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.

It's like an addiction

I was thinking about starting another blog, specifically for more personal entries (since this one is more or less just for fangirling and general interests, and the other is solely for creative works). I mean, it's not like hordes of people even read any of my blogs so what would really be the point of starting another one? It's quite simple really.

Hello, my name is Kryz and I am an attention whore addicted to blogging.

Also, I've found that my blogs are compartmentalised much like the rest of my life. A blog for fangirling, a blog for poems, a blog for personal entries. It truly reflects my need for organisation in my life.

Though, to be honest, my penchant for multiple blogs is a little more complex. Initially it starts off with my need for anonymity. Sometimes the attention whore part of me takes over and I make the blog public (this was the case with words laced with a little hate; shameless plug, hoho). In other cases, the blog is public but remains separate and completely secret, simply because it's easier to become someone else when no one you know is watching, and when you don't have loads of baggage weighing you down. And finally, it's because some people don't give a shit about my fangirling and would be more likely to read my entries if they maybe contained some nekkid pics had something to do with my life (this is debatable).

Multiple blogs also allow me to write in multiple styles. I can slip into different personas depending on the blog; for example, I write much more colloquially here and use more emoticons and the like to express myself, whereas on words laced with a little hate I adopt a more mellow, reserved style simply because of the nature of the blog.

I've been wondering if I should just link everything together though, except that I would lose the anonymity of that secret blog's name. Not only that, but then everyone would know the dirty, dirty things I do in secret, lol.

Listening to right now: FTIsland - 첫눈에 알아

P.S. This post has been sitting as a draft since Saturday, lol. I ended up not even editing it to make more sense.

This is the love of a fan

I'm really amazed at the love and dedication of fans. And no, this isn't sarcasm.

Recently, the GazettE announced that they would be having their tour final at Tokyo Dome. For those of you who don't know, to perform at Tokyo Dome is pretty big. Tokyo Dome is Japan's largest concert hall; if you play there, you know you've made it. And to play there when you're a VK band? Even better.

What truly blows me away is that I've read about so many overseas (I'm referring to mostly American) fans who have never been to Japan or even traveled, some who have never even left their side of the USA, who are sucking up their anxiety and saving up their moolah just to share in the Tokyo Dome experience.

I'm sure this sounds ridiculously trite because it's a concert, how hard could it be, right? Think about it. Japan is on the side of world, so first off it's expensive. It's also the day after Christmas but it takes about 14 hours to fly to Japan, not to mention that 26th in Japan can still be 25th in the US (this is really only applicable to those who celebrate Christmas, of course. Though it being the Christmas season also means that plane tickets are ridiculously pricey). Most of these fans don't speak a word of Japanese. Okay, maybe a few words. Like "konnichiwa", "sayonara", "kawaii", and "yaoi". The hotel pages might be in English (maybe), but the avenues through which you obtain the concert tickets are most definitely not.

It's hard being a non-Japanese-speaking fan of a band whose biggest (and most catered for) fanbase is Japanese-speaking. And as much as I make fun of fangirls even though I am quite obviously a huge fangirl myself, I have to admire their devotion to the bands they love. I can still call them crazy, but I can admire them too.

And man, I would TOTALLY be there at Tokyo Dome with them if I didn't have a good reason not to be.

Listening to right now: the GazettE - 奈落

"Hello, darling. Fancy a drink?"

I finally watched Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I'll admit, I spent the first 10 minutes trying to remember what the heck happened in the first 5 books/movies and if I had even seen the 5th movie (I know, my memory fails).

Overall, the movie was good if you don't compare it to the book. I think this is fairly obvious since the majority of movies-adapted-from-books don't seem as good if you've read the book first. Of course, seeing as I have read the books, it's kind of a given that I would unintentionally make comparisons. But I really only have two beefs with the movie. One is that the movie is much more tame than the book in terms of action. This is understandable because there are time constraints, general flow of the movie, potential of overloading/confusing the audience, etc to keep in mind.
The other is that there is so much (too much, imo) emphasis placed on the personal relationships of the characters. Yeah, it makes for some great scenes but I found that it took away from the overarching plot line of "Harry Potter trying to kill Voldemort". It almost lightened the movie a bit too much when it should be a mostly dark, depressing film.
(Just for the record, I don't remember the books. If I remember correctly, J.K. Rowling did spend a significant amount of time developing the personal relationships but think about it in terms of percentages.)

One thing that I was really impressed with was the cinematography. The shots were amazing; the composition, the detail, the feel... if nothing else, this alone would have made it a good movie. And even though he didn't play a huge part in this movie, I was probably the most impressed with Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy) cast-wise.

I enjoy the Harry Potter movies, I really do. But I think that anybody would benefit greatly from reading the books, even after watching them (I think I read the first book only after I watched the movie). For one thing, the books are great. And I find that reading the books, either before or after, makes everything fall into place that much more cleanly.

On a side note, the LEGO Harry Potter game looks ridiculously cute. And I would like to visit the Harry Potter theme park in Florida if I ever get the chance. Previews are a wonderfully great marketing tool.

Listening to right now: SS501 - Unlock

P.S. I chose probably one of the most trivial quotes from the entire movie as my title, lol.