The stigma against visual kei

It's always interesting to see people's reactions to visual kei. I happened to show a Shoxx magazine to a couple of my friends and their reactions were something like a mix of shock, disgust, denial, and dislike. What was even more interesting though, was my own reaction to their reactions. Mild annoyance and discomfort aside, I was surprised. I guess I've been exposed to visual kei so much for so long that effeminate men wearing make-up and girly clothes just seem so normal, lol. What also helps though is knowing that it's a style that is (technically speaking) specific to a particular genre of music. I've begun to realise that people who are not acquainted with visual kei, and who only see pictures in magazines, automatically assume that this is a lifestyle that these men adopt. That they run around everyday in their crazy make-up, flamboyant outfits, and highly styled hair. Which in turn seems bizarre to me because who would really do that?

It also seems to be hard for people to understand why anyone straight would 1) choose a profession where they would have to dress like that and 2) actually like the artists who do this. Apparently because a man chooses to dress like a woman (though in reality it's usually androgynous) it must mean that he's gay. Or wants to be gay. Or is in denial about being gay.
Of course, cross-dressing in Japan dates waaaaay further back than visual kei. Kabuki, anyone? Not only that but sexuality and orientation markers are viewed/interpreted differently in Japan than it is in, e.g. some Western cultures. And just because a man engages in so-called homosexual behaviour does not automatically make him gay anyway. Gay-for-pay, anyone?

I'm going off-topic here, lol.

The whole point of this post was not to go into the finer details of sexuality and culture or to lament the fact that all my friends now think I'm a freak for liking cross-dressing/androgynous Japanese men but just to say that it's interesting how desensitised I've become to the whole notion of visual kei. It's a completely normal style in my eyes, and I am no longer shocked or disgusted by VK bands (with a few exceptions). I've always found the androgyny in VK to be fascinating and attractive, not only because of the omg-guys-dressed-as-girls-woohoo-feed-the-fangirl factor but also because of the make-up, the outfits, and just the style in general. Not to mention that photography plays a large part; I'm sure if I saw J-rockers prancing down the street in all their VK glory I wouldn't find it quite as attractive as a well-taken picture. Maybe, if they were really, really far away?

Listening to right now: DJ Earworm - United State of Pop 2009 (Blame It on the Pop)

Get well soon, Ruki!

It seems that Ruki, the vocalist of the GazettE, has a viral throat infection of some sort and so he was unable to finish the encore at their live on Saturday. They've also cancelled the next 5 concerts in their tour in order for Ruki to recover, etc.

I love the way that Kai (the drummer) put it in his blog entry about this; that the others' instruments can be replaced indefinitely but Ruki's instrument, his voice, is irreplaceable.

It's unfortunate that they had to cancel so many concerts (being in the midst of planning my own trip for a concert I can understand the frustration of fans) but I hope that Ruki gets better soon and shows an even cooler and stronger image than before! ^^
ルキさん、がんばってください！

Take the love train~

I don't usually listen to J-pop boy bands (e.g. those of the Johnny's Entertainment variety) but for some reason I am ridiculously and hopelessly addicted to KAT-TUN's song "Yorokobi no Uta". I had bookmarked the PV on Youtube a while back but I never went to back to it until this weekend. And it is literally almost the only song I have been listening to all weekend.

It's nothing spectacular, and imo they didn't need six guys to sing it since they all kinda sound the same anyway except for maybe the rapper cuz you know... he raps, but omg it's sooo catchy. And totally fun to sing along to as well.

I've never found the KAT-TUN guys to be that good-looking (except Kamenashi Kazuya because I've seen him in dramas) but the more I watch them, not only in this video but others as well, the more I find them to be quite charming and cute in their own somewhat dorky ways. In addition to their personalities, it probably has a lot to do with their clothes and hairstyles, too. (Remember my Superman analogy?)

It's really too bad that I don't like most of their other songs that I've heard so far. -_-;

Listening to right now: KAT-TUN - Yorokobi no Uta

Edit: Perhaps "take da luv train" is a more accurate title, lol.

I wanna be a rockstar!

This video is made of so much win. How could I not post about it?

Kid's putting his heart and soul into it too, like totally rocking out, lol. I sense a future Youtube attention whore in the making. He's so cute though!

There are apparently other videos of him but I'm too lazy to check them out now... if they're anything like this one, then there's bound to be cuteness overload and endless lol-ing.