Oh, Japan! ๏̯͡๏)

Retrospective: Aug-Dec 2004

nobody@vox.com(Jack) — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 00:57:09 +0900

In the first of an ongoing series, here is a video shoddily thrown together automatically in Vaio Movie Story, of my first 5 months in Japan. More will come regularly until i'm caught up until now, at which case they'll come... less regularly.

Music is Hana by ORANGE RANGE, and uhhh, Thunderbirds ~ your voice ~ by V6 -- two songs that were uhhh current at the time the pics in this video were taken. That's sort of the plan: either choose music that was current (that I like) or music that seems unrelated, but is my personal musical memory of the event/period. So yeah, too much talking, Autumn 2k4 here we go.

Japan: Aug 1-Dec 31 2004

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Orange Sunset

nobody@vox.com(Jack) — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 21:19:20 +0900

Oh hi.

This is like, my favourite song. It's been a year, but it's still one of my favourites. I think, if you checked my last.fm infoz, this is the song I've listened to the most. When I catch myself humming a tune or singing to myself, it's most likely this. I <3 it.

[Subbed]Yuugure Orenji - Miyake Ken (V6 Voyager Con)

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Water and Lunatics

nobody@vox.com(Jack) — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 21:15:34 +0900

Here's another V6 video, it's all summery and shit.

[PV] V6 - tokunatsu VIBRATION.mpg

I'm listening to batshit insane lunatic wackos whinging about the LHC. It's bloody excellent, but he has to be trolling after he brought Ghostbusters into the "LHC is bad" rant. Check it out for yourself though -- It's about 45 minutes long, but you can skip ahead to 19 minutes for the really weird shit.

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More V6

nobody@vox.com(Jack) — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 19:34:20 +0900

Look, it's another V6 video -- this from their most recent single. It's pretty fun.

Swing!.avi

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Way of Life

nobody@vox.com(Jack) — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 20:55:54 +0900

I don't need to go into much detail about this, do I? It's V6. (shrug)
The video was done in one take apparently? I think that's what they said in the making of dealio. This was the end theme for SP.

V6 Way of Life PV.mpg

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Music from the last week.

nobody@vox.com(Jack) — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 11:14:59 +0900

I haven't done this in a while, ever since they changed the charts at last.fm, but whatever, I'll do it manually.
WHAT HAVE I LISTENED TO IN THE PAST WEEK?

1	V6	61
1	天門	61
3	浜崎あゆみ	49
4	山崎まさよし	13
4	Enya	13
6	Loreena McKennitt	9
7	アンジェラ・アキ	8
7	UVERworld	8
9	Daft Punk	6
9	菅野祐悟	6
9	Whigfield	6

I wonder if that will appear right? Hooray rich-text pasting.

Anyway, V6 because there's a new single out, and also because I was listening to my boy-band playlist for a while. Tenmon tied for first because I've been listening to the 秒速５センチメートル soundtrack a lot. That's also how Yamazaki Masayoshi got in there in #4. Ayu because I have a shitload of Ayu, and the stuff from the singles boxset is still in my current playlist. Angela Aki also had a new single recently, so that's why she's in there. The rest are just random strokes of fate.

What you have been listening to?

03 One more time, One more chance (Hikigatari Ver.)

PS: I wish Vox wouldn't randomly choke on the cover art in my uploaded music. "We cannot accept this file", but then it goes into my library find and dandy, sans cover art anyway? It's been two years, why is this not fixed yet?

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Light in your Heart

nobody@vox.com(Jack) — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 19:59:31 +0900

This week marked the release of the new Ultraman movie, and also of the new V6 double A-side single that includes the theme song to the movie. It's pretty good. I quite enjoy it. This is that theme song. Though I like "Swing!" better, this is also good. I have a video of it. Perhaps you would like to see it?

Light in your Heart.avi

In other music news, today's blip.fm set was Soundtrack Saturday, so you can go check that out if you like.

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V6 Five Stars Set

nobody@vox.com(Jack) — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 21:58:36 +0900

Today's set is finished. To sort of celebrate the release of LIGHT IN YOUR HEART/Swing! yesterday, I decided to do a set of some of my top-rated V6 songs. You can find it here.

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The Best Day Ever

nobody@vox.com(Jack) — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 23:03:24 +0900

The title? Referring to today.

Of course, with a hyperbolic title like that, you'll be thinking "OH WOW WHAT BIG WONDERFUL THING HAPPENED TODAY?!"

Nothing. Nothing big happened at all.

I woke up, I had some tea for breakfast (I'd been sick, and not taking breakfast, so I had no food in the house for that purpose). Sat and checked e-mail, read some things. Got up, stretched and warmed up, then did a 4 minute HIIT set, which I didn't think I'd be able to do. In the end, though my final sprint interval was a bit sluggish, and I was wheezing pretty damned good, I finished, and felt good. Human.

Hopped in the shower, got dressed, headed to work.

Did a couple classes in the morning with kids who don't try because their teacher doesn't try. I tried to rile them up, make them angry enough to react instead of sitting there resenting English. Seemed to work, at least a bit. Needs more work though.

Chilled in the staffroom for a period, drank a vitamin drink. Was interrupted at about 11 when the delivery girl stopped at the school with my new V6 CDs that I had to sign and pay for. How did she know I was there! They've never brought stuff to school for me before - always tried my apartment, then left the card for me to call them and arrange. That was pretty cool that she came.

Came home for lunch, chilled, started my blip.fm set, had a coke (a real coke, because there wasn't any Zero in the neighbourhood).

Headed back to work, marked some papers, and suddenly a feeling not-unlike euphoria overtook me. I was happy! I was grinning ear to ear! The sun was shining, bright and warm on my back; the cicadas were singing their last song of the summer; the breeze carried a gentle scent of early autumn blossoms; and I was happy. Not just HAPPY, but ecstaticly, uncontrollably happy.

I cannot, for the life of me, remember the last time I felt like this. The weird nostalgia flavour to the feeling suggests events from high school, or here but four years ago, but I can't place anything specific -- it's a vague, undefined feeling of nostalgia attached to definite feeling of awesome.

I decided to make the most of my good mood, just in case it didn't last (as they never have before), so I wrote postcards to some friends I haven't talked to in a while (postcards which, serendipitously, I had put in my bag at lunchtime). While writing, HMT popped over to ask me how I was feeling, and was pleased when I told him I felt fantastic, though possibly not as pleased as I was that he'd come to talk to me. I smiled wider.

When hometime came, I got my things together and headed out; when I got outside, and felt the breeze, and smelled the air, and saw the beautiful autumn sky, and the sunlight sparkling off the water in my bottle as I took a swig, I was overcome. It was too beautiful. Everything was in sharp, distinct focus, every sense. It was as though I've been living my life in a nondescript woolen sock all these years, and suddenly, clarity came. It brough tears to my eyes, to be quite honest.

I was going to take a picture of the sky, but decided that no, this was one of those things that needs to live on in my memory, so that it can't be cheapened and diminished by my lack of skills, or the low quality of my tools.

I went to the 100yen store, and bought some CD boxes. Found a shopping bag that has ridiculous Engrish on it that I'll share another time. Headed to the supermarket next, bought proper Chiquita bananas for breakfast, and some things for supper. Was greeted by several people I didn't know. Stopped in the garden centre, and saw the cutest little fern for 300 yen that I just had to have. It's like someone just went out into the forest and ripped a part of the forest floor out and put it in a pot. This, I decided, will be my memento of today, in the event I don't feel like this again for a long time. Just in case.

常盤忍 (a fern)

Came home, made supper (a mushroom rice beef thing), listened to music, finished my blip set, finished some post cards, ripped my new CDs, and just existed.

Mushroom Beef Rice

It was awesome.

A perfectly ordinary day. Nothing extraordinary, just the norm. Oh, and that small thing of me being the happiest I've ever been. If I didn't know better, I'd think I was altered in some way -- my meds affecting my mind, the spirochetes burrowing into my pleasure centers, or something. I don't care to understand why I feel this way, really -- I just know I do, and I want to feel this way for a long, long time.

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I.N.O=Nut Kid

nobody@vox.com(Jack) — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 21:09:21 +0900

This is Inohara's solo song from the Voyager album, being performed at the final Voyager Concert in Yoyogi around this time last year. Subtitled for your pleasure (credits are in the video - i feel it's okay to do this because Ieft the credits in, and I was the source for the... source...?)

Inohara Yoshihiko - I.N.O=Nut Kid

don't mind me, just rockin' a 38.4/101.1 degree fever D:

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