Japanese songs - do you understand..?

All this while I never hide the fact that I like Japanese music and video game soundtracks. In fact, I always find oppurtunities to show off that interest. I'm not ashamed to let people know that my scope is not as limited as theirs, and to imply to them that I'm different. I prefer to listen to my mp3s without my earphones plugged, but since I do respect my roommate then I would. Otherwise, people will easily know that I listen to J-pop and J-rock. Not only that, there are songs from other languages too (good music does not only limit to one or two languages, no?)

[Disclaimer: Yuna from Final Fantasy X-2. For decoration purpose only]

Then one fateful day this question popped up: "Why do you like to listen to songs we don't understand?" [case 1]

And then today I was happily watching a Music Video of Complication by ROOKIEZ is PUNK'D when someone burst my bubble with "Do you even understand what they're saying?" [case 2]

It stings.

I may not show it, nor did I explode. But still, what's with those kind of questions? Condemning? Close minded? Or you just can't value a good music just because it's not English or Malay? As if your Hip hop or R&B hit songs are that amazing. I'm always open to preview songs in foreign language, regardless of how little I understand it. You can always find the lyrics translation, ne? unlike some people, I use the internet wisely (and abuse with wisdom!)

Of course I don't understand Japanese lyrics, in spite of attending Japanese Language lessons. Well, we can't complete all the syllabus for some reason, but I do have some basics. but I do like Japanese songs since I started watching anime (which was like how many centuries ago?), but have never really been much of a fan. It was difficult to find lyrics back then, nor the translation... and I used to be a n00b when it comes to downloading stuff. So I only, FINALLY, got myself some Japanese songs about 4 years ago, when I stole it from a friend.

One of the factors of my inclination to Japanese songs is that I was once tired of listening to lyrics of mainstream music (which was also about 4 years ago). Tired, disgusted, annoyed. This is also one reason why I started lurking for video game OST. Japanese songs saved my ears from that blight. Safe from those soppy romantic songwords and perverted implication of getting laid.

well then i was like "now that i got some nihon no uta, I feel like singing-along!". I started to find lyrics of the songs that I like most, then out of curiousity I wanted to know what it means. I can't remember when is the first time I came across the lyrics translation, but once I found it.... imagine my surprise.

THE LYRICS ARE BEAUTIFUL!
(this was my answer for case 1)

I know the translation may or may not be exact or direct, but once you look at it, you realize that those popular songs that you hear on the radio is not up to par with J-music. Not just in terms instruments used, or rythm or whatever u wanna call it. The lyrics are just so goddamn poetic, and it makes you wonder what it really means. Sorry, I'm the kind of person who likes to evaluate lyrics and how the message is delivered. Malay and English songs lack this writing skill, and as a result the songs sound too straightforward... repetitive and in the end becomes boring (so boring that I want to throw up). Wait... lately I notice Japanese songwords seem to have repetition too... (sometimes even without finding the translation, you can guess what they're saying cos you're already familiar with several Japanese words) but oh well, my artistic side is still in love with the metaphoras. Even if there are English songs that are this good, they don't neccessarily belong to the mainstream. :3 As for Malay.... to be honest, it's Hazami. I kinda prefer his version of Winter Sonata theme than the original Korean, cos the latter has more direct message.

Anyways, I'm not really impressed by this post of mine. I guess I'm just ranting. I'm angry about this 'attitude' towards songs-you-can't-understand. I did my best to control my anger in [case 2] but it caused me to lag a bit before I simply respond with "if you don't understand find the lyrics translation". Easy wor, got internut wor... I wanted to say more but I didn't want to show that it really affected my feelings. Before this, the same person kindly asked me to remove them Japanese songs from my WMP cos she can't understand it (eh it's not like I understood either... but if you ask me what do i not understand is WHY DO YOU LIEK J BIEBER???). If i were to judge music, it's not the language but the story behind it, the melody, the genre (and sometimes the singer).

Ah... One of these days I'll just explain it properly.

So I wonder, (if there's anyone out there who read this) have you ever got this kind of comment before?

Review: Moyashimon!

Seriously, I’ve got a lot of pending drafts in store but I don’t seem to bother updating them. Guess I’m not much of a blogger. It’s not that anyone would care... (right?). So anyways, I feel like reviewing one of the most recent anime that I’ve seen (and finished).


KAMASUZO!

Thanks to a hime who showed me a Gothic Lolita Kiss scene that reeks some BL (bwahaha~), I include Moyashimon in my to-do list until I found the DVD sold with 50% discount. I know that I’m gonna risk reading lame subtitles but I’m not diligent enough to find download links, so I don’t really care much as long as I get the message.
Summary: Moyashimon is about a guy who can see microbes/bacteria/microorganism who goes by the name Tadayasu Sawaki. Tadayasu is a freshmen in an agricultural university in Japan along with his childhood friend, Kei Yuuki, a son of sake brewers. Tadayasu’s ability caught the interest of Professor Keizo Itsuki – who knows kid’s grandfather and is a pretty much relaxed old dude. The postgraduate student under his supervison, Haruka Hasegawa (some kind of more sophisticated type tsundere, I think) finds it hard to believe at first, especially when Tadayasu reveals that the microbes seen in his eyes are different from the images seen in electron microscopes. Other than them, some other seniors decided to use this ability for their own profit, but in the end they were the ones who can be considered as Tadayasu’s true friends *is touched*.

Review: There wasn’t anything great, but I gotta admit the idea of being able to see microorganisms and understand how it works without even studying it. HOW ENVIOUS. Much like Hetalia and Yakitate Japan! where we learn about history and bread making (respectively) in an interesting way. Damn, these Japanese people aren’t only 30 years ahead in terms of technology, but it seems that their dreativity is way ahead too. However, it was troublesome for me to comprehend the erm... the scientific process. Maybe because I’m in a totally different field... but then again I’ve always disliked biology (the only thing I’m excited about is the electron microscope fufufu). So yeah, I had to resist throwing up when Prof Itsuki was explaining about the fermentation.

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t google about the microorganisms in the middle of watching it XD. But I only scanned through the wiki page, I don't think I can read and indulge into it. My mind is already mindraep-ed enough by nuclear physics. And by the way, the cartoony microbes are cute. Suddenly, I remember one Biology undergraduate refers the subject “microbiology” as micro-B, and confusing it Physics micro-P, short for microprocessor. Hmm speaking of that, O-157 aka E. Coli reminds me of LED (Light Emitting Diode). Inb4 Physics version! (actually, I’ve been thinking of human representation of Chemical Elements for a while. But I'm not creative enough to make it awesome and original. sobs...)
Even if I'm disgusted by the detailed explanation, I still wish there's more. So I heard the manga is still ongoing... why stop till 11 episodes? D:

Video Games Live (prelude)

About a week (or more) before 17th April, I had two dreams regarding VGL. But it was not just a dream, it was like a nightmare. The first dream; I had entered the Plenary Hall which was smaller than I expected (considering that I've never been there) - it was at the size of the average classroom in my faculty. However, in spite of having the third best ticket I somehow took a seat at the front most row. Although the 'hall' was small, I remember that I was rather excited to be there. The second dream was much scarier, because I was in a rush - I think I was rather late for the show due to the fact I forgot to bring the tickets.

Three days before the event, I won the second last ticket for the 2.30 pm show from the twitter contest. And so I came to the conclusion that... THOSE TWO DREAM WERE SIGNS OF A GOOD OMEN! And as promised (not officially) I gave it to deady, since I've already bought the tickets for the night show. What's even more epic is that of all places, I reunited with a former schoolmate + bus buddy which I have not seen for TEN YEARS (cheesy much? But it just happened to me!). And at the end of the day, finding out we have so much in common made me happy. THANK YOU VGL TWITTER CONTEST!!!

So after my Japanese Language class, my family and I went straight to KLCC. Looks like I forgot to inform them that VGL and PC Fair were at the Convention Centre, not Suria. So we kinda had to walk a long way to get there... sure feels like performing pilgrimage cos the crowd is like moving in clusters all towards the Convention Centre. I never though I'd bump into Ookami senpai there who already watched the 2.30 show. We thought of getting autographs during the meet and greet, but we were a tad too late for that. It's our fault for not lining up in the first place DX

At the same time deady was trying to summon me, but I was too busy forcing senpai to do dogeza to heed her call LOL. I was too lazy to walk back to suria, but somehow deady used some trickplay to get my to Burger King only to see Reppu ungentlemanly finished his dinner already. He doesn't see us as ladies, but as his shikigami/familiars. KEJAMMMM... Hwaha honestly I'm okay with it lah. (so we cannot consider it as Reppu's unintentional harem...). And then deady is like... unable to finish her sentence because of her laughing fits, and Reppu bumped into a few of his acquaintances (gile popular taichou ni), and a certain degree of my fujoshi side is disclosed.... Social Link up~!

So we walk around Kinokuniya and Jusco a bit (SECRET ROUTE GET!!). Then deady had to go back, and I left Reppu to meet up with my long lost friend. Wheeee~! Talk for a bit... Unbelievable for me to talk much since I'm pretty much a quiet person. I guess, I HAD to talk - cos we've been separated for a decade, and we used to chat about anime/manga stuff (her being DBZ fangirl, while I'm into Sailormoon) in the bus otw home. But time was short, and I had to go to toilet then we had to get inside already. I forgot to take pics with her, unfortunately T__T. Nevertheless, in spite of the cheesy plot, I LOVE THIS EPISODE OF MY LIFE!

Okay, so it's tim for the important part where I review/comment about the show.... But not in this post!!! 8D

Look forward to the next one!

Music Impressions Meme

I'm supposed to work on my other blog entries.
... No i'm supposed to study Nuclear Physics.

Then I might wanna do review on tomorrow's Video Games Live (ZOMG KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!! GSAUJDGVJSFVBJHFVBJHWB!!!!!!!!!!!!). Ahem, well I'm keeping my cool in front of people. *cool face on*

But since I can do this subtly while studying, I'll just post this one up. Oyeah, I stole it from another blog.

Rules - You can learn a lot about someone from the music they listen to. Here's the game: hit shuffle on your music player, and write down the first 25 songs that come up. No cheating or skipping songs.

Okay yeah so I select all of the folders in my Music list so:

1. LOVE DISCORD (BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad) – Beat Crusaders
2. Home Guldove (Chrono Cross) – Yasunori Mitsuda
3. EGEE umi ni sasagu ~the vault of heaven~ - MALICE MIZER
4. Trust you (Instrumental) – Yuna Itou
5. Sailing to the World – Yasunori Mitsuda
6. Sleep, my Sephy (OCRemix Judgment Day, FFVII) – Pot Hocket
7. A Nightmare Before Kefka (OCRemix Kefka’s Theme, FFVI) – zircon
8. Ahriahne (after W.A. Mozart’s Alla Turca from sonata in A, K 331/300I) – Phil Sterman
9. Secret – Utada Hikaru
10. Home Alni Village (Chrono Cross) – Yasunori Mitsuda
11. Opening (Final Fantasy VII) – Nobuo Uematsu
12. He’s a Pirate (Kingdom Hearts) – Yoko Shimomura
13. Benci Bilang Cinta – Radja
14. Amorphous – Versailles
15. Kaoru to Misao (III Full Mix Version, Rurouni Kenshin)
16. Opheliac – Emilie Autumn
17. The Zertinan Caverns (FFXII) – Hitoshi Sakimoto
18. Fre@k $HoW – Abingdon Boys School
19. Cave – Muse
20. Giamonios – Eluveitie
21. Sway – Pussycat Dolls
22. Kerana Wanita Ingin Dimengerti – Ada Band
23. Crosswise – Abingdon Boys School
24. Bakusou Yumeuta – Diggy-MO’
25. SOLDIER Battle (Crisis Core FFVII) – Takeharu Ishimoto

***

What does the 25 out of 2600++ songs tell you about myself? I guess not everything, but from the list here I don't listen to mainstream much.

p/s: I thought winning a ticket is priceless, but reuniting with an ex-primary schoolmate from participating in the contest is........................ EPIC!

Eleven

So... what about it?

issit the convenience store, 7-eleven?

Or issit the 9/11 incident?

Or is "eleven" refer to the Japanese by the Brittanians?

11 o'clock? 11 am? 11 pm?

I have a crush on an 11 year old lolwtfbbq?

The fact that I'll be graduating in 2011?

1o+1 = 11?

11th April is tomorrow?

.....................WHAT's ELEVEN THEN?? (scroll down please)

[America from Hetalia]

Actually I just lost 11 kg. :D

I'm gonna celebrate by eating potato chips now lolz. Oh for those who didn't know, I just started going on a diet since late last year. Don't ask me hao, but once upon a time in the distant future, I might tell... dundundun-

Sorry for taking yer time mwahaha~

Tattered White Sneakers

[Tribute to Dr. Burhanuddin Kamaluddin]

A year ago,

We thought....

Taking on microprocessor lab was a pain,

Programming - what is this.... nonsense?

Machine language?

To hell with these funny codes!

Then he comes in...

So cool in his tattered white sneakers,

Always smiling,

It had never crossed my mind that he was a middle-aged man,

He scribbled the whiteboard to guide us,

Whatever it meant,

It helped us,

Though I still didn't get it.

We grumbled at his absence,

Like dangling on the edge of the cliff,

With no other branches to grab,

For when he was around,

He showed us a lot of things,

An average young adult couldn't see,

That microprocessor thingy...

And what is inside it.

He tried his best to spark our interest,

He gave us the relaxed atmosphere,

He let us submit our reports at the end of the semester,

He gave me an A-

If only I could thank him properly...

***

Two days ago I heard the news,

Only yesterday we went for a visit,

He looked so different,,

Motionless on the hospital bed,

Oblivious to our presence,

Then we had a flashback,

On how lively he used to be...

Today we wanted to pray for him,

Pray that he would be fine,

We woke up early,

For his sake,

But alas, it was too late...

I thought that if he wakes up,

The card we left (wishing him 'get well soon!'),

Would put a smile on his face,

That he'd return to the department,

Knowing that everyone's waiting for him,

Strutting in his tattered white sneakers.

But I guess...

It's time for him to go...

To our dear lecturer,

Professor Madya Dr. Burhanuddin Kamaluddin,

Thank you for your kindness,

Rest in peace,

Al-fatihah.

forgive me, but I think his 'tattered white sneakers' are cool, so don't take it as a bad thing. And I don't know how to say it properly in English the way Malay express its Islamic expressions.

Review: Nodame Cantabile Paris (anime)

[WARNING: May contain spoilers!]

Author: Tomoko Ninomiya
Studio: J.C. Staff
Demographic: Josei

In my opinion, this second season is much better than the previous one, and the Paris arc of the drama adaptation. I guess it's the plot, how Nodame and Chiaki develop individually and as a pair. And there are more instrument playing animations than a mere static shot.

Summary: Finally, Shinichi Chiaki has the courage to fly to France. This was all due to Noda Megumi (Nodame), and she ended up tagging along to go to a music Academy (Conservatory) there. The old characters lack appearence (but Kuroki Yasunori makes a come back!), but new characters are really funny too. So while Nodame is struggling to adapt with the French environment and new school, Chiaki working hard in the conductor's competition.

New characters are:
Frank Latoine - a French piano student at the Conservatory, a tenant at the apartment complex Nodame and Chiaki stayed. He's an otaku, a fan of Puri Gorota just like Nodame. He's favourite series is 'Shakugan no Shana'!

Tatiana Vishneva - also known as 'Tanya'. A piano student at the same Conservatory as well, staying at the same apartment. But she lacks practice because she worries more about vacation, thick make-up, mismatched clothes and love life.

Jean Donnadieu - A conductor, and by 'coincidence' he has a b1tchy Japanese girlfriend whom he regards as 'Goddess of Victory'. He's considered the opposite of Chiaki (white roses bs black feathers lol) and also his rival. But even Chiaki is intimidated by Jean's positive energy!

Son Rui - A pianist who had been famous since childhood, and plays in a piano concerto Chiaki conducts (to replace Stresseman - yea he is back). Apparently she has a strict parent, so she takes advantage of the freedom she got. She likes to shop a lot and use Chiaki as her slave.

[it's not what you think!!]

Well, I thought in the end Nodame would finally get to play with Chiaki in an orchestra. Almost, but then Son Rui got in the way. I predict Nodame's dream will come true in the final movie. But that's OK. What I am happy to see is how sweet Nodame and Chiaki became a couple. There wasn't a need for uber romantic stuff, and Chiaki isn't the type who gives a damn about becoming a Romeo either. They slowly realized that they needed each other. Such an odd couple they are~

JOSEI ROMANCE WINS!

I don't really know what else to say cos the second season seem to have a 'cliffhanger'. I rate it 3.9/5 roughly.

Oh yea... I think I like Mozart now. Twinkle twinkle little star!

[Mozart cosplay]

p/s: I don't like the OP. btw I rly liek the first season's ED, Konna Chikaku De... by Crystal Kay.