I'm breakfasty!

I stumbled across a random quiz on someone's LiveJournal and out of curiosity (and because really, who can turn down a nonsensical quiz) decided to take it. I was pretty amused by the completely useless yet strangely uplifting description provided in the result.

Quizzes Girls Games

"You are 10:02 a.m.

You are breakfasty, like a pile of pancakes on a Sunday morning that have just the right amount of syrup, so every bite is sweet perfection and not a soppy mess. You are a glass of orange juice that's cool, refreshing, and not overly pulpy. You are the time of day that's just right for turning the pages of a newspaper, flipping through channels, or clicking around online to get a sense of how the world changed during the night. You don't want to stumble sleepily through life, so you make a real effort to wake your brain up and get it thinking. You feel inspired to accomplish things (whether it's checking something off your to-do list or changing the world), but there's plenty of time for making things happen later in the day. First, pancakes."

How about a shave?

Just got done watching the movie "Sweeney Todd" and although I'm not one for musicals, I really liked it. Johnny Depp is, as usual, awesome. I was surprised (and quite amused) that he had never sung before and that even while the sets were being made and the ball was already rolling... no one had ever heard him sing before. Talk about leaving things up to chance.

Ordinarily I can comment more on a movie, especially if I've really like it but there's not really much I can say about "Sweeney Todd". I thought the cinematography was great, and the singing was good too, especially considering the fact that the main actors weren't professional singers. It didn't drag on or bore me at any point, in fact there were a lot of moments when I was literally leaning forward in anticipation. I suppose it helped that I had no idea what was supposed to happen... I knew the gist of the storyline before watching the movie but I had never read up on it or the play to know any specifics.

I also don't really have anything to say about the play versus the movie adaptation seeing as I've never seen the play (and in all honesty, the awesomeness of plays is pretty much lost on me simply because I've never been to even one), plus different adaptations can be good in their own ways and will always have their strong points and shortcomings depending on the form that they take (book versus movie versus play, etc).

All I can say is, the movie is definitely worth watching. Especially if you want more proof that to convince a man to do anything, just appeal to his pimp side.

Listening to right now: Johnny Depp - Epiphany [Sweeney Todd]

Random ranting

I really dislike it when people go on a show and all of the sudden they are the sole important member of their band or group. I know that it's great exposure for the band/group but it really pisses me off when fans blatantly disregard the fact that there are other members and act as if that person is the sole talent and driving force behind the group's popularity.

Admittedly, I can only think of two specific instances in which this has happened (Kim Hyun Joong of SS501, and Jung Yong Hwa of CNBLUE), though I'm sure there are many others. And I'm in no way saying that as leaders of their respective groups they weren't already the more visible members. I'm not even saying there's anything wrong with their garnering more love for their groups through their appearances. In fact, I'm not even blaming them for anything or begrudging them their success and popularity. What I AM doing is ranting against the people who decide to name their Youtube videos "Jung Yong Hwa aka CNBLUE". Ummm, what? Since when is the lead singer AKA the entire band? To add insult to injury, the song that was uploaded wasn't even sung by Jung Yong Hwa but by Lee Jong Hyun, the main guitarist and co-vocalist of the band. And of course some people will comment on the video with "Jung Yong Hwa has such a sexy voice omgomgomgfaint!" Thank you, uploader, for spreading the ignorance.

And then of course, there are the people who are looking for videos of Kim Hyun Joong, stumble across a video of Kim Hyung Jun (another SS501 member), and then proceed to comment that it isn't Kim Hyun Joong/Yoon Ji Hoo (the character he played in the drama Boys Over Flowers). Of course it's not, it even says KIM HYUNG JUN. I can forgive this more easily because it's easy to mix up names, especially if you're not familiar either with the language or the people. But at least entertain the thought that maybe, just maybe, there exist other people with names similar to Kim Hyun Joong.

Don't get me wrong, it's fine to fangirl over individual people because of their solo achievements without liking the group that they are a part of. But don't assume or claim that that individual is the source of all the group's talent and popularity. Kim Hyun Joong isn't the lead singer of SS501 and last time I checked, Jung Yong Hwa was not a multi-appendaged being who played drums, bass, and guitar all at the same time.

Listening to right now: CNBLUE - Black Flower

Latest indulgence

I sent my laptop for repair a couple of weeks ago and just got it back yesterday. In the mean time I was using my netbook but now that I've switched back to my laptop it feels almost sinful using such a big screen, haha.

My sleeping pattern's been ridiculously screwed up for the past few weeks since I'm not currently in a lab and I'm supposedly preparing for my candidacy exam. You would think that with all the oodles of time on my hands I'd have gotten a lot more studying done.

I've also been watching a lot of Coat West videos lately which is likely the reason that no studying is getting done. (If you don't know what Coat West is... either disregard this entire paragraph, or do some Googling, at your own risk.) To be honest, the first Coat West video I ever watched was an off shot disc for their ELoS series and I was somewhat surprised and disappointed at how comedic it was (which in hindsight is stupid because it's an off shot disc, duh). But just prior to watching it I had read on another blog something that had probably given me that preconceived notion of "Coat West = EVIL", so that most likely also had something to do with it.
Surprisingly, I kept watching more of their videos, mainly because I liked Taiki (who is now with KO Company under his new name Eiji). But then I started watching them for Sho, Nagi, and Hikaru, who are arguably their most popular "models", mostly because they make for great eyecandy, and also because I like watching their interactions. Hikaru and Sho have since left Coat West but Nagi is still there. I feel lonely for Nagi whenever I see him without Sho or Hikaru now (particularly Sho because I've been watching the NagixSho Commemoration series) just because it seemed like those three were tight. Nagi also seems a lot skinnier than before which is ridiculous because he should be making oodles of money from being in like every other Coat West production. As much as I like Nagi (and because he's really the only person left at Coat West who I find worth watching, aside from possibly Shun who, admittedly, I have not had the pleasure of checking out yet), I kind of want him to leave Coat West since Sho and Hikaru aren't there anymore. And also because I just don't want to see him with all those less attractive guys.

Listening to right now: CNBLUE - Sweet Holiday

Chasing your dreams

One of my latest hobbies has been wasting my life watching random videos on Youtube, and recently I've become interested in covers and whatnot. I know most of the people whose channels I follow are probably already well-known enough but I figured I'd mention some of them anyway.

wotakufighter2121 [Takayuki Kurata]
There's this one guy in Japan who only has about 11 videos uploaded but dude, the number of related videos I've seen listed of people who have used his guitar arrangements... it's quite interesting. I'm not a guitarist myself, neither am I familiar with it, but the guy seems pretty talented. He also recently joined an indie band called LUNCH VOXX who I've only listened to one song from so far (not bad, but not really my thing). He uses a scarf to cover the lower half of his face which I suppose is his distinguishing characteristic for his appearance.

aozorafantasii [Lisa]
So this girl graduated from UC Berkeley in 2009 and is now in Japan working and chasing her dream. She's a singer-songwriter and quite a few of her songs are in Japanese. I only stumbled across her channel tonight so I haven't gotten a chance to listen to a lot of her stuff but I did like the few original songs that I listened to. I think that with some polishing they'll sound really great. I'm also a bit envious of her passion to chase her dream all the way to Japan. Wish I had guts (and talent) like that.

I guess I'll occasionally put up some more channels, even though I know that there are tonnes of people showcasing their talents (or lack thereof) on Youtube and even more people who already know about them. But more so than simply talent, I really only follow channels of people who have something interesting or memorable about them. Like penchants for borderline asphyxiation with scarfs.

Listening to right now: LUNCH VOXX - Fabric (Youtube channel here)

Poems galore

I've been posting my poems in a separate, private blog for the last couple of months but I decided to make it public. If anyone's interested it's here.

They're not that great but what's the internet for if not watching porn sharing?

Listening to right now: the GazettE - 「瞞し」

What goes together better than heartbreak and alcohol?

Currently looping Lee Seung Gi's "Love Taught Me To Drink". Okay, really I've only been looping the first 2 minutes because the rapping in the middle kind of broke the mood for me, though it does fit the song in its own way. After seeing the name of the song and then hearing the song I could totally imagine poor Lee Seung Gi sitting at a table by himself in a bar drowning his sorrows in soju (for all I know that's probably exactly what the video is about, haha... note to self: watch the PV!)

I forgot what a great voice Lee Seung Gi has. He has such a smooth, sexy voice and he's a great singer. I love his ballads but his voice also suits more upbeat songs really well. I didn't like his first album so much because his voice was very gravelly but his subsequent albums had a much smoother sound. I also wanted to watch his acting skills in the drama "Shining Inheritance" but I couldn't even make it past like half of the first episode... which is unfortunate because I don't think he was even in much of that first half. I just found the setting up of the whole story to be very slow and boring, though I'm sure the drama itself improved thereafter.

Anyway, I just thought I'd write a little post about it since this song inspired me to write a poem that flowed completely effortlessly with very little thinking involved, and on the very first listen no less! Of course, that doesn't mean that the poem's good but lately I've been thinking way too hard about my poems while I'm writing them.

Listening to right now: 이승기 - 사랑이 술을 가르쳐 [Lee Seung Gi - Love Taught Me To Drink]

A twisted hope

Sometimes I wonder if I can just start my life over from scratch.

There are so many times that I find myself wondering what the heck I'm really doing with my life, am I really happy doing what I'm doing, am I even the person I want to be? I envy the people whose lives seem so fluid and versatile, as though they can just change their path in a heartbeat and follow their dreams. Maybe it's just a phase, or a case of "the grass is always greener on the other side" but I often feel this way.

It may sound somewhat strange but I have this weird belief that gives me hope. I don't really believe in reincarnation per se, but I have this image of one collective consciousness. Like sometimes I sit and think how odd it is that everyone else thinks the same way that I do, in the sense that everyone thinks in the context of "I". I watch other people and they are just that to me: other people. But each of those other people has a consciousness and feelings, and it makes me feel like there are clones of me walking all over the place. But it also makes me feel that one day when I eventually die, there are many other consciousnesses, many other "I"s, and thus many other opportunities for me to experience what I missed out on in this consciousness.

In the end, it just sounds like a twisted version of reincarnation, doesn't it?

Except that it's not like the current me dies and another is reborn but more like all of the "me"s are co-existing and somehow, someway, on some higher level I'm accessing their lives and experiences and personalities even if the current me cannot.

Yeah, I know, it doesn't make a whole lot of logical sense in my own mind either.

Listening to right now: hide - Inside the Pervert Mound

The man without a nose

I present to you: Reita of the GazettE, also known as the man without a nose.



Just kidding, I'm sure he has a nose. Maybe.

Anyhoo, I was fangirling him a few weeks ago and was super excited about writing a blog entry about him. So excited in fact, that I wanted it to be perfect and awesome like the man himself and thus never got around to actually writing it.

Reita is the bassist of the GazettE, and his trademark is that band over his nose. Or a bandanna, but usually it's the nose band. Basically, the idea is to just never show his nose. There are, of course, pictures floating around of a nose band-less Reita from back in the day but let's face it, that nose band adds infinite sexiness and badass-ness to his look.

Ordinarily I'm vehemently against putting actual people as my computer wallpaper but I gave into the temptation and Reita is now proudly flaunting his hotness every time I boot up. Lately I also refrain from saving pictures of celebrities on my hard drive, mainly because I feel like an obsessed fangirl doing it, but again I gave into the temptation and now I have a folder full of Reita pictures.

Obsession is a dangerous, dangerous thing.

I also really like Reita's hair. It hasn't changed all that much over the years (from what I can tell) and overall his look is lot less feminine than a lot of other visual kei J-rockers, including his fellow band mates. Even his style hasn't changed much which, when you consider how often J-rockers take the wrong turn down the path of omg-who-the-hell-let-you-out-looking-like-that, is nice.

His headbanging in the Filth in the beauty PV is also really cute (since half the time he's really just kind of swinging his head from side to side) and his voice is just... omg. *melts*

I'm still in the process of really getting into the GazettE's music so I can't say much about his talent as a bassist... though I do like the bass line in Cassis a lot.
It's also somewhat amusing that he throws (or at least used to) his bass guitar up in the air during lives and then catches it. I guess impressive might be the better word to use, though he did drop it once. ><

I'm not really sure what's a good way to end the fangirling post, but a picture is worth a thousand words, right?


Mmmm, don't mind if I do.

Listening to right now: the GazettE - Filth in the beauty

Note: I take no credit for these pictures. I found them all using Google.

Edit: I feel compelled to add something actually music-related to justify labeling this post as "Music". I listened to the GazettE's 'STACKED RUBBISH' album after my bandwagon post and I was kind of disappointed; totally not what I was expecting. I almost wrote another post saying that I was no longer on that bandwagon but luckily I listened to 'NIL' (which came before) and 'DIM' (which came after) first and I liked both those albums much more. I looped 'DIM' quite a bit... I believe it's their most recent studio album, released in 2009. So umm... yay for not falling off the bandwagon? :)