I figured that I should write something on the last day of the year 2007.
Despite the many going-on's in the J-Rock world that had taken place in the month of December, I've been preoccupied with rediscovering digital graphic art instead. I went through phases of icon-making, wallpaper-making, and now I'm working on learning vector drawing (aka. creating art using geometric shapes).
My first vector art, featuring the little girl on the cover of alice nine.'s TSUBASA single:
What I did here was using vector (geometric modeling) to create layers of different shapes and stacking them on top of one another to produce this rendering (done in Paint Shop Pro). Since this was my first time attempting anything of this sort, it took me more than 12 hours despite using very basic techniques. I swear I'm going to master Bézier curves someday and get better at vector drawing.
Yes, so this concludes the last post of the year. Happy New Year, everyone!
How remiss of me to not follow up on the DYNAMITE TOMMY incident in which the president of Free-Will Records, a major visual kei label, was accused of $2.8 million theft. This news is 1.5 months late. I'm sorry. I kept on putting this off.
Phantasmagoria of Livejournal has (once again) graciously translated this article:
[...]
Tommy, who had been dragged into the fraud scandal, was arrested on September 14th. The police held him for more than twenty days at the Tsukiji office. Despite the result of the police investigation, which brought about no suspicion of fraud on Tommy's part, Tommy was indicted on these charges.
Tommy is enraged. "The police and the prosecutor performed a thorough investigation. The reason for my arrest was due to the asshole judge's assumptions!"
[...]
For translation of the full article, visit phantasmagoria's journal. There's an interesting bit about prejudice against rock musicians in Japan.
Honestly, the whole gleeful cackling of many people upon hearing DYNAMITE TOMMY's arrest back then annoyed the crap out of me. What is it about another person's misfortune that amuses and entertains you so much? What the hell has he ever done to you? This malicious aspect of human nature is revolting.
Personally, I'm glad for DYNAMITE TOMMY. I wish him (even more) success.
The second annual Jrock Choice Awards voting has begun! This time, the awards is produced by Tainted Reality, Jrock Revolution, and purple SKY. Go vote for your favorite candidates.
Voting ends on Friday, December 21, 12 A.M. PST / 3 A.M. EST.
Here are the categories and nominees.
Best Album
- Tenshi no Revolver - BUCK-TICK
- MIRROR - D’espairsRay
- THE BOTTOM OF CHAOS - Rentrer En Soi
- STACKED RUBBISH - the GazettE
- Nega to Poji - Plastic Tree
- FUZZ - MUCC
- Alice in Wonder Underground - BUCK-TICK
- WHITE PRAYER - alice nine.
- BURIAL APPLICANT - the GazettE
- Sakihokoru Hana No You ni - Miyavi
- 7 SAMURAI SESSIONS -We're KAVKI BOIZ- - Miyavi
- Lyrical Sympathy - Versailles
- Reason for crying – girugamesh
- THE BULLET STORM - Sadie
- GLITTER LOUD BOX – LM.C
- Miyavi
- the GazettE
- DIR EN GREY
- MUCC
- YOSHIKI
- UnsraW
- LM.C
- Sadie
- Versailles
- S.K.I.N.
- Kami Uta - Phantasmagoria
- Returner - Yami No Shuuen - Gackt
- MY HEART DRAWS A DREAM - L'arc~en~Ciel
- FUZZ - MUCC
- TRICKSTəAR - D’espairsRay
- An Café
- Miyavi
- Versailles
- The Candy Spooky Theater
- alice nine.
- ECLIPSE OF MYTH - Phantasmagoria
- HELLO, DEAR NUMBERS - alice nine.
- Despair in the Womb - DIR EN GREY
- Spiral Staircase #15 Final - D’espairsRay
- TRAINING DAYS 2006 DRUG PARTY – Gackt
- CHIZURU - the GazettE
- Dress - abingdon boys school
- Namamekashiki Ansoku, Tamerai ni Hohoemi - DIR EN GREY
- SCREEN - D'espairsRay
- ANDRO METAMORPHOSE - Plastic Tree
- EASTER FOR TREASON - Angelo
- TRAINING DAYS 2006 DRUG PARTY - Gackt
- AGITATED SCREAMS OF MAGGOTS - DIR EN GREY
- MISERY LOVE POISONOUS BLUE - Rentrer En Soi
- ART DRAWN BY VOMIT - the GazettE
Some of these categories were rather hard for me to pin down one nominee. After much deliberation, I think I ended up voting for the GazettE in all of the categories they appeared under (though Rentrer en Soi and Dir en grey put up a good fight). Then, miyavi, alice nine., and Gackt each got one vote from me.
Who and what did you guys vote for?
Every morning I wake up these past few days, my eyes feel so dry and uncomfortable that I get the urge to gouge them out. No, really.
You know, it seems the J-Rock fandom is made up of pretty much the same people at every online social medium. I go to a forum, skim through a bunch of posts and realize: hey, haven't I seen her somewhere before? I post in a community and one of people who reply catches my eye because the username looks really familiar. Then, I have visitors commenting on my Last.fm account and say, "Hey, I read your blog." (Or, "Update, bitch!") And yes, once again, one of them is bound to be another frequent face in the fandom.
It makes me wonder, how big is the active part of the fandom? Is it made up of the same core people? These people are seriously everywhere! You see them in the popular J-Rock forums. You run into them in the numerous download communities. And then, you once again recognize them at various communities of a more... special interest nature. *coughs*
If we all meet in real life and divulge the different names we go by online, I bet we will all go, "Hey, we pretty much know each other already!"
Edit: By "fandom", I don't mean fanbase. I'm not saying the J-Rock fanbase is small. Rather, the core group of active, dedicated fans online is small compared to the overall J-Rock fan population. Please see my comment in this post for further clarification.
