Entries for June, 2006
June 6, 2006 @ 05:13 PM
A Long Break
Posted by baboysai
I think I've run out of creative juices just when I thought I should write something after a very long time. Well, I did lose internet access for two weeks, and I'm still not over this summer-bumming lifestyle.
I do plan to write reviews on a lot of stuff. Because... well, just because.
"What's with Anime anyway?"
Other variations may be of the following:
"Why do you like that stuff so much?"
"I really don't get what you see in those cartoons."
"Geez you're 19 and still watching those cartoons!"
I have been asked these questions countless times in my life. Well the next time someone asks me I'll kindly give them a link to this entry. Because the answer to that, my friends, has been a result of a long string of events. I am not stupid. I am critical. I will now tell you the factors that affected my judgement. I like anime, and to defend that, this is going to be long.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A little orange-haired guy steps into the scene, purple eyes staring deep into his enemy's while expertly stripping away all expression. A single eye movement cold betray his next move. The motive? To save the girl of course. (Drown me in cliches. Don't you have anything better than this?) The guy is not to be underestimated! A swing of his sword demonstrates his superhuman strength as it smoothly slices through an 8-inch thick concrete wall. Kenshin. He was such a hottie back then.
Somehow it had to do with superhuman strength. Or some sort of super power. That was anime for me. Like the Goku guy who lives in a world of planet-shattering energy waves and blurring speed. And I somehow thought it was cool. Maybe that's what it was. At first. They fight this ugly green guy to protect the world because he wants to fill it with all things evil!!! Now I don't get it. What does he want to fill it with evil for? And that disappointed me. Maybe there had to be much more than that.
I got into this Pokemon thing too. Maybe it was because I was excited about what Pokemon appeared next. And Pokemon are so cute. Then I thought, where's all this heading?
It was then that I came across the Card Captors and their cute little costumes. The minute I saw what the cards could do I was captured. There you go again. Super powers. Or rather, magic. Coolness. As the story got thicker though, I somehow noticed there were dark parts that I couldn't understand no matter how much I paid attention. I decided to quench my curiostiy. I discovered the internet. And the butchering.
It turned out that this seemingly childhood-fantasy animation I was beeing fed was not just dubbed, but butchered. Because the story was not suitable for the general public, kids or adults. Because it involved homosexuality. I was shocked that someone could put it on animation. I was 13. I didn't get to watch anymore. Not that I didn't want to, but because I craved for other things. I was no longer content with the shows they put on television. Who knows what the original line must have meant behind the dub? Who knows if I was watching a cut up story? I didn't trust television anymore. I wanted stories the way they were written. I was 13.
Then came Fushigi Yuugi. The first time I laid eyes on a bishounen other than those of Samurai X (It was how I knew it back then). The first time I saw a really sex-laden anime. This was too full of those things I dared not mention. Hey I was young, innocent, and catholic, then.
One of the first anime I really appreciated, that up to now I really respect, was Vision of Escaflowne. It just drew me in. Maybe because I was already looking beyond the coolness and the magic. I was looking for a story, and this time I found it. Maybe it was just luck. Because it was still something television served.
It was not until my sister gave me a copy of Samurai X OVA1 (By then I realized it was Rurouni Kenshin Tsuioku Hen) that I truly appreciated an anime in the original Japanese form. I was deeply moved. The writer was a genius. So this was the true Samurai X. It was Rurouni Kenshin. It was different hearing them in their original voices. Voice talents handpicked to fit the character. By this time I was already noticing other elements. The character design and build-up, the symbolism, the music. It was because of this movie that my musical taste broadened to include Japanese. But that's another story.
As some of you might know, Rurouni Kenshin was based on actual historical events. Though the story is pure fiction, there was no more superhuman strength, no magic, no yellow energy waves. This time it had to be the story. So you ask why I like anime so much? Not all, and I've explained that fully. Maybe I just matured. There might be occasional magic stuff, alchemy, eye candy, mecha robots, energy waves, but it had to be the story that keeps you glued in the end right? Anyone's a sucker for a good story.
*Rurouni Kenshin was written by Nobuhiro Watsuki-sama.
There's always a price for everything. You reap what you sow. You get what you deserve. An eye for an eye. Alchemy. You get the picture. You can only make something out of what it's really made of.
So you put in the elements and compounds that compose a human, mix them in a bowl, transmute them and you get to make a person? Or better yet, bring a lost love back to life? You get to make a body, probably. But a person?
Nobody has yet brought a person back to life. When Ed and Al Elric tried to revive their mother, the transmutation cost Ed his arm and leg, and Al's whole body. But still this didn't bring back their mother. The thing was breathing, but you couldn't really call it human.
Somehow Ed, being the older and more talented one, affixed his brother's conciousness into an armor. Ed's arm and foot were replaced with mechanical ones. When they heard about a legendary Philosopher's stone that has powers yet to be discovered, they hoped to find it to get their normal bodies back. Knowing that the military has the largest research facilities, Ed becomes a "dog of the military" to find clues about the stone.
The brothers slowly uncover the secrets of this mysterious stone, and the dark truths behind alchemy. You wanna know what makes alchemy tick? Its simplicity would scare you out of your chair and make your hairs stand on end.
*Full Metal Alchemist was originally created by Hiromu Arakawa
Anime Rating (/10):
Baboysai: Hey isn't it like... just a Disney (TM) movie kinda plot?
Sudarshan Khadka Jr: Nah. It's something Disney (TM) can't use for a plot.
Baboysai: Why?
Sudarshan Khadka Jr: Because there are too many issues that just can't be associated with Disney (TM).
*Baboysai thinks*
TOKYO GODFATHERS. It's a story that starts with an abandoned baby discovered by three unlikely heroes.
Sounds cliche? That's about as cliche as you can get. By unlikely, I do mean unlikely. In the sense that:
Hero 1: Hana is gay. The drag-queen-kind of gay. Who was orphaned at birth.
Hero 2: Gin is a 40-something alcoholic man whose life was gobbled by debts and who cannot face his family.
Hero 3: Miyuki is a disturbed teenager with murderous tendencies and ran away from home.
Read: They are bums.
So bums rummaging in the trash discover a baby they cannot support, but can't leave behind either. There is no villain but the harsh reality of life is the perfect antagonist.
See, if it were Disney (TM), the baby wouldn't have ended up in the trash in the first place. There would be no gays, no abandoning of families, no poverty screaming at you. There would have been a villain whose sole motive was greed.
Directing our attention to the elements now:
Animation-wise, this film is just superb. Smooth. Magnifique. I am at a loss of words. The characters were also very well-designed. Facial expressions were really captured. The voice acting is excellent. The pacing is just right, and the excitement is maintained all through out the movie.
Tokyo Godfathers- original story by Satoshi Kon, directed by Satoshi Kon
Anime Rating (/10)? I'd give it a
I was watching anime (Ouran High Host Club) and singing random songs (at the same time!) and didn't notice what time it was. I had been walking for an hour and doing some exercise earlier. I expected I'd plop right down to bed. But it was one in the morning, and I didn't even feel a tinge of being worn out.
Then suddenly I am distracted by the sound of rain pouring hardly out on the streets. It's been a long time since I've "experienced" rain like this.
I'm not trying to be deep here. To tell you the truth, since last year I've loved the rainy season for the fabulous wardrobe items I get to wear! Hahaha. The coats, the sweaters, the turtle-necks, the FUR, the boots...
(smash!)
Boots!!! I want booooooooots!
Ahem. Now that that's been expressed, let me get back to my more peaceful thoughts. Maybe I should just shut myself down now. I don't see any point in wearing myself out by staying up writing all this sh*t. Speaking of which, I must get all the sleep I can get! And again the rain does not fail to remind me that summer's over. Classes are here to unwelcomely deprive me (was that redundant?) of sleep. Back to the days of thinking too many things and finally sleeping due to exhaustion and not because you need it.
*Sigh* The things I do for the future of architecture in my country.
----------------------------WARNING: RANDOM BABBLE.-----------------------------
Seeing Orange Range just gives me the shivers. They are so cool. Hearing them kicks me out into space. They are gods.
They sang Viva Rock, one of Naruto's ending themes, and Asterisk, Bleach's first opening theme.
When I watched their music videos I was just... hyper. What a word.
FYI Orange Range's song Champione was also chosen as the official theme song of the 2006 World Cup.
Not to mention they've gotten some serious awards.
The music video for Asterisk was just amazing. They weren't looking at the camera they were looking up at the sky. Who would have thought that they were singing to the stars!!!?
Gawd that was original.
IDOL.
Then there's Home Made Kazoku who sang Thank You!! or Arigatou!! (yep with the !!), one of the closing songs of Bleach. One of the rappers is a midget. Or maybe a really small guy. They're the same thing right?
I found out they also sang Shounen Heart for this anime Eureka 7 but I haven't watched that yet.
I just watched their music videos, including Aikotoba which I don't think is a soundtrack of any anime.
They said Japanese videos were so "fruity". Generally I guess. Better than bling blings with cars and chicks.
I couldn't really fathom how they (Home Made Kazoku) could made original music though when their band consists of two rappers and a scratcher.
Anyway, this Aikotoba song is happy and... addictive.
I also discovered that Beat Crusaders who sang the opening song Hit in the USA of the anime Beck (Mongolian Chop Squad) were also the ones who performed Moon on the Water of the same anime. Amazing talent then, I should say. I like Moon on the Water. Makes me just wanna make sweet love to the song, hehe.
They also sang the 4th opening of Bleach which is Tonight, tonight, tonight. Great arrangement.
I haven't seen any of their real faces though. These guys appear in their videos with Photoshop-filtered pictures they wear as masks. I guess that's their trademark. I haven't seen a serious video from these guys. I thought the Moon on the Water video was serious but then it had a funny twist in the last part.
*Thinks* Bleach is commissioning some cool bands for its soundtrack eh?
Though looking back, in the time of Rurouni Kenshin, they also had some big-time artists to perform their opening and ending themes. These bands, however, are like the anime they played for- faded. (Le Arc en Ciel and Judy and Mary are examples).
Akeboshi's song Wind is a big hit even in the Philippines. Because it was the first ending theme of the anime Naruto. Many appealed to this because it had superb musical arrangement and had a very catchy melody.
When I got to listen to Akeboshi's song Yellow Moon, I first thought of Five for Fighting, or perhaps Coldplay, or something western. Nice song, none-the-less. It turned out Akeboshi was quite unique as a Jap artist because he was greatly influenced by Brit music for studying in England. That's why he could compose completely English songs with a different not-so-japanese beat.
So far I've only heard two songs by Bonnie Pink, but her famous It's Gonna Rain, ending theme of Rurouni Kenshin was enough to make me her fan.
This is getting a bit long, but I just can't leave out Sakamoto Maaya! She has also performed for a lot of famous anime themes. Her voice is just angelic. Uwaaaa.
And of course, I am an all-time fan of composers Yoko Kanno (Ailes Grise, Wolf's Rain, Vision of Escaflowne and many other anime), Taku Iwasaki (Rurouni Kenshin), Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy) and Toshiro Masuda (Naruto). Japanese composers have a different touch in their music, even with western instruments. I bow to thee.
------------------------------Babbling terminated-------------------------------------
Talk like the pros. Know the elements.
What's in Mozart's music that tells you it's Mozart and not Bach? Know it well enough to not call it Beethoven when it really isn't. What happened in Picasso's lifetime that compelled him to create a movement? What's the difference between Dali's early and later works?
I realized I was a dumba*s. I couldn't contribute a relevant string of words to the supposed conversation. And to think I was an architecture student. What the hell.
Our task as the students from this studio therefore, is to know art well enough that we can express the same material through a different medium: space. That listening to music and walking through your designed space would evoke exactly the same emotion.
I do not go to school for nothing. I try to learn.
Talk like the pros, knowing the elements: Yoko Kanno. Take 1.
I was unprepared. I heard this song and was surprised to find out it was a composition by Yoko Kanno. I listened to 24 songs and compositions by Yoko Kanno, and I couldn't find a single thing that could string them to the same composer. How was I supposed to know if they were done by a different composer?
How could this piano solo not be Toshiro Masuda's? How could this cello arrangement not be by Taku Iwasaki? Why is it Yoko Kanno's? Because the title said so? Because the sources said so? What was in the music that made it a composition by Yoko Kanno?
I
do
not
know.
I am still a dumba*s.
I don't know if this is just PMS or anything. But I can't take anymore of this "extremities" thing. Super high, super low. No inbetweens.
But I do hope this is PMS. At least I would then know I'm not going crazy.
I am young. Embarrassing and radical as it may sound, I do have an imagination befitting my age. An imagination probably untainted by reality. For what reality have I been in? I am young, and I have not yet stepped out of my cocoon. I may not know reality, and for this I ask your pardon. For once you were young too, and you had your visions. Visions of change and prosperity, telling yourself that you could... maybe change the world, through working in this country, through being in the University, through these meager little home-works of this little organization. That we could effect change in our own little ways. So allow me to have experienced this in my own time. I'm sure you understand. Because you've had your share. You, beyond all others, are a dreamer.
Perhaps you wanted me to quit it. Perhaps it annoyed you. My little stories of trivial events that happened earlier one afternoon or some evening. Perhaps you didn't want me disappointed when you said it's so easy to just dream. But that would be giving you too much credit. Because honestly, I just thought you were saying bullshit. You had one huge stick up your ass.
It might be that a mention of certain groups of words trigger something in your memory. That though I do not intend to show any sign of superiority or whatever you think I mean, it brings you back to the days when you were then verbally, emotionally, or probably intellectually bullied. It might be that you know what will already happen to my unfinished stories because of your previous experiences. And I say "Bullshit". Yes I take into account that you may still hold a grudge because of these experiences, that there is so much angst, that you are brooding, that you are seething with bitterness. And I say a big "So what?!". I am sick and tired of this grudge of yours. I am sick and tired of your angst. I am sick and tired of your bitterness.
Even if you are bitter, and even if you hold a grudge against some people, it is not fair to take it out on me. I am not a wall you can throw all your anger on. I have a thinking apparatus that is also very capable of conjuring genuine emotions, if you haven't noticed. Thus for certain accusations I definitely don't find myself guilty of, I call you a jerk.
As you can see, I have drawn no conclusions concerning your thoughts. I can only say "may", "might", "perhaps", "probably". Your thoughts are unknown to me. And if I say I tried to hear you out, you cannot deny it. But it is you who refuse to share them with me. It's fine. But when you get pissed off if I don't understand you, THAT pisses me off. Because I have every reason to not understand you, and you are being very unfair not to understand me after my reactions.
I suggest you listen first before you let your bitterness overwhelm your faculty. I suggest that you get that stick out of your ass after all these years. It may not feel the same, but you'll definitely feel better. Then maybe you'd like to talk about what you're thinking more, or perhaps ask me questions kindly if the things I'm saying are getting too complicated. Because I ultimately hate it when you put double meanings to the trivial things I'm saying. And you should just buy a stress ball, so I don't have to absorb all your pains. You could share them with me, but that's not what you're doing. You're just throwing them at me, and I can't dodge them all. I'm no superwoman.
Do you always have to tell him everything on your mind?
We know that too much honesty can be so unkind.
Everytime you throw him to the floor, why are you surprised to see?
He's breakable.
You always try to find what's holding him away from you.
But do you ever see your anger standing there right between you?
And everytime you throw him to the wall, why are you surprised to see?
He's breakable.
Go tell the world that he's breaking your heart.
Go tell the world nothing's ever your fault.
Go tell them all.
And everytime you throw him to the floor, why are you surprised to see?
He's breakable.
And everytime you push him to the wall, why are you surprised to see?
He's breakable.
Agnes: Can I be Selfish? Please?
I think I've run out of creative juices just when I thought I should write something after a very long time. Well, I did lose internet access for two weeks, and I'm still not over this summer-bumming lifestyle.
I do plan to write reviews on a lot of stuff. Because... well, just because.
June 9, 2006 @ 04:18 PM
I Owe It All To Nobuhiro Watsuki- Sama
Posted by baboysai under Baboysai's Days
"What's with Anime anyway?"
Other variations may be of the following:
"Why do you like that stuff so much?"
"I really don't get what you see in those cartoons."
"Geez you're 19 and still watching those cartoons!"
I have been asked these questions countless times in my life. Well the next time someone asks me I'll kindly give them a link to this entry. Because the answer to that, my friends, has been a result of a long string of events. I am not stupid. I am critical. I will now tell you the factors that affected my judgement. I like anime, and to defend that, this is going to be long.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A little orange-haired guy steps into the scene, purple eyes staring deep into his enemy's while expertly stripping away all expression. A single eye movement cold betray his next move. The motive? To save the girl of course. (Drown me in cliches. Don't you have anything better than this?) The guy is not to be underestimated! A swing of his sword demonstrates his superhuman strength as it smoothly slices through an 8-inch thick concrete wall. Kenshin. He was such a hottie back then.
Somehow it had to do with superhuman strength. Or some sort of super power. That was anime for me. Like the Goku guy who lives in a world of planet-shattering energy waves and blurring speed. And I somehow thought it was cool. Maybe that's what it was. At first. They fight this ugly green guy to protect the world because he wants to fill it with all things evil!!! Now I don't get it. What does he want to fill it with evil for? And that disappointed me. Maybe there had to be much more than that.
I got into this Pokemon thing too. Maybe it was because I was excited about what Pokemon appeared next. And Pokemon are so cute. Then I thought, where's all this heading?
It was then that I came across the Card Captors and their cute little costumes. The minute I saw what the cards could do I was captured. There you go again. Super powers. Or rather, magic. Coolness. As the story got thicker though, I somehow noticed there were dark parts that I couldn't understand no matter how much I paid attention. I decided to quench my curiostiy. I discovered the internet. And the butchering.
It turned out that this seemingly childhood-fantasy animation I was beeing fed was not just dubbed, but butchered. Because the story was not suitable for the general public, kids or adults. Because it involved homosexuality. I was shocked that someone could put it on animation. I was 13. I didn't get to watch anymore. Not that I didn't want to, but because I craved for other things. I was no longer content with the shows they put on television. Who knows what the original line must have meant behind the dub? Who knows if I was watching a cut up story? I didn't trust television anymore. I wanted stories the way they were written. I was 13.
Then came Fushigi Yuugi. The first time I laid eyes on a bishounen other than those of Samurai X (It was how I knew it back then). The first time I saw a really sex-laden anime. This was too full of those things I dared not mention. Hey I was young, innocent, and catholic, then.
One of the first anime I really appreciated, that up to now I really respect, was Vision of Escaflowne. It just drew me in. Maybe because I was already looking beyond the coolness and the magic. I was looking for a story, and this time I found it. Maybe it was just luck. Because it was still something television served.
It was not until my sister gave me a copy of Samurai X OVA1 (By then I realized it was Rurouni Kenshin Tsuioku Hen) that I truly appreciated an anime in the original Japanese form. I was deeply moved. The writer was a genius. So this was the true Samurai X. It was Rurouni Kenshin. It was different hearing them in their original voices. Voice talents handpicked to fit the character. By this time I was already noticing other elements. The character design and build-up, the symbolism, the music. It was because of this movie that my musical taste broadened to include Japanese. But that's another story.
As some of you might know, Rurouni Kenshin was based on actual historical events. Though the story is pure fiction, there was no more superhuman strength, no magic, no yellow energy waves. This time it had to be the story. So you ask why I like anime so much? Not all, and I've explained that fully. Maybe I just matured. There might be occasional magic stuff, alchemy, eye candy, mecha robots, energy waves, but it had to be the story that keeps you glued in the end right? Anyone's a sucker for a good story.
*Rurouni Kenshin was written by Nobuhiro Watsuki-sama.
Baboysai reads Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou
Baboysai watches Ouran High Host Club
THE END. Baboysai is driven
June 9, 2006 @ 07:01 PM
You Don't Really Want To Know
Posted by baboysai under Baboysai's Reviews
There's always a price for everything. You reap what you sow. You get what you deserve. An eye for an eye. Alchemy. You get the picture. You can only make something out of what it's really made of.
So you put in the elements and compounds that compose a human, mix them in a bowl, transmute them and you get to make a person? Or better yet, bring a lost love back to life? You get to make a body, probably. But a person?
Nobody has yet brought a person back to life. When Ed and Al Elric tried to revive their mother, the transmutation cost Ed his arm and leg, and Al's whole body. But still this didn't bring back their mother. The thing was breathing, but you couldn't really call it human.
Somehow Ed, being the older and more talented one, affixed his brother's conciousness into an armor. Ed's arm and foot were replaced with mechanical ones. When they heard about a legendary Philosopher's stone that has powers yet to be discovered, they hoped to find it to get their normal bodies back. Knowing that the military has the largest research facilities, Ed becomes a "dog of the military" to find clues about the stone.
The brothers slowly uncover the secrets of this mysterious stone, and the dark truths behind alchemy. You wanna know what makes alchemy tick? Its simplicity would scare you out of your chair and make your hairs stand on end.
*Full Metal Alchemist was originally created by Hiromu Arakawa
Anime Rating (/10):
THE END. Baboysai is dirty. Di pa naliligo :p
June 10, 2006 @ 04:19 PM
Three Unlikely Heroes
Posted by baboysai under Baboysai's Reviews
Baboysai: Hey isn't it like... just a Disney (TM) movie kinda plot?
Sudarshan Khadka Jr: Nah. It's something Disney (TM) can't use for a plot.
Baboysai: Why?
Sudarshan Khadka Jr: Because there are too many issues that just can't be associated with Disney (TM).
*Baboysai thinks*
TOKYO GODFATHERS. It's a story that starts with an abandoned baby discovered by three unlikely heroes.
Sounds cliche? That's about as cliche as you can get. By unlikely, I do mean unlikely. In the sense that:
Hero 1: Hana is gay. The drag-queen-kind of gay. Who was orphaned at birth.
Hero 2: Gin is a 40-something alcoholic man whose life was gobbled by debts and who cannot face his family.
Hero 3: Miyuki is a disturbed teenager with murderous tendencies and ran away from home.
Read: They are bums.
So bums rummaging in the trash discover a baby they cannot support, but can't leave behind either. There is no villain but the harsh reality of life is the perfect antagonist.
See, if it were Disney (TM), the baby wouldn't have ended up in the trash in the first place. There would be no gays, no abandoning of families, no poverty screaming at you. There would have been a villain whose sole motive was greed.
Directing our attention to the elements now:
Animation-wise, this film is just superb. Smooth. Magnifique. I am at a loss of words. The characters were also very well-designed. Facial expressions were really captured. The voice acting is excellent. The pacing is just right, and the excitement is maintained all through out the movie.
Tokyo Godfathers- original story by Satoshi Kon, directed by Satoshi Kon
Anime Rating (/10)? I'd give it a
Baboysai watches Ouran High Host Club
THE END. Baboysai is hot. haha.
June 11, 2006 @ 01:11 AM
Morning Rain
Posted by baboysai under Baboysai's Days
I was watching anime (Ouran High Host Club) and singing random songs (at the same time!) and didn't notice what time it was. I had been walking for an hour and doing some exercise earlier. I expected I'd plop right down to bed. But it was one in the morning, and I didn't even feel a tinge of being worn out.
Then suddenly I am distracted by the sound of rain pouring hardly out on the streets. It's been a long time since I've "experienced" rain like this.
I'm not trying to be deep here. To tell you the truth, since last year I've loved the rainy season for the fabulous wardrobe items I get to wear! Hahaha. The coats, the sweaters, the turtle-necks, the FUR, the boots...
(smash!)
Boots!!! I want booooooooots!
Ahem. Now that that's been expressed, let me get back to my more peaceful thoughts. Maybe I should just shut myself down now. I don't see any point in wearing myself out by staying up writing all this sh*t. Speaking of which, I must get all the sleep I can get! And again the rain does not fail to remind me that summer's over. Classes are here to unwelcomely deprive me (was that redundant?) of sleep. Back to the days of thinking too many things and finally sleeping due to exhaustion and not because you need it.
*Sigh* The things I do for the future of architecture in my country.
Baboysai watches Ouran High Host Club
June 11, 2006 @ 08:37 PM
JMusic Marathon
Posted by baboysai under Baboysai's Reviews
----------------------------WARNING: RANDOM BABBLE.-----------------------------
Seeing Orange Range just gives me the shivers. They are so cool. Hearing them kicks me out into space. They are gods.
They sang Viva Rock, one of Naruto's ending themes, and Asterisk, Bleach's first opening theme.
When I watched their music videos I was just... hyper. What a word.
FYI Orange Range's song Champione was also chosen as the official theme song of the 2006 World Cup.
Not to mention they've gotten some serious awards.
The music video for Asterisk was just amazing. They weren't looking at the camera they were looking up at the sky. Who would have thought that they were singing to the stars!!!?
Gawd that was original. IDOL.
Then there's Home Made Kazoku who sang Thank You!! or Arigatou!! (yep with the !!), one of the closing songs of Bleach. One of the rappers is a midget. Or maybe a really small guy. They're the same thing right?
I found out they also sang Shounen Heart for this anime Eureka 7 but I haven't watched that yet.
I just watched their music videos, including Aikotoba which I don't think is a soundtrack of any anime.
They said Japanese videos were so "fruity". Generally I guess. Better than bling blings with cars and chicks.
I couldn't really fathom how they (Home Made Kazoku) could made original music though when their band consists of two rappers and a scratcher.
Anyway, this Aikotoba song is happy and... addictive.
I also discovered that Beat Crusaders who sang the opening song Hit in the USA of the anime Beck (Mongolian Chop Squad) were also the ones who performed Moon on the Water of the same anime. Amazing talent then, I should say. I like Moon on the Water. Makes me just wanna make sweet love to the song, hehe.
They also sang the 4th opening of Bleach which is Tonight, tonight, tonight. Great arrangement.
I haven't seen any of their real faces though. These guys appear in their videos with Photoshop-filtered pictures they wear as masks. I guess that's their trademark. I haven't seen a serious video from these guys. I thought the Moon on the Water video was serious but then it had a funny twist in the last part.
*Thinks* Bleach is commissioning some cool bands for its soundtrack eh?
Though looking back, in the time of Rurouni Kenshin, they also had some big-time artists to perform their opening and ending themes. These bands, however, are like the anime they played for- faded. (Le Arc en Ciel and Judy and Mary are examples).
Akeboshi's song Wind is a big hit even in the Philippines. Because it was the first ending theme of the anime Naruto. Many appealed to this because it had superb musical arrangement and had a very catchy melody.
When I got to listen to Akeboshi's song Yellow Moon, I first thought of Five for Fighting, or perhaps Coldplay, or something western. Nice song, none-the-less. It turned out Akeboshi was quite unique as a Jap artist because he was greatly influenced by Brit music for studying in England. That's why he could compose completely English songs with a different not-so-japanese beat.
So far I've only heard two songs by Bonnie Pink, but her famous It's Gonna Rain, ending theme of Rurouni Kenshin was enough to make me her fan.
This is getting a bit long, but I just can't leave out Sakamoto Maaya! She has also performed for a lot of famous anime themes. Her voice is just angelic. Uwaaaa.
And of course, I am an all-time fan of composers Yoko Kanno (Ailes Grise, Wolf's Rain, Vision of Escaflowne and many other anime), Taku Iwasaki (Rurouni Kenshin), Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy) and Toshiro Masuda (Naruto). Japanese composers have a different touch in their music, even with western instruments. I bow to thee.
------------------------------Babbling terminated-------------------------------------
THE END. Baboysai is adik
June 14, 2006 @ 06:04 PM
Talk like the pros, knowing the elements: Yoko Kanno. Take 1.
Posted by baboysai under Baboysai's Days
Talk like the pros. Know the elements.
What's in Mozart's music that tells you it's Mozart and not Bach? Know it well enough to not call it Beethoven when it really isn't. What happened in Picasso's lifetime that compelled him to create a movement? What's the difference between Dali's early and later works?
I realized I was a dumba*s. I couldn't contribute a relevant string of words to the supposed conversation. And to think I was an architecture student. What the hell.
Our task as the students from this studio therefore, is to know art well enough that we can express the same material through a different medium: space. That listening to music and walking through your designed space would evoke exactly the same emotion.
I do not go to school for nothing. I try to learn.
Talk like the pros, knowing the elements: Yoko Kanno. Take 1.
I was unprepared. I heard this song and was surprised to find out it was a composition by Yoko Kanno. I listened to 24 songs and compositions by Yoko Kanno, and I couldn't find a single thing that could string them to the same composer. How was I supposed to know if they were done by a different composer?
How could this piano solo not be Toshiro Masuda's? How could this cello arrangement not be by Taku Iwasaki? Why is it Yoko Kanno's? Because the title said so? Because the sources said so? What was in the music that made it a composition by Yoko Kanno?
I
do
not
know.
I am still a dumba*s.
THE END. Baboysai is super lazy
June 30, 2006 @ 07:43 PM
Emotional Breakdown
Posted by baboysai under Baboysai's Days
I don't know if this is just PMS or anything. But I can't take anymore of this "extremities" thing. Super high, super low. No inbetweens.
But I do hope this is PMS. At least I would then know I'm not going crazy.
July 1, 2006 @ 02:17 AM
I'm No Superwoman
Posted by baboysai under Baboysai's Days
I am young. Embarrassing and radical as it may sound, I do have an imagination befitting my age. An imagination probably untainted by reality. For what reality have I been in? I am young, and I have not yet stepped out of my cocoon. I may not know reality, and for this I ask your pardon. For once you were young too, and you had your visions. Visions of change and prosperity, telling yourself that you could... maybe change the world, through working in this country, through being in the University, through these meager little home-works of this little organization. That we could effect change in our own little ways. So allow me to have experienced this in my own time. I'm sure you understand. Because you've had your share. You, beyond all others, are a dreamer.
Perhaps you wanted me to quit it. Perhaps it annoyed you. My little stories of trivial events that happened earlier one afternoon or some evening. Perhaps you didn't want me disappointed when you said it's so easy to just dream. But that would be giving you too much credit. Because honestly, I just thought you were saying bullshit. You had one huge stick up your ass.
It might be that a mention of certain groups of words trigger something in your memory. That though I do not intend to show any sign of superiority or whatever you think I mean, it brings you back to the days when you were then verbally, emotionally, or probably intellectually bullied. It might be that you know what will already happen to my unfinished stories because of your previous experiences. And I say "Bullshit". Yes I take into account that you may still hold a grudge because of these experiences, that there is so much angst, that you are brooding, that you are seething with bitterness. And I say a big "So what?!". I am sick and tired of this grudge of yours. I am sick and tired of your angst. I am sick and tired of your bitterness.
Even if you are bitter, and even if you hold a grudge against some people, it is not fair to take it out on me. I am not a wall you can throw all your anger on. I have a thinking apparatus that is also very capable of conjuring genuine emotions, if you haven't noticed. Thus for certain accusations I definitely don't find myself guilty of, I call you a jerk.
As you can see, I have drawn no conclusions concerning your thoughts. I can only say "may", "might", "perhaps", "probably". Your thoughts are unknown to me. And if I say I tried to hear you out, you cannot deny it. But it is you who refuse to share them with me. It's fine. But when you get pissed off if I don't understand you, THAT pisses me off. Because I have every reason to not understand you, and you are being very unfair not to understand me after my reactions.
I suggest you listen first before you let your bitterness overwhelm your faculty. I suggest that you get that stick out of your ass after all these years. It may not feel the same, but you'll definitely feel better. Then maybe you'd like to talk about what you're thinking more, or perhaps ask me questions kindly if the things I'm saying are getting too complicated. Because I ultimately hate it when you put double meanings to the trivial things I'm saying. And you should just buy a stress ball, so I don't have to absorb all your pains. You could share them with me, but that's not what you're doing. You're just throwing them at me, and I can't dodge them all. I'm no superwoman.
THE END. Baboysai is full of it!
July 1, 2006 @ 06:06 AM
Can I be Selfish? Please?
Posted by baboysai under Baboysai's Days
Do you always have to tell him everything on your mind?
We know that too much honesty can be so unkind.
Everytime you throw him to the floor, why are you surprised to see?
He's breakable.
You always try to find what's holding him away from you.
But do you ever see your anger standing there right between you?
And everytime you throw him to the wall, why are you surprised to see?
He's breakable.
Go tell the world that he's breaking your heart.
Go tell the world nothing's ever your fault.
Go tell them all.
And everytime you throw him to the floor, why are you surprised to see?
He's breakable.
And everytime you push him to the wall, why are you surprised to see?
He's breakable.
Agnes: Can I be Selfish? Please?
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