumo miteta shiroi kioku, tachimarinai negai, sugizarishi hi no僕が君に伝えたい意味を 今はわからなくてもいい
Boku ga kimi no tsutaeitai imi wo, ima wa wakaranakutemo ii
「永遠」がいつか果たされる時には君の想い出の中 生きていたい
"Eien" ga itsuka katasareru toki ni wa kimi no omoide no naka, ikiteitaiRemember... さよならは言わないから
Remember... sayonara wa iwanai kara
Moment... 思いが続く限り
Moment ... omoiga tsutsuku kagiri
Remember... どれだけ救われただろう
Remember... dore dake sukuwareta darou
Moment... 君がいてくれたから
Moment... kimi ga itekureta kara
Remember... 僕に残されたものは
Remember... boku ni nokosareta mono wa
Moment.... 愛を歌うことだけ
Moment.... ai wo utau koto dake
Remember... 君が思うよりずっと
Remember... kimi ga omou yori zutto
Moment... 僕は君を思っている
Moment... boku wa kimi wo omotteiruRemember... (3x)
風が止んだら 側にいるから
Kaze ga yandara, soba ni iru kara
耳を澄ませば また会えるから
Mimi wo sumaseba, mata aeru karaRemember...
Hope this helps. Feel free to re-distribute with proper credit.
JRockRevolution.com is now one of the indispensable J-Rock news resource sites that I check regularly. If this site still isn't under your radar, I recommend keeping an eye on it for the latest news on developments in the scene.
If you have a Livejournal, you can friend jrockrev so you'll be alerted every time the site updates the news section.
Incidentally, there are 3 latest updates from JRockRevolution worth noting:
1.
X Japan will be releasing a new song called "I.V." as the ending theme song to the upcoming movie "SAW IV". This song features all 5 members of the band for it contains unreleased material by hide. See the FAQ for the release for more details.
2.
Part 1 of the interview with Kai of the GazettE is now up. It's actually quite well done, informative and humorous.
Now that you mention him, why does REITA wear the handkerchief on his nose?
KAI: Oh… that’s like his trademark now, it’s like a part of his body. That is REITA.
Does he wear that normally?
KAI: *Laugh* No, but as the bassist of the GazettE, that is the way REITA is.
Isn’t it hard to breathe like that?
KAI: Well… I guess since he’s still alive it mustn’t be too bad.
*Everyone laughs*
If we think about it, we do start wondering, but since he hasn’t complained about it I guess it’s alright.
3.
Last but not least, there's also an interview with SUGIZO of SKIN and ex-LUNA SEA. Definitely detected a bit of ego there, but at least it didn't incense me like Gackt's interview on his concert in Korea. These are great musicians, but sometimes, things just come out sounding arrogant. >_>
Dear readers, if I may bring your attention to the bottom of the left panel of this blog, I now have a message box up. So, if you don't feel like registering with Vox, you can still leave your comments and other related/unrelated messages on Cbox. Feel free to use it to yell at me for slacking off updating this blog. I don't do it on purpose, seriously.
Hopefully, this Cbox can make the blog more interactive. I'd love to get inputs from you all.
I wish I can move the entire panel up so you guys don't have to scroll down. But Vox doesn't have this functionality right now. >_>
And on an unrelated note, the domain auralcandy.com now points to this blog. If you're too lazy to type the "vox" part of auralcandy.vox.com, feel free to use the domain instead.
But actually, this particular distraction is no excuse for once again not updating this blog in a while. I recently acquired a new laptop and now, I finally have a computer powerful enough to play The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. When the game first came out in mid-2006-ish, I had wanted to give it a try due to a friend's recommendation. The incredible game immersion, the open-ended game play, and the vastness of the game world appealed to me. But Oblivion is a resource monster and my then 2-year-old laptop just couldn't handle it.
When it comes to RPG's, the thing that annoys me the most about the genre is the monotonous hack-and-slash game playing. Sadly, too many RPG's fall under this category. Perhaps this is why I enjoy MMORPG's due to the premise of interaction with real people. I tend to spend most of my time socializing with other players instead of wandering in the wilderness stabbing monsters.
But in Oblivion, it's not all about hack-and-slash. I decided that I don't give a damn about the main storyline or joining the Fighters Guild (who cares that the world's ending because of invasion from godly creatures from another dimension?). I wanted a different variety of game playing so I decided to become an assassin and a thief. Instead of charging into the heat of the battle, I get to kill people by dropping the mounted head of a minotaur on them and planting poison in their medicine. Oooh, I also get to murder everyone at a manor gathering but not before toying with them and lowering their guards with my charm and wile first. Lovely, isn't it?
Now I'm embarking on a quest with a loyal companion named Ruined-Tail. Yep, it's that Lizard-looking chap you see in the screenshot. I travel with him, fight with him, and engage in moral and philosophical discussions with him. He has a most engrossing backstory and I totally cheated and found out what's going to happen to the two of us in the future by reading the walkthrough. Ah, it's not pretty, but I'll enjoy his company while I can since I've grown fond of him.
And because I'm feeling vain, I'm going everywhere in that gown because I want to look pretty even when killing and looting. Wearing a lovely gown while setting vampires on fire in a tomb? Sure, why not? I have crap defense since I'm not wearing any armor. But that's why you have a companion with you, right? So he can fight for you?
Whooo, this post has had nothing to do with J-Rock. Haha! Hopefully, my engrossment with Oblivion will end in 2-4 weeks. That's usually how long I'm usually obsessed with a game. Then, I'd not touch any video game for half a year before finding another new shiny game to dote on.
I just spent the past 2 and a half minutes trying to stiffle my laughter. I was grinning so big that my cheek muscles hurt that I had to rip this part out of the video and share.
This reminds me of one of the reasons I love SID so much. The guys' sense of humor, sometimes even bizarre wackiness, is charming and absolutely endearing. Strangely, I rarely write about them in this blog despite my following the band closely.
I wonder though, why hasn't SID released any full concert DVD's or PV's on DVD? Instead of packaging their PV's in single/album releases like all other bands do, they put live performances of their songs on the accompanied DVD's instead. Except for "Alibi", DVD versions of their PV's simply don't exist. And even with the live performances that come with the single/album releases, we only get one song at a time. For us overseas fans, there's no way of ever seeing the full concerts.
The concerts themselves are obviously recorded, but the band just won't release the entire things on DVD! While I can understand the rationale of encouraging fans to see the band live because it's the best way to experience SID, but come on... think of us overseas fans! You guys do indeed have an international fanbase who adore you and support you. Pleeeeaase, pleeeaase release full length concert DVD's. We're dying to see them! <3
And while you're at it, come play overseas again!
From Jrockrevolution.com:
[...]
While YOSHIKI won’t be acting in a movie, he will, however, be the producer of Lionsgate Entertainment’s next film, “Repo! The Genetic Opera,” a horror musical directed by “Saw II” and “III” director, Darren Lin Bausman, starring Paris Hilton and Sarah Brightman. It was revealed that YOSHIKI will also be producing the soundtrack for this film.
[...]
...
Oh damn, he really is going to work with Paris Hilton of all people. Really, I respect YOSHIKI, but to actually work with Paris Hilton? There's no way for me to put this in polite terms, so all I'm going to say regarding this is, I don't like it. I don't like it at all.
