MUCCing around

relativity

2009-10-08T06:46:00.002+08:00

1 hour of live = too short
1 hour of pre-live = too long
2 hour flight = short
2 hour pre-flight = long
1 week holiday = too short
1 week work = too long
1 year when you're 31 = short
1 year when you're 13 = long
1 lifetime to live = short or long

Coldplay Viva La Vida Tour 23 Mar 09 @ Singapore Indoor Stadium

2009-03-24T00:51:00.002+08:00

The performance was great! But the audience pissed me off majorly. Everyone's just so OBSESSED with taking photos, there were flash-lights going on ALL THE TIME! It doesn't matter for the fast pieces, but when they do a ballad and you keep getting distracted by the flashes of light all over, it is TOTALLY NOT COOL. It just spoilt the atmosphere!

I don't understand it, why do people derive so much joy in recording the whole darn concert in their cameras, when they shoud instead be immersing in the live and enjoying it there & then??! Is it so important to put it up on your blog or show it to your friends??? Even if it's for memories' sake, is it really necessary to take so many pictures & videos???

& from the performer's point of view, isn't it more rewarding to see the audience rocking to the live performance, instead of seeing them hold up a camera/handphone perpetually to record the performance???

See that's the reason why i prefer to watch lives in Japan.

ムック@日本武道館「球体」, and more! (Part II)

2009-03-23T01:11:00.009+08:00

Cosplayers galore!

If you bought all 3 versions of the album, you get 3 lucky draw tries... the top prize is free mucc lives for the entire year! XD

Disappointed chap... well at least you get 3 stickers & a phone strap as a consolation prize.
Ding~ding~diiinnnggg~!!! Someone won a big prize!

Congratulatory flowers~
Yea maCoto hair! :D!

haha!!! trick photo! of course this wasn't from budokan lah...

ムック@日本武道館「球体」, and more! (Part I)

2009-03-18T11:52:00.015+08:00

It was an impromptu decision to go watch mucc @ budokan this time round. Why? Well, the timing was good, i was looking for a short break and had mileage to claim anyway. The trip turned out to be fantastic. As for the live... well, it was mixed. Don't misunderstand, i enjoyed the 2nd mucc budokan experience thoroughly. But, if you want my honest feedback, i reckon that their 1st budokan performance was better.

Tour Goods!

Arrived at the live venue about 3h before the scheduled start (2h before they start admitting people into the hall), and what did i see the moment i turned left from the main road? The end of the goods queue!!! So freaking long! So without hesitation i quickly joined it... but woa, it snaked like forEVER. Everyone around me kept going "Goodness!" everytime we turned the corner and saw that the line was longer than we imagined it to be.

Check out the queue! At this point everyone was distracted by a show-off between a roaming cat and the resident crow on the roof of the entrance... the crow won in the end. XD

Stood in line for longer than an hour to finally buy those darn goods, by which time the t-shirts were already sold out. Not that I'd have gotten that though. The best goods i bought was not even a tour goods item... it was the mucc 2009 calendar. It was an absolute riot!!! One member draws a picture for each month, usually a picture representing something that month. Miya's drawings are...are... one-of-a-kind, is all i can say!!! XD!

& in addition to the actual Japanese holidays, they've also flagged out special mucc-related dates, like 69day (of course), the members' birthdates (where each member will draw a cake...Satochi's is the funniest... his cake is in the shape of a nose), and weird dates like "Muffler Day", "Corn Beef Day" (yes you read right!) where the sound of the item matches the date... i can figure some out but not all... like "Natto Day" is easy... Na=7, To=10, so that's 10th July. Then there's "Bike Day" on August (ba=8) 19th (i=1, ku=9). Arrgghhhh... these blokes have seriously nothing better to do! XD XD XD

Tour Goods on sale

(to be continued)

Starmucks!

2008-06-05T00:13:00.002+08:00

They're getting cornier & cornier... XD

Talking about tourgoods, this time round i didn't get down to buying any of the Rainy Rave goods... quite amazing seeing how i usually get tempted to buy tour goods on the impulse :)

In the anketto, i proposed to Tatsurou to consider a mucc thumbdrive and a mucc laptop case as possible tour goods... at least i'll have some practical use for those!

Rainy Rave Finale Live - Studio Coast 26 May

2008-05-29T00:17:00.004+08:00

My hip bones hurt like hell !
And there are bruises popping out now at strange places !!!
But it was indisputably shiok lah!

Well what happened on the 26th was, unfortunately in an attempt to get the full worth of my JR East pass, i decided to travel out of Tokyo that day... not that i didn't get back to Tokyo with sufficient time to arrive early at Studio Coast... but i got complacent and started dilly-dallying at Shinjuku... and before i knew it, it was fast approaching 6pm! Egad!

So I rushed to Studio Coast, making mental calculations about when I'll reach the live venue... shit, i'll just be there on the dot! No time to change into my platforms! No time to queue for the loo! No time to get an onigiri and drink and fuel up! How??!

So i quickly decided... grabbed an Oronamin C at the Station, drank it in the train just before reaching Shinkiba, decided to skip the platforms and loo, got ready my 500 Yen for the drink ticket, 300 Yen for the locker, sweets to carry with me (to fuel during the live), and of course the live ticket... and once the train opened its doors at Shinkiba station, i russssshhhheeeeddd for the darn venue!

Only to get stopped by the traffic light. uuurrrgghhh. longest traffic light wait EVAR!

Finally reached Studio Coast. Great, 6pm. They have already started calling the numbers! Rushed to the lockers, flung open the doors of the nearest one that's open, stuffed my bags in, then sped to the barricades... the guy was shouting so softly i couldn't hear the number, but i was sure it was already past 72! So i quickly walked towards the barricades. Stupid guy stopped me and wanted to see my tic! But it was all crumpled up in my hand and i was struggling to unfold it to show him the ticket (note this wasn't even the entrance check... this was the guy with the loudhailer!)...

Long and short of it (sorry to have grumbled so much about this pre-live thing so far...), by the time i got in, the closest i could stand to the stage was the 4th row. There I was, beating myself for getting to the venue late when i had such a wonderful entry number, wasn't it silly of me??! But i comforted myself that in Studio Coast, 4th row was already pretty good... and i was at Miya's side, though i wasn't quite sure how much to the side i was...

That was the bad news.

The good news was... once the live started... miraculously... very very miraculously... and up till now i have no idea how it happened... in all that pushing and shoving and confusion once the translucent curtains came down... i ended up in the 2nd row!!! And it was right in front of Miya! I was staring straight at his (snarling) face! And cos the 1st row girls were not standing that close to each other, i could push like my entire head into the hole between their heads... hahaha... it sounds so funny now... basically i was really happy with my view... could see Miya's performance so clearly, Satochi too... Tatsurou if i looked to my left... the only unfortunate thing was i couldn't quite see Yukke unless i stretched my head a little, but that was still possible.

Some random things again...
- The muckers are a cheeky bunch. During the 10min countdown to the live, when the screen came to 6:09, a bunch of muckers shouted out "muuukkkuu!", hahaha! then at 3:08, they shouted "miiiyaaa!!!", hahahahaha.... so people in the audience caught on to this, and when it finally came to 0:38, everyone shouted "miiiiyyyyaaaa!!!"

- All 3 in front were barefoot... oh my, Miya has such cleancut toenails... probably more pedicured than mine! And why do their skin look so good on the stage??! Is it the lighting??!

- Setlist did not, alas, produce any surprises... and yup, they did not play [空忘れ] again!

- Miya's guitar-playing has definitely improved... and his overall performance too. I couldn't take my eyes off his fingers, i tellya.

- I think it was the proximity to Miya... the main thing i remember about this live was Miya, Miya, Miya.

- Otherwise, best band moment for me was one of the guitar solos in [シヴァ]... Yukke & Miya were in the middle playing together, Tatsu was rocking together behind with Satochi... perfect band moment.

- Most high moment was during one of the songs in the encore when Miya was the first one to go round to Satochi, picked up a drumstick and started banging at a cymbal! Then the other 2 got into the action too... Satochi became Mr Popular! But when Yukke first tried to get up to the platform that Satochi's drumset was on, he lost his balance and fell over to the stage... that was at Miya's side of the stage, so he looked over to us and gave a meek smile XD

- When members came out for the encore, some of them did the jump thing with the audience again!

- During the encore, Tatsurou suddenly discovered, the cloth near his groin area... had a hole! The audience went "woooooooooo!!!" He was like "eh! what happened?!".. .and then quickly covered it with another part of the cloth from his trousers...

- Miya got so high at the end... he even went to the back of the stage to grab a bunch of picks to throw at the audience...

- Divers, divers, divers!!! No joke, these divers... luckily i wasn't scathed by them... but a few people around me were, and i realized that the people in the first row have it tough too... sometimes the divers roll down so fast, the people in the first row have to bend their heads down so low just to get these people off... you can imagine how terrible that felt because at the front row you're pressing your body against really hard railings...

- There were at least 4 cameras pointing at the stage... chances of a DVD or television broadcast coming up?

The amazing thing is, after the live, although i was dripping wet (and my clothes were not even dry the next morning), my legs were not as painful as the night before. Maybe it was the trackshoes instead of the platforms. But like i mentioned above, it was my arms and back and stomach and hips that were (and still are) shouting for help... but it's still tolerable, and strangely, in a satisfying way! i was so exhilirated after the live, and i couldn't sleep that night...

Overall my live experiences at the Rainy Rave lives were more enjoyable than the last album tour, i.e. the Psychedelic Analysis ones. Of course not to mention the Houyoku album tour. Looking forward to their next piece of work!

Yuzu 'Wonderful World' - Saitama Super Arena 24 May

2008-05-28T02:25:00.002+08:00

The tour's titled after their latest album, which was released this year after a 2+ year wait.

It was a very wholesome live, with a wide profile of people in the audience - the young, old, guys, gals, couples, friends, families... the most memorable was this entire family which ended up in the row just behind me... the parents dressed up their kids (i'm guessing around 4-7 years old) into... what else... little yuzus! XD and these kids were awesome... they didn't kick up a ruckus at all during the show, and could even sing along to some of the tunes... word for word!

Not sure if it's a yuzu live thing, since this is my first time checking out their live, but it starts with the blasting of that morning exercise refrain that i suppose every primary and secondary school broadcasts every morning... so the entire audience stood up and starting doing the morning exercises together... yes... even the old uncles in the audience... so of couse i joined in lah :P

The personalities of the yuzu members are so distinct... you can see why they complement each other so well... overall their performance was v polished, with a good mix of laughter vs touching moments and fast vs slow numbers. Perhaps it was the theme of the album, but curiously i was quite touched at their delivery of a number of songs.

Towards the end when the backdrop and dancers popped out (and the kids behind started singing), it seemed like one huuuuggge family outing. You just gotta give it to the Japanese for the live-going culture.

For the encore, instead of shouting for the encore, the audience started singing the chorus of Wonderful World... on repeat until they boys came out... that was cool too.

Rainy Rave - Studio Coast 25 May

2008-05-26T09:18:00.003+08:00

Rained in the day on Rainy Rave day!

- 10 min to the live, a big counter flashed on the screen, counting down to the start of the live. In the background was a rotating mucc symbol that changed colour with every minute... finally the last minute when the background reverted back to its original red colour... the atmosphere was awesome!
- when the translucent screen came down halfway into the first song, woa! a breathtaking backdrop. on the screen, out of a lotus rose a crystal ball, with the mucc symbol on it, and 'mucc' written in english at the bottom of it (though the 'u' looked a little strange...). The crystal ball was flanked by 2 fierce-looking deities, very elaborately drawn... behind Yukke and Miya were standing blindscreens, each with a different flower (lotus) motifs... and the motifs were replicated on each of Satochi's 2 bass drums. Overall, it was a magnificent view! Members were dressed as previously, in the line with the Shion theme.
- There was an extra speaking monologue in the middle of [小さな窓] added during this live
- [蘭鋳] is the song where the band gets the audience to squat down before all jumping up again
- Had an excellent view of Satochi... his drumming was especially powerful in this live!
- Setlist was nothing new from the rest of this tour. Halfway through, during the performance of one of the live favourites, the backdrop changed back to the normal white mucc symbol on black background, and the stage effects focused on the lighting instead.
- When members came out for the encore, starting with Satochi, they had this thing where they would jump with the audience... except for Tatsu though the audience was prompting him to do so XD
- It was Satochi's dad's birthday!
- Live was about 2.5h, shorter than Sendai (3h)
- Congratulatorybouquets included one from D'erlanger
- Saw Seek walking out with a few other people after the live

Tokyo audience was way rougher than the Sendai audience... in the beginning was stuck with a bunch of really aggressive (& short) muckers who was really into jumping, dancing in circles & headbanging... i hafta admit, i actually like the parts when the audience headbangs, cos then i get a full view of all the members! anyway, i think today I'll be in for a hard time if I'm gonna squeeze right in front... went to the front to recce last night and overhead a mucker saying her chest was flattened... 0_o

Best songs in my view for 25 May were [小さな窓] (almost perfect rendition - emotional, yet held in at the right moments, [シヴァ] (Yukke & Miya's solos were v intense) and [流星]. They didn't play [空忘れ] again!

Rainy Rave - Sendai Club Junk Box 23 May 08

2008-05-23T21:37:00.005+08:00

Just back from my first live for this trip - Rainy Rave @ Sendai!

It was good!
Is all i can say :)

Very quickly...
I was at Miya's end, had a pretty good view of him and Tatsu throughout the live. Could see Yukke now and then, but I really had to stretch my neck to see Satochi - the stage was so low!
Went over to see his drums at the end of the live... he wasn't using his new double-bass drumset, but his drumming was still pretty awesome, especially in [ゲーム], [1979] and [志恩]. This set had a neat lotus design in line with the Shion theme.

Crowd's reaction was great! You can tell they've been waiting for a long time to see the band.

Miya was in excellent form. Already at the 1st and 2nd songs [梟の揺り篭] & [塗り潰すなら臙脂], he was already deep into it, especially [塗り潰すなら臙脂] since there're plenty of guitar solos in that one. Man... he was snarling at the audience most of the time, hahaa... only time he smiled was when they played [謡声], and towards the end. One song he obviously enjoyed playing (it seemed to me) was [シヴァ] - he does that screech right at the beginning btw!

Just some random things i can remember...
- Opening of [アンジャベル] was different... i expected it to be [ファズ] but it turned out to be [アンジャベル] instead... and Tatsu was excellent in his rendition, it moved me to tears (urrgh i'm so weak)
- During [ファズ], the audience joined in the wow-wow portion... frankly it felt so strange!
- [ゲーム] live is quite powerful. There was a new added portion not in the recorded version.
- Having the programming mix with the live had its good and bad moments... some parts sounded quite natural but for others i think they might have to work on it a bit more...
- They didn't play [空忘れ]... i think? well i can' remember hearing it... hope they play it at Studio Coast
- In the middle of [リブラ], i was thinking to myself, nothing beats mucc-sound. Really, it's that mucc-sound. :)

Okay other non-setlist stuff...
- In the middle of the encore, Tatsu started taking pics of the audience... and then himself, and briefly the people on the stage... then Yukke noticed and came forward to be taken, but Tatsu had already put down the cam... heehee but later on Tatsu went over the Yukke's side and choh-chohed him a bit... and Yukke was obviously enjoying it XD
- During the encore, Tatsu came out with a huge bottle of mineral water and handed it to the audience in front of him... with styrofoam cups... a result of their American live experiences? :) Anyway, the audience was like fumbling with it... so in the end... Tatsu actually helped pour the water into the cups for them XD ... Miya also had some water which he splashed to the crowd... and later on, so did Tatsu... from that HUGE bottle... so everyone, and i mean everyone, got wet! - Was it during Ranchuu?... Can't remember which song now (yuj, do you know?), but they actually got everyone to like... squat down??... in the tiny livehouse!!... and then they talked for a while onstage... and then when the song re-started, the audience like jumped up all at once! I was, of course, not aware of this 'new' thingy XD... so i just followed suit, hahaha

2 more RR lives... 25/5 I'll probably be stuck in the depths of the far end in the audience, since my ticket number is so humongous! But I suppose I'll just enjoy the show from the back since it's at Studio Coast so there's likely to be a good laser show or backdrop screen going on there... as for 26/5, I'm hoping to get to the first row... wish me luck!

Studio Coast tics

2008-04-29T21:51:00.002+08:00

25日的是恐怖的1973番(索性给个1979嘛! XD)
Finale的26日是72番! ^O^
现在在想要不要早几天去仙台也看那场。。。
原本想说23日去看一下抒情派的森山直太朗的(刚巧是在茨城県立県民文化センター~)
24日既然在东京了，可能也去看看ゆず吧。

奇怪的是，拍卖板上的成交价，比想象的底。。。这又是什么现象呢？

you win some, you lose some

2008-04-18T00:07:00.002+08:00

really pissed off today by a colleague whom i thought might be vaguely interested in shion.
passed him the cd and booklet for him to give it a try.
he took a look at the english translated lyrics and started poking fun at them.
fuck off!
it's rather obvious that things will sound a bit off when they're translated isn't it?
and poking fun at english translations is fine, i'm generally not so defensive.
but this guy just didn't know the limits and went on and on and on...
as if the japanese don't know how to write lyrics?
only lyrics originally written in english will sound beautiful?
this isn't even a band that writes those engrish type lyrics that so many other japanese artistes do!
the english lyrics must be read in conjunction with the japanese lyrics. perhaps my mistake was that i took that as a given, not knowing that some people can be as narrow-minded as him and merely focus on the translations.

一人一半 Wubai & China Blue vers.

2008-04-17T23:30:00.003+08:00

Kiva

2008-04-13T00:20:00.002+08:00

http://www.kiva.org/
I've always supported the idea of applying private sector practices to social causes. Microfinancing is an interesting concept. If you're interested in going beyond charity through donations, do check it out!

Detroit Metal City - Tribute to Krauser II the metal mix

2008-04-01T23:30:00.001+08:00

Why did they, of all songs, pick Flight? orz...

志恩 Cont'd

2008-03-28T23:01:00.004+08:00

Gosh, I'm not ashamed to say I'm captivated by a single band's music and they're making it hard for me to get distracted by other bands because they're just so darn GOOD!

I don't have anything bad to say about the English lyrics that they've included in the booklet this time round. Translations are subjective but I think it's clear that effort went into capturing the poetic essence of the Japanese lyrics, and it's certainly benefitted me on a personal level... at least it's speeded my understanding of the lyrics greatly, so i'm grateful. It'll also be easier for me to introduce this album to other friends. I'd still prefer if they stuck to ムック and less English in the credits, but it's not as important as the music. I couldn't help noticing "Masaaki Yaguchi" being credited for the programming for tracks 1, 3, 5, 11. Kudos to him, these tracks were quite appropriately programmed.

Lyrics-wise, it's a strong turn-out this time round. My favourites are:
- 達瑯's lyrics for 「アンジャベル」. What a unique way of presenting the theme and message of this song. 101 marks for originality, tatasama!
- ミヤ's lyrcis for 「蝉時雨」 and 「志恩」. Both prove one point: you don't need to have outrightly upbeat tracks like 'Flight' to bring a positive message across. I mentioned in my last post that the album came at the right time. Indeed ... at a tough time at work and home, these songs have given me new strength to carry things through and see life from a new perspective.

シオン=紫苑

Melodies-wise, what can I say. They've been taking turns to stay in my head. At the moment it's 「小さな窓」. Vocals-wise, this is also one of the few songs in the album where we get to hear Tatsu in more raw form, perfect for this song.

Now: Counting down to the next live.

志恩

2008-03-27T21:50:00.005+08:00

昨晚接到友人从日本传来的sms，sms开头是: "New album fuckin awesome..."

^O^

今天终于收到CD，不得不blog一下！一下下也好！

Fuckin awesome album indeed! マイタイプ。第一感觉是民族风强+电子摇滚味道。Like I said before, to have 'Flight' sticking out like a sore thumb in this album can only be a good thing, haha hahaha.

「アンジャベル」果然是ミヤ的作品！「志恩」也是！「蝉時雨」编曲比之前在bootleg CD里听到的还棒。

每首都想听live版本。 The spine-tingling sensation of listening to this album can only be surpasssed, I'm sure, by hearing it live.

话说回来，非得说服那位友人看场ムックlive不可！！！

ps. 他们总是在我最需要的时候出现!

2008-02-10T17:55:00.000+08:00

Change of address

2008-01-03T23:49:00.000+08:00

Hear Ye Hear Ye!
In 2 days' time, the web address of this blog will be changed to:
http://mucc******.blogspot.com/
where "******" refers to what 2008 means for the band!

happy new year!

2008-01-01T01:08:00.000+08:00

Hm... looking at the setlist and session bands, if "Over the Edge" is going to be an annual event, it'll be a strong reason for me to consider counting down in Japan this year (yup, this year, since it's already 2008)!

「生きる」

2007-12-30T17:56:00.000+08:00

I think the movie should be shown to all civil servants XD
Akira Kurosawa is indeed a genius!

Edit.
I vote this as the most impactful movie I watched in 2007. (& i've watched a lot, believe me... to the point where I've run out of movies to watch on the SIA inflight entertainment list!)

The story was told in such a low-key manner... some might even say it's slow, but therein lies the power. Kurosawa's power to move the viewer with the 3 key cinematic elements... acting, plot and direction.

I've also seen the Asahi TV 2007 adaption and was eqally moved. It's amazing how the script transcends culture and time.

Hopefully, I'll think of this movie as I go about living my life in 2008.

看着DVD的「9月3日の刻印」，有感而发

2007-12-26T23:11:00.000+08:00

每次看「9月3日の刻印」总是那么的震撼。心都揪紧了。

不过还是希望Disc1每首是完整的一场表演，而不是参杂几场接在一起的表演。感觉没那么好，因为连接性断了。。。看live不就是喜欢看表演者如何现场一次过演示这首歌的吗？

His name's Adan

2007-12-24T00:20:00.000+08:00

yes, KC, i'm glad it's not an ant! XD

Magical Mito

2007-12-02T23:10:00.000+08:00

Finally... finished with an exam at a work-related course yesterday, and then there was JLPT2 today (which sucked! i managed my time badly for the grammar paper as usual, orz...). I wore the mucc x mukku t-shirt to the exam today, hahahaaaaaaa. (yuj: again, i couldn't stop myself from laughing when i saw the satochi-mukku XD)

But i'm not completely free yet! I've got an assignment (again the work-related course... this course will be haunting me all the way till July 08!) due this coming Friday, and I've got to prepare for next term's notes for my freelance lecturing. Nonetheless, I'm glad the 2 major exams are over.

Still can't quite believe it's already Dec '07...

Still can't quite believe Magical Mito in Nov 07! :)

Now, about this cat:

This cat with the incredulous face was the single reason why I picked up 音速ライン's CD at Tower Records Shibuya.

And now I'm obsessing about this cat!!!!!!!!

Ahem... but methinks i'm obsessing together with the rest of Japan... cos apparently her blog has become the ninki cat no.1 blog XD

Her name's Mako. Check out her blog--> http://scomu.jp/makocat

Yeah, the CD's not bad too. One of the songs that I like:

Yes!!! There's No!?

2007-11-15T23:56:00.000+08:00

10th ANNIVERSARY THE BRILLIANT

new DVD『MUCC～ライヴ　クロニクル～』

2007.11.28 Release!

【DISC１】
●2004年10月31日日比谷野外大音楽堂二〇〇四年秋ツアー“騒乱秋興”
蘭鋳/誰も居ない家/遺書/スイミン/路地裏僕と君へ/未完の絵画/濁空/幻燈讃歌/暁闇/2.07/ガロ/溺れる魚/悲シミノ果テ/絶望/朽木の塔

●2007年3月5日 SHIBUYA-AX ムック06-07ツアーサイケデリックアナライシス追加公演決定
極彩/嘆きの鐘/キンセンカ/心色/リスキードライブ/ディーオージー

【DISC2】
●2007年3月25日 La Loco/Paris,France MUCC in EURO 2007
極彩/メディアの銃声/最終列車/遮断/月光

●2007年4月23日 SHIBUYA O-WEST HISTORY OF MUCK 『哀愁』『アンティーク』day
翼を下さい/NO!?/ジレンマ/鎮痛剤　暴走ver.

●2007年5月1日　CLUB CITTA HISTORY OF MUCK 『痛絶』『葬ラ謳』day
せの終着/イタイ手紙/暗闇に咲く花/嘘で歪む心臓/背徳の人

●2007年5月9日　STUDIO COAST HISTORY OF MUCK 『是空』『朽木の灯』day
1979

●2007年5月22日　SHIBUYA-AX HISTORY OF MUCK 『鵬翼』『6』day
フォーティーシックス/神の星/茜空/雨のオーケストラ

●2007年6月7日　ZEPP　TOKYO HISTORY OF MUCK　『REAL MUCC day #1』「前夜祭」
アカ/盲目であるが故の疎外感/君に幸あれ/死して塊/極彩PART1/謡声（ウタゴエ）/夢死/リブラ/フライト

●2007年6月8日 ZEPP　TOKYO HISTORY OF MUCK 『REAL MUCC day #2』「Yahoo! JAPAN×MUCC 全世界同時生中継ライヴ」
名も無き夢/断絶

Source: Tower Records Jp
***
So finally, we will be able to get our hands on a decent recording of No!? :)
It's a pity あやとり on『哀愁』『アンティーク』day and ズタズタ on『痛絶』『葬ラ謳』day are not on the track list... those were the two most memorable performances for me during the History of Muck live series. Of course, all of these live performances are gems and muckers, don't even think of missing out on this DVD! :)

Fuzz Single

2007-11-05T00:54:00.000+08:00

Tracks didn't provide additional surprises since well, we've been exposed to the tracks prior to the release already.
The DVD that came along with the limited edition was short - seemed more like a trailer for the DVD to be released on 28 Nov.
My favourite part of the DVD was when Comet-san stood in for Tatsurou~ XD

『MUCC～ライヴ　クロニクル～』

2007-10-22T21:47:00.000+08:00

60 songs!
300 minutes!
Previously unreleased live footage!
Tour staff pass!
Yukke's pick!
Miya's pick!

oooooooh
28 Nov, can't wait!!!
8D!

XD

2007-10-10T00:36:00.000+08:00

My workplace does not allow me to access Facebook, labelling it "Personals & Dating"
XD XD XD
I'm also not allowed to access Yahoo Auction pages, labelling it "Criminal Skills"
*rolls on the floor laughing*

DMC Figurines!

2007-10-06T02:05:00.000+08:00

Hahahahaha!!!

ネオ・ビジュアル系真夏の宴 Vid

2007-09-25T22:27:00.000+08:00

After watching the above vid on loop, I've suddenly become obsessed with Mucc's....
...
...
...
Libra!

Yes... after seeing their first live performances of the song during the last Winter tour and after listening to the single as part of my Zen playlist... after so long... this was definitely an unexpected development XD

Is it cos it's just turned Libra month? XD

Anyway, back to the performance... After Flight & Chain Ring, when Libra came on, the whole mood just changed. No doubt their dressing didn't quite sync with the song, but their performance was superb!

what do you stand for?

2007-09-25T00:46:00.001+08:00

Made a discovery last night that jolted me so hard (so unexpectedly), I couldn't sleep at all.

Was all groggy today. And mind was still wondering to that matter.

Actually, it's so small, so insignificant. Something that really should not affect me at all. Something that's supposed to be far from my life now. And yet.

Thank goodness I'm jolted back to life now. And strangely, it's after seeing the news reports on the Myanmar monks' marches.

shock!

2007-09-22T00:46:00.000+08:00

Has it been 1 month since i last blogged!?

How did time pass so fast??!

orz...
But seriously, it's a busy time for me. At work, we're preparing for an important round of negotiations in mid-October, and then there's a working overseas trip in late-October. Until next month, my team is currently down to just 3 officers... well, sometimes 2 cos somehow September to November are heavy travelling months. We'll be getting some new colleagues next month though.

Outside of work, I've been sent by my employer on a twice-weekly course that's really quite xiong, and on top of that there are the weekly freelance lecturing commitment and the JLPT2 lessons. No wonder, I guess, that I fell sick over 3 days last weekend... the load was just, well, overwhelming.

Well, the good thing is, there's light at the end of the tunnel. 25 Nov. I call it Mucc's Ibaraki homecoming live. ^___^ It's 7 days before JLPT2, and 6 days before another exam (one of the modules in the course my employer's sending me)! But heck, I missed the 69day lives, so I'm not going to miss this one now! I just hope Yee manages to get a tic too!

That's my favourite photo taken during the kenya trip. XD

881 ~ Huat ah!

2007-08-20T01:11:00.000+08:00

Refreshing local movie, presented (hokkien) musical-style. The story revolves around two girls who make up the "Papaya (which sounds like 881 in Mandarin) Sisters" in the local "getai歌台" scene. The "getai" is somewhat of a Singapore phenomenon... where glitzy performances on makeshift stages are put up all over Singapore, every year in the Lunar 7 month, a month where supposedly the gates of hell open and ghosts are free to roam the earth... i.e. these performances are meant to entertain both the living and the... erm... roaming during the 7th month.

Some of the first few scenes didn't quite appeal to me... parts of the dialogue came across as a bit strained. But, as the story progressed, the lines got better, the songs started speaking to you, and I liked how the story eventually evolved... i must say it tied itself up very well towards the end, tugging at your heartstrings and relating the girls' stories back to the subject matter.

Of the two leads, Mindee Ong's acting came across more naturally. Yeo Yann Yann's acting was a bit forced at times (and has that Singapore english stage drama 'feel', to use a term from the movie, haha), which was surprising considering I thought her acting in Singapore Dreaming was quite good. Liu Ling Ling's character was set to attract the audience right from the start, so i wouldn't be surprised if many people think that she stole the show. I have NO idea what was Chen Weilian's purpose in the movie... except perhaps to showcase his voice/situation for a song and appeal to a certain audience.

Overall, i'd recommend the movie, and for my friends in Japan, do watch out for it, because apparently it's already been pre-sold to Japan distributors for a release in cinemas there next year.

lazing lions

2007-08-13T22:47:00.000+08:00

This one's for seat! :)
This tree had low branches, which was how the lions could get up to that height. The were lazing around and staring.... at us XD

Jambo!

2007-08-12T21:02:00.000+08:00

Jambo! That's Hello in Swahili :)

Just came back from a week-long conference in Kenya.

It was my first visit to the Africa continent.

What a beautiful country. Loved every minute of it!

It's wintertime, so weather was a cool 20 degrees celsius in the day, and at night it can dip to around 13-14 degrees C.

Highlight for the trip was definitely the safari at Lake Nakuru National Reserve. Ahhh... all the memories as a zoology student re-surfaced once again, hahaha... Wanted to extend my stay to go see the annual wildebeest migration at Masai Mara, one of the recently-voted new seven wonders of the world. The travel agent managed to get lodging for me, which was a miracle considering how last-minute the request was. But alas, i couldn't go in the end cos return air tics were all fully booked!

Well, guess that's just another incentive for me to return another time :D

orz

2007-07-30T22:57:00.000+08:00

Days & nights pass so fast, it's absolutely scary...
It's coming to August 2007 already??!
What happened to July?!!
orz...

There's been a spate of resignations at my workplace this past month...
Well, it's just after the pay-out of our performance bonus, and most importantly, the market's really good. Really good. I wonder how long it'll last. Anyway, all this means is that the people who are left behind have tons more work to take care of. Sigh. Luckily, work-wise I really like what I'm dealing with. With the exception of the angry bitch, everyone else is pretty manageable too. In my field, this is a good place to gather work experience, which is why it's so tough to make the decision of whether to take up the Japan scholarship or not.

On one hand, it (the scholarship) might open new markets for me, beyond the Singapore market. On the other hand, i wonder if there's too high an opportunity cost to forego. At the end of the day, the dilemma stems from my uncertainness of how best i should spend a year; which place is it that will bring me farther. And because the course will only start next Oct, whether things at my current workplace will change drastically in a year's time, such that I'd want to leave anyway?

Geez this is such an incoherent post after a long absence from this blog...
my apologies~

wish i can leap through time too

2007-07-15T22:16:00.001+08:00

sshhiiiiittttttt
Wubai & China Blue's live at Genting is on 18 Aug and I have to lecture on that day!!!!!
orz.......
How coincidental can it be???!!! And i was all raring to go Genting this time round...
uurrrggghhh

Anyway, yeah, the freelance lecturing's started again, so i'm going to be really busy all the way till Nov...

And another thing... I thought I'd be able to last quite some time before the craving comes on again. But I was wrong. The craving... for... mucc liiiivvvveeeeee. This is a disease, i tellya! orz... How? Dec? but will there only be events during that period?

Should i finally aim for the Mito countdown live?

時をかける少女 (The Girl Who Leapt Through Time)

2007-07-15T01:19:00.000+08:00

Animation style is really important to me... i've enjoyed many of the works produced by Madhouse so far (like Perfect Blue, Millenium Actress, Monster, Denno Coil), and yes, this movie has just added itself to that list. The characters and settings come across to the audience so simply and naturally, you find yourself almost wishing that YOU can be animated too, so that you can go melt into celluloid and live with them in that same environment!

Wasn't the Makoto & Chiaki sunset scene just so beautifully drawn?

That said, I'm not so sure the plot is fully convincing. I was sure I must have missed something since I've heard this movie's supposed to be based on a novel, except that it takes place after the novel, i.e. kinda like Part II of the novel.

I was right. So all those poignant remarks made by Makoto's Aunt really were about her own experiences of time travel. And that lingering scene with the photo of Makoto's Aunt and her 2 pals when she was young was another reference to the original novel. The synopsis of the original novel sounds really interesting and answers some questions about the future state of the world that Chiaki is in. Still, I wonder about some of the unanswered questions in 時をかける少女... like the significance of that painting... well, looks like I should get my hands on either that manga or the live-action 1983 movie!

After this movie, hope to catch Paprika in the cinema next~ And I'm really really really x100 hoping that Animation Nation 2007 brings in Tekkon Kinkreet finally... I would have ordered the DVD that's just been released, but alas it has no English subtitles! TOT Neither does the Byosoku 5 Centimeter DVD!!! orz...

By the power of Grayskull!

2007-07-01T22:51:00.001+08:00

Hot Fuzz has the BEST shoot-out scene of all time

(i laughed so hard i almost teared XD)

rats saga

2007-06-27T23:30:00.000+08:00

rats - the alarm bell to my colleagues and i that we are indeed excessively snacking in the office (as if our expanding figures weren't enough proof! XD)

well, first time we found out was one night when i was staying back to complete some work, and i heard some creepy noises coming from my colleague's workstation. it sounded like some paper bag was being constantly torn or crumpled or whatever, so i peeped over thinking that perhaps he's still in office. but noooooo... no sign of anyone left in the office in fact!

so being the scaredy cat that i am, i decided to call it a day and promptly left the office. yes yes yes my balls are as tiny as Yukke's ...pick.

anyway, the next day as i was contemplating with my colleagues whether it was really a rat that i heard, my colleagues saw the culprit scurrying across the passageway! O_o!!! i mean, i swear the rat knows English and knows we're talking about it!!! So of course we called the building management people to come over, and they set up this rat trap over the weekend.

Sure enough, there was a big fat rat in the rat trap on monday. Eerrkkk, disgusting!!! Brownish grey furry fellow, with a long whip-like tail~~~yewl.

But. it.did.not.end.there.

Next day, the first thing that greeted my colleague as she entered her workstation were 2 baby rats! Gosh... and they were newborns! Just the size of a thumb, with no hair.

We panicked. This means there could be a litter elsewhere. And how did these 2 end up on the floor? Did they drop from somewhere? And how many other rats were there!!?!!?

The pest control people searched everywhere but couldn't find anything... until... one smart fella opened up the flaps of the partitions of that colleague's workstation. There was a rat nest there!!! With 2 more babies still alive!

I swear... if you didn't know they were rat babies, u'd think they look rather cute, really. But the truth is, i got goosepimples when i saw those rat babies. What's wrong with this building!!?! I'm on the 22nd floor, for goodness sake! Where are these rats from!?? More importantly, what attracted them here? Are we so unhygienic (but the colleague with the rat nest is one of the cleanest folks around!)??! But there's no exposed food around!

The saga continues... Just last week, they found fresh rat droppings. Urrgghh.. confirms it. There's still at least 1 at large! This time round, they placed some glue mats around.. uknow, those cards with some bait and strong glue on its surface. So far, no success. :(

On a totally unrelated topic...

Tatsurou recommends a movie - guess which one? :)

Fool's Mate July 07

2007-06-19T23:29:00.000+08:00

5 Mucc Songs, as chosen by each member (each chosen song was commented on, but i only included some of the comments here):

Tatsurou:
1. 狂想曲 (he views it somewhat as the first original mucc song, and thus symbolizing the beginning of mucc. also the first time tatsu wrote the lyrics.)
2. つばさ
3. 流星
4. 溺れる魚 (tatsu feels he's injected a lot of what he wants to sing into this song. also a song that he especially likes to perform at a live.)
5. パノラマ (lyrics which are not trying to say "thanks for your hard work", but rather, "the form may change, but we'll still be working hard together from now on".)

Yukke:
1. あやとり (yukke heard it before he officially joined mucc, and he was stunned:"how can high school students make such an awesome song!?!" also the first time he got a taste of mucc's "folkie" music style.)
2. 夜 (first time yukke wrote the melody.)
3. 雨のオーケストラ (yukke's demo for this song was 'cheaply produced' in his own room, so he was really impressed by how the dramatic power of the song increased with the use of an orchestra.)
4. 優しい歌 (yukke feels both the band and himself have progressed because of this song, and that this song proves that language is no barrier in the world of music.)
5. フライト

Satochi:
1. 9月3日の刻印
2. 背徳のヒト (first time satochi wrote the melody)
3. 前へ
4. 優しい歌
5. キンセンカ (first time satochi tried writing lyrics. although it is difficult, satochi says he'd like to challenge himself in the future with more lyric-writing!)

Miya:
1. 断絶 (when miya made the song, it didn't hit him that much, but the first time he played it live, he was moved to tears. At that moment he understood the meaning behind making your own songs. he says: "自分の感情を演奏するって意味で、この曲がなかった今、ムックはないかもしれません。")
2. 謡声(ウタゴエ)
3. アカ (almost symbolic of mucc back then. some sort of retrofeel worldview demonstrated in this song.)
4. 娼婦 (miya believed many people got to know mucc back then because of this song. powerful, fast, yet with a mellow melody. it seemed like a new style then, only recently did he find out that the scales in the song are similar to those found in russian folk tunes.)
5. 我、在ルベキ場所

*****
Scenic's choices... (no particular order)
1. 断絶
2. 9月3日の刻印 (first song in a mucc live that hit me hard)
3. アカ
4. 廃
5. あやとり
...it's too hard to just pick 5 though!

What are your choices? :)

ps. many thanks to BH for helping me purchase this issue! and for listening me out in other matters.. by treating my problems as if they are hers! (in tax-speak, we call it "domestic interest"! XD)

你的笑容

2007-06-17T21:47:00.000+08:00

I hope I'll always remember that scene of you, standing behind the door, waving good-bye to me. The wind was strong and blowing at you, and you smiled when you saw your grandma's clothes fluttering in the breeze. You looked down and saw that your clothes, too, were doing the same. Then you peered down at my feet and noticed my black-polished toenails. Why were they black? you asked, as you looked down at yours and muttered that yours were not so.

Grandma expressed again the joy of experiencing this fresh breath of air, and you laughed along with her. Your laughter was so infectious that it was still ringing in my ears long after I had left.

However you may change in the years to come, I hope this scene will stay etched in some corner of my mind, and make me smile everytime I chance upon it again :) :D

singapore phenomena

2007-06-17T01:20:00.000+08:00

Perfect cool rainy weather outside for a cozy sleep-in tonight. & i really need that... am falling sick... exhausted from the week's work... even weekend gatherings are getting tiring... well, depending on who I'm meeting. If it's one of those get-togethers where everyone else is obsessed with property prices, building that perfect muclear family and accumulating as much wealth as possible, it's dem tiring alright! Narrow-mindedness is no more than deluding yourself that everyone should only be concerned about these objects of desire and that there's nothing else in this world worthy of devoting your time to.

Don't know why, cos it's not really related, but I'm suddenly reminded of a quote from a particular episode of Northern Exposure...the one where Maggie was trying to be nice to everyone but ended up falling sick:

"People are simply incapable of prolonged, sustained goodness."

Man, it's so true.

I can only take so much hee-ing and ha-ing about property prices at work. If my friends start obsessing about them as well, I think i should either truly and honestly join them in their mindset (shudder), or just stop being a nice goody two-shoes and tell them hallo wake up there's more to life than owning a bigger slab of real property and getting your first big buck from a property transaction (*ding ding*... badges of trade alarm ringing!!! XD)

Hey it's suddenly making sense... so it's not my work that's making me fall sick, it's this prolonged, sustained goodness... i need to do something bad!!!

intensity

2007-06-10T12:31:00.000+08:00

Already, with the 8 Jun live streaming and the anticipation of what's going to happen on 69day (in the end, they didn't announce their plans for 2nd half 2007 after all...), the last couple of days were illuminated with mucc, mucc, mucc for me. For the muckers attending all 3 lives in Japan, i can only imagine the kind of intensity they were going through.

ギャラリー見たい!
Well, now that the History Of Mucc lives are over, i just hope they'll make some DVD out of it!

Received the Best of and Worst of albums yesterday. Have only listened the tracks briefly once, so may not have caught everything, though safe to say that most of the tracks in Worst of were remixed, but only a handful were remixed in the Best of (Ware, Monokuro, 9/3, Libra and Flight). There's a beautiful 9日 vers in The Best Of acoustic disc. The Worst Of sleeve is in the form of a mini-newspaper :) My first response was great surprise :) but as I read it, it elicited a mix of emotions.

Later...

Real Mucc!

2007-06-09T01:41:00.000+08:00

From 2ch and yuj:

http://www.fujitvkidsclub.jp/StreamingTV/tv_U/chottomi.html
MUST watch this! (i can't stop watching it, hahaha!)

It was only after i watched it that i realized the REAL meaning behind REAL Mucc day. XD XD XD OMG, they are so corny!

To see real mucc rockin' to フライト is so amusing!!! :D Especially with those eyes and a mouth that is perpetually open (which Yukke stuck his head into when he hugged it... er... should i call it a 'it' or a 'he'??)

How do you convert this streaming file into a video file for keeps? For that matter, did anyone manage to record the Zepp live into a video file? Or the other 4 History of Mucc live videos on the Mucc Yahoo page as well?

add: looks like rock-mucc has left an impression on furry-mucc! :D
http://gachapin.fujitvkidsclub.jp/#sixapart-standard

ムックの日おめ!

2007-06-09T01:15:00.000+08:00

rushed home from work but by the time i launched the video player, it was already about 15-20 min into the live already! still, it was a close-to-3 hrs worth of live streaming, shiok!

& the members were in top form!　ムックの皆さんカッコいい～ね！

the streaming was smooth, audio was great, had great company on msn, what more could i have asked for? :) :) :D

they had mostly newer songs in their main setlist... highlights for me were パノラマ, 1979 (first time for me seeing played using Yukke's upright bass, and it was solid!) & 25時の憂鬱. but it was the setlist for the 1st encore that made me jump! 断絶 and 9月3日の刻印 starting it off! i haven't seen 9月3日 for a long time, so it was really wonderful i got a chance to see it again ^~^

kudos to them for adopting the live streaming idea! 本当に、ありがとうございます！

back from malaysia!

2007-06-03T23:21:00.000+08:00

yosh! am back from a week-long course that was conducted near KL, Malaysia. Course was excellent and although we weren't exactly in KL (ie living in a hostel-like place in the wilderness), after a while i got used to that and looking back, i guess it helped us participants get to know each other better. but it was kinda funny, cos some people weren't expecting this sort of living conditions, so the first night was preetttyy unbearable... esp when some of them are high-ranking people, i suppose? some had ants in the toilet, others could hear the amplified sounds of water flowing down the pipes in their rooms... anyway, on my part the first night i had to deal with a resident cockroach who apparently left behind an heir to haunt me during my last night there XD

our malaysian hosts were great, though! and i liked how the participants interacted amongst ourselves as well as with the experts. at the end of the course, i was almost wishing we had one more week of lessons! ^^; but no... it's back to work, work, work, sigh...

well, there's at least 1 thing to look forward to this week! *beams* yup, don't forget, fellow muckers, to tune in to the live streaming of the 8 Jun live at mucc's yahoo page, 7pm SHARP!

sidenote: Tatsurou's latest blog post on the band's yahoo blog has proven his otaku-ness without a trace of doubt! XD XD XD

tech geek update: latest toy bought at PC show today: Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ2. Looked at a number of models but decided on this in the end cos of the Leica wide-angle lens, 10x optical zoom and 3rd generation image stabilizer. excited excited excited... i just hope it delivers what it promises to on paper!!!

mental note for future PC show: do NOT go at the last hour, on the last day... even if there will be more freebies at that time... there were so many people, the BO was excruciating... could NOT breathe at some points o_O;

Go to DMC! ~T-shirt Collab

2007-05-22T00:20:00.000+08:00

It's the most outrageous manga i've read in a while! XD XD

While waiting for the 3rd volume of the manga to get translated, here're some pics from the launch of the 3rd volume @ Shibuya Tower Records from 27-29 April 2007

Entrance of Shibuya Tower Records

haha.. that chap looks like he's posing with Krauser II XD XD

Entrance to the exhibition at B1.

Message by YUKKE!

Maybe I'm biased, but i think Mucc's collab Tee has got the most innovative idea! It's a coupling tour for DMC & Mucc!!! *dies laughing... & they've drawn themselves in DMC-manga style, with make! arrrr... *dies some more. The first stop of their tour is Rock Maykan :) & making a twist out of their recent "Psychedelic Analysis" Tour, they've named it "Satanic Analysis" Tour.. orz... XD

I only managed to get myself to the exhibition on 29 April, and by that time the S and M sizes for the Tee were already sold out... but after i came back i ordered the tee online... cos i just couldn't resist the baka-ness of it all! :P

Punk'en Ciel's collab Tee design

zealous fans, woot! :)

Krauser-san!!!

Final pic:

吸口气

2007-05-20T01:18:00.000+08:00

Finally... my last lecturing commitment for this term has finished, so I can take a short breather for the moment... but the next term starts in July, and I will be teaching a new topic, and even though the topic's up my alley, it's something else having to make sure i know the examiner's style, syllabus requirements, etc. So i reckon i'll still have to start work on it soon...

今天，也终于鼓起勇气问他好久前就想问的问题了。可惜，哈。不够时间说我的想法。最后还是点到为止而已。这么多年了，怎么还是觉得跟他的默契最好呢？不晓得。都不是时常见面。不过，人与人之间也不需要每天见面才能建立起默契的吧？其实，我们之间也没什么共同嗜好，只不过对很多东西的想法吓人的一致罢了。

又说，最近有个朋友喜欢上了mucc的音乐。:)

几个月前，他在机上（是lutfthansa！）看到PV list里有ホリゾント，好奇之下（他知道我喜欢他们的歌）就去看了。觉得不错。回到新加坡就去hmv买了極彩。结果，发现超喜欢里头的歌。一天早上还惊吓了我，打来跟我讨论专辑歌曲！真的是没想到他会跑去买極彩！

不过我乐得要命，那是真的。：）

后来最近的日本之旅，刚好他也在日本，那时他就一口气买了mucc的其他7张专辑！！！我心想，不知道全7张会合他口味吗？毕竟喜欢極彩的人不见得喜欢mucc的早期风格吧~

没想到。。。回来不久，又收到他的短讯，说他超喜欢买回来的专辑！！！除了。。。是空以外！不过是空里，他说他喜欢两首，一首是9月3日，另一首我忘了是哪首。

我万万没想到他会几乎全都喜欢啊！老实说，虽然他的确是super chow ah beng一个（笑），不过我对他的音乐见解程度是蛮欣赏的。一方面是因为我知道他是稀有的那么认真对待音乐的新加坡男生。记得之前坐他车时他总是播着各种各样的音乐，包括另类型的古怪音乐~_~; 他会立刻去买专辑，而不是只下载或买翻版，之后也会很认真地听每张专辑，这点我也欣赏。

上个星期再度花了将近一小时的时间跟他讨论mucc的歌曲。ah, shiok！他还跟着音乐唱出廃的歌词，我吓吓吓吓吓x69倒了！真的是以惊人的速度消化了那7张专辑啊！

反正呢，新加坡就这样多了一个mucker。下个mucc live，timing ok的话，他说会考虑。到时看吧！

一人飞回国的感觉好寂寞

2007-05-03T23:37:00.000+08:00

回来了，不过还没病好。这次日本之旅有点辛苦。
在机场想着如果有多点时间就好了。

不过呢，其实已经很幸福了。
上班途中开mp3player, 听着「ズタズタ」又是那么想。

そして、
5月4日ムック結成10周年おめでとう！

D'ERLANGER NIGHT「薔薇色の愛と死と恍惚」

2007-04-22T21:15:00.000+08:00

Because of this live, which i got to know only 2 nights before i was supposed to fly to tokyo, i changed my entire accomodation plan for this trip! O_o;;; Thinking it would really be a waste if i missed this live, since i was going to be in tokyo, i changed my hotel to one amidst the host clubs at shinjuku XD XD Cos Shinjuku Loft is smack right in the middle of Kabukicho, and the live starts past midnight at 2430, so it makes more sense for me to stay at shinjuku rather than take a cab back after the live (the cabfare would have cost the same amount as one night's stay at the hotel)

But it's all worth it!!!

The live consisted of performances by a series of session bands, playing tribute to D'erlanger (D'erlanger's live at Yaon was the following day). Miya was in one of the session bands, and Tatsurou was in another. I must confess I'm not familiar with D'erlanger's music, but by the end of the live, I've definitely got acquainted with their style. "La Vie En Rose" was played at least 4 times that night ^^; Tatsurou's session band (called "I CAN'T LIVES" XD), unfortunately played only 1 piece, but wow, it was SUCH a solid performance! It was the only band which had an acoustic performance, so Tatsurou's rendition was literally instrumental in bringing out the piece. I was really happy to hear Tatsurou's voice back to normal! Am so relieved!!! There were lots of english in that song too ^^;

As for Miya, he cosplayed D'erlanger's guitarist, complete with the slicked back hair, '80s eye-lined eyes, and yes, no goatee! The vocalist for his band was Ao-san, and yeah, i reckon most people were there to see this session band, cos i noticed its "cup" had the most ticket stubs stuck into it (for events, when you enter you're asked which band you came to see, and they will stick your ticket stub into this paper cup with the band's name). It was also the last band to appear. The wait was really loooonng. The whole live ended at 4+am! But woa, Miya was a good form too! His guitars held up the band's whole performance, in my opinion! You can see they were really all enjoying themselves. (yeah and there was one part during a song where Ao tried some fanservice and had his arms around Miya... the crowd went mad)

As with most events, all the members came out at the end and sang a final song together (what else, "La Vie En Rose"!) And..and... Daisuke appeared onstage too!!! In the beginning he stayed at the side of the stage together with Tatsurou :) ... Miya emptied a cup of beer at one go (at the prompting of the audience...) ... Then, when they were playing the finale piece, Daisuke went over to Miya's side, and he picked up a guitar and tried to play alongside Miya :) :) Tatsurou was one of the vocalists, of course, and did his part well in making the atmosphere really high. Then at some point during the song, he went over to Daisuke, and the three of them, Tatsurou, Daisuke and Miya, were side-by-side and performing together --- it was GREAT! :D

As the song was coming to an end, Tatsurou did a yasashii thing... he passed the mike to Daisuke, and urged him to sing. So the final "growl" of the song came from Daisuke! Hurrah~

K, gotta go. Have spent way too long at this public computer. Write more later!

In anticipation of 『哀愁』『アンティーク』day!

2007-04-17T01:13:00.000+08:00

In anticipation of 『哀愁』『アンティーク』day, I've attempted a translation of 「あやとり」 into English :)

Cat’s Cradle (1)
　
Lyrics/Music: Miya

The Cat’s Cradle strings that we played with
lay torn in the room where
I am weeping… I am weeping
　
On the pillar at the corner of this room
are our names that we carved
Of the two persons under the umbrella (2)
there is only myself looking on and weeping
The calendar wearing too thin
I flip yet another page…

A piece of scrap paper (3) that told all of your deceit
I kept hitting my head against the wall as if I was deranged
The words lining the scrap paper puzzled my heart
Violated by these words
I am unable to call out to tomorrow, merely awaiting the arrival of the morning alone

I want to return to those times...
But I can’t...
If only I can…

Those times when we were together…

Notes:
(1) Ayatori is also Cat's Cradle, a children's game using string looped around both hands. See picture.

(2) Lovers' names are typically carved under an umbrella symbol in Japan.

(3) Am inclined to read it as the same 'paper' of the calendar.

Comments:
The lyrics are simple but sweet (or should I say, bittersweet), with the strings of a Cat's Cradle being alikened to the strings that tie two people together. What I like most about this piece of work, is the haunting melody accompanying the lyrics, you can truly feel the desperation and emptiness oozing out from each note. This song is highly recommended for listening in the late of the night, as late as possible :P

Have not heard this song live before, so it's definitely one song I'm looking forward to hearing on 23 April... i know i'll weep for sure (o´∀`o)☆

real mucc?

2007-04-11T00:24:00.000+08:00

发问时间！！！
~~~ old mucc or new mucc?

对，你没看错！
It's now-mucc in then-mucc.

对啊，这不是旧照，是2007年5月的Shoxx写真 ^^
因为是在网上无意间看到的，第一眼就觉得eh!不对！这不是旧照！尤其miya最为明显。
他们长大了。
hey, don't take it too seriously.

不过看了莫名的感动 :)

need hard liquor

2007-04-09T22:10:00.000+08:00

Who guards the guardians???

It's all a bunch of people giving themselves a pat on their backs and handing themselves a big fat salary raise. What's the justice in this?

And, if as according to the newspapers, a 32-year-old AO is currently already getting a $361,000 annual pay package, with the 25% pay rise, what does that make it? Just plain obscene!

Will these people be able to emphathize with the man in the street when they make national policies??

How about all the civil/public servants working for these AOs and "Mini-Stars", those getting their hands dirty, doing all the paper-writing, due diligence and making statements for them? While they sit in their posh offices wielding power in their hands, and worst of all, not accounting for what they are doing? The only thing that distinguishes these AOs from others is the fact that they got their scholarships at the tender age of 18. Plunge them in the real world now and they wouldn't be able to float, i tellya, so don't tell us about pegging their salaries to market. Also, don't tell us these "Mini-Stars" need to get themselves voted every 5 years, when there are so many walkover instances.

All this makes me want to hit out at someone, anyone! Until a friend over msn wisely told me: "remember... prison got no broadband."

C Lim's articles, those 10 years ago and now, have put the key issues across so clearly. And yet, what is the use.

What is the bloody use.

faye wong

2007-04-07T02:58:00.000+08:00

Went for a 2.5 hr All-Faye karaoke session with KC.
Ah, shiok.

Her songs took up 21 pages in the catalogue, mind you, so we didn't even manage to choose all the songs we wanted to croon~ XD
But ah, it was still dem shiok.

And it's just amazing how every time the refrain of any song comes on, some memories of your life, during the time when you were listening to that song in your CD player, come floating up as well :)

For a few songs, we had to dig into some rusty corners of our brains to recall parts of the melodies XD
But that can only mean ONE thing!
--> We need more All-Faye Karaoke Sessions!!! :D

Anyway, the session inspired me to dig out all her CDs/DVDs/movies/what not after I got back home. Ah yes, the "fayenatic" (as lovers of Faye's music are endearingly called XD) in me is still alive, it's just hibernating at the moment XD

Curiosity got me checking out Faye's page at Wikipedia too.
Quite a detailed write-up they have there! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faye_Wong
& it helped me get updated on some of her recent activities, or rather, non-activities, as sadly she has stopped singing and releasing albums. There's a link there to her husband's blog, so I checked that out too. One of his posts (http://blog.sina.com.cn/u/473dc620010005lp) was written during the time when the media was furiously reporting about their daughter's condition (their daughter was born with a cleft palate and they had to seek treatment for her in the US). I was deeply moved by the sincerity in his words, and it's admirable that they've set up a foundation, called Smileangel Foundation, in aid of children with cleft lips/palates conditions. Here's a Youtube vid of the fundraising event last Dec:

If Faye should ever start holding concerts again, i'll definitely want to go watch! :)

Jetlag?

2007-04-05T02:20:00.000+08:00

I haven't been able to sleep before 2am every night since I came back from Europe, and my head's just so heavy in the day... the only time i felt alive today was during the trip back home from Japanese class, together with BH ^_^

远征上海的朋友，一路顺风~~! ^^ 希望有特别难忘的事情会发生，最重要是特别难忘的一场live! 相信会是如此的！我对去年上海的两场lives还念念不忘呢。。。对我来说那两场lives到现在为止，还保留在本人Top 5 Lives 榜上哦! :)

Some pics

2007-04-04T00:25:00.000+08:00

Mucc actually had a tab all to themselves at FNAC Champs Elysees! Cool!

And a special spot for Gokusai... and advertising for their 25 Mar live!

Merry had a tab too~

That's the poster outside La Loco.

Er... that's all i've got! Unfortunately no shots of the lives nor members, so sorry! There are many videos on youtube showing snippets of their euro lives, as well as off-live videos of the members if you're into those too. And lotsa photos elsewhere too! Euro-muckers are indeed lucky! :)

I'm back!...with some La Loco first :)

2007-04-02T23:33:00.000+08:00

YO! I'm back from an absolutely wonderful trip to Paris & Slovenia.
Couldn't have asked for anything more! Yep, yep, yep... was fortunate enough to be able to catch mucc's live at La Loco, Paris.
As for Slovenia, work-wise things turned out great! And I've really taken a liking to the country and its people... both are equally beautiful!

First, a short one on the mucc live @ La Loco...

Pic of queue outside La Loco at around 2pm. It stretched over to the end of the street and round the corner! What an awesome turnout! And cos it's next to Moulin Rouge, there are lotsa tourists stopping by to take a look, and they were all curious about why we were queueing up.

A lady driving by stopped her car at the side and shouted to us: "Who are you waiting for?"
We shouted back: "Mucc!"
She went: "Who??"
Then we laughed... XD XD XD

Anyway, they only started admitting people into the livehouse at 4pm, even though it was stated on the ticket that it was supposed to start at that time! I don't know if it's because they forgot about daylight saving (which just started the night before) or was it because of Tatsurou's injury.. whatever it was, the live only started proper at around 5.40pm or so.

Inside the livehouse, i got a good standing position at the stepped balcony area near Yukke. I was really happy, cos I had a good view of all the members (though ironically not Yukke at times)!

The setlist was basically an extension of the Psychedelic Analysis tour, except for 路地裏, haven't seen that on their setlist for some time! And of course, the new single in May, フライト. I agree with Josu, it's not going to be my favourite mucc song. But we got to hear it 4 times! XD Yup, cos mucc sprang a surpise on the audience during the encore and told us they were filming the PV for the song during the La Loco live!

--->
First take - normal live performance. Kinda strange to see Tatsurou mouthing the lyrics XD
2nd take - members were suppose to come up close to the edge of the stage and play more...erm... expressively XD XD
3rd take - members play with their back to the audience, so that the audience gets into the shot!
4th take - audience-only shots! By this time, only the 2 camermen + Tatsurou were left on stage, each with a camera. Tatsurou looked like he was having lotsa fun filming us.

In between the takes, the members were all figuring out with the cameramen how best to take the shots... i remember it was Yukke who was the first to perform with his back to the audience so that more of the audience gets into the shot, how sweet! In between takes the audience also shouted each member's name in turn, prompting the cameras to focus on each of them for the next take XD When it was Satochi, he grinned and puffed up his chest, haha! XD XD

By the end of the 4th take, i was tired like hell from jumping up and down. i'm sure if i even get into the scene (i never have luck for such stuff!), i'm sure to look like some exhausted idiot! :oP There were a few guys who dived and ended up on the stage, and Tatsurou and the cameramen had a field time filming them XD

Performance-wise, the condition of Tatsurou's voice still got me worried... he couldn't reach the high notes of some songs... later i brought this up with one of the muccrew and she said, well, it's the 3rd consecutive night of lives. Still, it's worrying cos he really has to maintain his voice on a sustainable basis... there are so many more lives to go... i hope!

Speaking of which, there was another highlight of the Paris leg of the trip. Turns out i was staying at the same hotel as some of the muccrew, and the hotel owner kindly introduced me to a lady muccrew. That was after the hotel owner realized i was going to watch a live at La Loco, and asked me whether it was to see a Japanese band. When I said "yeah!", she dug out an issue of Shuunoto newsletter, and pointed to a picture of Yukke and a little boy, saying "My grandson!" She was pointing to the little boy, of course, not Yukke XD

Anyway, the lady muccrew was really nice, and we chatted for a while before the live, as well as the next day before i left. She gave me Yukke's pick as a parting gift... that really made my day! ^_^

Tatsurou's professionalism

2007-03-27T04:53:00.000+08:00

Deeply impressed by Tatsurou's professionalism.
No sign at all during the live that he was in pain.
In fact, he gave it his all... even when we had to do 4 takes to film the next single Flight's PV... he was still the only member left on stage running around, genkily filming everyone!

I have great respect for a band that feels that it's their responsibility to give the audience the most wonderful live experience they've ever had. 不愧是ムック。不能不爱他们。

『美しい名前』

2007-03-22T00:28:00.000+08:00

The Back Horn is just so, ... wonderful.

Nothing... just wanted to say that...*clutches hand in front of heart*

I wonder if it's possible for some things to stay the same forever & ever? & ever?

ムック ~ First Live in London

2007-03-20T00:09:00.000+08:00

「流星」- Underworld, 07/03/19

SETLIST
1. 極彩
2. 嘆きの鐘
3. 空虚な部屋
4. キンセンカ
5. 最終列車
6. 路地裏　僕と君へ
7. 遮断
8. 月光
9. パノラマ
10. リスキードライブ
11. 25時の憂鬱
12. 流星
13. リブラ
14. 謡声(ウタゴエ)
15. 茫然自失
16. 蘭鋳

EN1. 新曲
EN2. 大嫌い
En3. G.M.C

EN4. 優しい歌

~~~Woa, 新曲 alert! What was the new song like?

stress reliever

2007-03-18T23:48:00.000+08:00

nothing beats this!
pop the bubblewrap

bad vibes

2007-03-14T23:49:00.000+08:00

After the hustle & bustle of the last few weeks, i suddenly realized that.. i still haven't received the Paris live tic!!!

*panic*

So I dug out the FNAC confirmation email, went to the FNAC website and spent a helluva long time navigating through all that French to finally find the page in my account to check the status of the ticket delivery. (phew, long sentence!)

Fuck, it was sent on 29 January!

By international registered mail, no less!

Did it get lost???

It's less than 2 weeks to the live, demmit!

I hope they reply me soon...

Pics of the 2.24 and 2.25 lives at Shinkiba.
Pics are from here.

2.24: サイケデリック　アナライシス新木場STUDIO COAST

2007-03-12T23:59:00.000+08:00

Arrived at the venue at 12.30pm, because I was supposed to meet a mucker from whom I bought BH's live tic for tomorrow. She turned out to be a really friendly person, and we later chatted over lunch. Or rather, I tried to make myself as comprehensible as I can, because my spoken Japanese is really bad! *hangs my head in shame*...

新木場STUDIO COAST
The livehouse is relatively big - it can take about 2,000 in the audience, including 2F seated audience. 新木場 itself, besides the livehouse, has... nothing! I mean... seriously, even its Lotteria was already closed before 9pm! Shinkiba's like the last stop on the Rinkai and Metro lines that go there, away from all the hustle and bustle..the best place, one might say, for a livehouse? I must say, it does feel rather good to see the place getting all crowded with muckers, as if it's the muckers that have come to bring life to this 鸟不生蛋 place... on the other hand, it's nice to be able to pop into a nearby 居酒屋 after a live to toast the night away, instead of having to first take a train ride back to civilization.

Anyway, back to the story. Went back to the livehouse at around 4+pm to grab tour goods. Alas, the M-size black Tour T-shirt was already sold out! First day of their 2-day lives in Tokyo, and it's sold out?!! T_T It wasn't long before the goods table got carted back in as the staff got ready to call the audience in.

That's how they indicate which number they're calling into the livehouse, cos it's a sizeable audience so the waiting area outside is quite large. Poor guy flipping the numbers got laughed at everytime he flipped a page wrongly... ^^;

But it was soooo coooolllllldddd!!! Almost unbearable when you've locked all your stuff in a locker and you're waiting outside in T-shirt & pants...brr!!!

Finally got myself into the livehouse and chose to stand in front of the PA, which is at the back of the block of audience directly in front of the stage. Studio Coast has a broad stage, and its 1F audience space is also stepped. Many muckers who wanted to get a better view rushed to 'chope' the first row of each 'stepped space'. (psst yuj: i was standing next to 古典美人！ But later on she moved to the back...还算跟她蛮有缘的嘛！)

Then.... lights out! Live starts!

1. (SE) レイブサーカス
喜欢这个SE! Tatsurou was in his oversized white T, looking as cool as ever. Miya in the checked outfit.
Apparently the 3 in front were barefoot again.

2. 極彩
Green lasers! And the backscreen came alive. First time I'm seeing a show like this for mucc!
This tall guy who ended up standing to my left (thankfully not in front) started pumping his fist into the air and jumping. Hardcore fan yea!!!

3. 嘆きの鐘
Setlist following the order in the album. 『カラカラ哭いた』part was the most heart-wrenching.

4. 絶望
Squeals from the audience when the intro came on. 　絶望。。。希望。。。words floating up the background screen. Everyone in the audience started jumping!

5. どしゃぶりの勝者
2nd time hearing this live... surprised they've included it so often in their setlists.

6。キンセンカ
I really didn't expect this to be the first song during the live to move me. It wasn't particularly one of the songs in the album that left a deep impression, but during the live, the band, and in particular Tatsurou, gave a top-notch rendition.

7. ガーベラ
Miya's guitars were awesome.

MCTatsurou: 「ムックです。」
Audience: YEAHHHHHHH!!!...some other Tatsurou-らしい MC =)

8. 蘭鋳
A favourite with the audience...always gets the audience hyped up once the intro comes on.

9. 月光
I gotta say more about the performance of this song.
They had some of the key lyrics floating on the backscreen (they were a bit more selective in the lyrics that appeared onscreen...they had these lyrics appearing at very apt moments, quite unlike previous times when they put up full lines of the lyrics). The overall effect was really solid. The band was excellent in this one... one of my favourites for the live. Surprised to find tears filling up my eyes at the end.

10. パノラマ
Again, 'strategic' lyrics appeared on the screen, as did a scene of a long road ahead.
Tatsurou was utterly sincere in this one. Serious rendition but not over-doing it.When 「僕「等」の夢は終わったのかな？」came up on the backscreen and Tatsurou sang it to the audience, it just felt so... 心酸。

11。リスキードライブ
Audience joined in the shouting of "riskyyyyyy driveeeee" and "crazyyyyyy babyyyyyy" parts. Miya looked like he was enjoying the chorusing a lot XD

12。ディーオージ
The audience seemed to love this rock-&-roll piece. Tatsurou growled into the mike, haha.

13. レイブサーカスPart 2
Unfortunately, I do not remember much about this, except that it caught me by surprise and i was wondering what this piece was. It was good!

14. 25時の憂鬱
What can I say... I was looking forward to this one, Green lasers shooting out from the stage to the audience amidst a darkened livehouse. Yukke's new upright bass filling up the hollow spaces in the air... interlacing itself with the echos from Satochi's drums... the audience was totally still....and mersmerized.
The Quattro performances had more raw energy, more musical tension in the air, while the performance at Shinkiba felt more polished and professional. Both were equally memorable.

With the upright bass, Yukke can't move around as freely, but then he has this special way of slanting it towards Satochi when he's playing, especially at the climatic moments. It was a pleasure a watch and listen to him, really.

15. ホリゾント
Perhaps it was because the audience was still recovering from 25時, or perhaps it's just not a live favourite amongst the audience, but the response to this song was not that great. Only a spattering of hands outreached into the air. Saw Miya look/peek up to observe this. Remember thinking to myself, this song is probably not going to end up in their future setlists.

Is it possible to decide on a setlist without taking into consideration how the audience will react? Not possible huh.

16. 流星
The "hand" from the PV appeared on the backscreen. Growing to like hearing this song live.

MC
During the MC, Tatsurou mentioned that he likes this livehouse a lot. He can't quite pinpoint why, but he just likes it a lot, so he's really glad they have an opportunity to perform here for 2 nights. (ne... i like this livehouse a lot too... from the audience's point of view, it may be big but it's still possible to get good views even if you have a late entry number, cos the audience space is broader and shallower than other livehouses.)

17. 謡声
Egad, PV scenes popped up on the backscreen! Made me squirm for a moment there!
But the audience loves this song, and i think so do the band members during lives, cos the song just exudes 笑顔+阳光。

18. 夢死
The live intro (Miya's guitars and Tatusurou's voice) was very interesting!
Absolutely love this song.

19. スイミン
Standard live number..

20. 夕紅
I'm definitely starting to like this live. A song that has the audience smiling as they're jumping along with the music.

21. リブラ
First impression of the verses... heavy Jay Chow???!! Don't beat me... but yeah, it was rappish but with a heavier feel... the chorus had ascending notes of the scale... and strong chorus backing... While the song itself didn't quite speak to me at first listen, I liked how the members performed it. I always like how mucc performs a new song with lots of intensity and raw energy.

Encore 1
"Sweet episode" where Tatsurou fed Yukke with a sweet, from this bowl of individually-wrapped sweets. Later Tatsurou threw most of the sweets into the audience... then Yukke wanted to get the sweet out of his mouth and initially wanted to spit it out into the audience... XD... but Tatsurou went ダメ!!! Yukke later spit it into a tissue provided by a staff...

Tatsurou also mentioned about how the members room for Studio Coast (this livehouse) was so glamorous... and how there's like a pool behind or something... ah... no wonder he likes this place lah!

1. 娼婦
I noticed this piece didn't become a 'regular' piece on the setlist until the recent few tours? Anyway, I'm not complaining!

2. 大嫌い
One of the rare pieces during this live that had diving. But hey that's expected for this song, right?

3. 名も無き夢
Satochi's turn to bring the house down!!!

Encore 2
1. 優しい歌
Tatsurou came out with his harmonica, smiling. All the members appeared pleased too... When the song came to the ラララ portion, all the members joined in, as did the audience... then it became acapella...mmm... nice feeling to hear ♪ラララ resounding through the hall... at some part Tatsurou stopped singing and we only heard Miya... then Miya went 「オイ声出せよー!」
And it was just the audience singing, with the members listening... woa...
Then finally it was the last refrain and we had to say bye-bye... and Tatsurou muttered into the mike: 「また明日~」

It was about 8.30pm when the live ended... more than 2 hours of solid mucc live performance... but why does every mucc live seem so short to me? ^^;

Time passes by so fast when you're enjoying yourself~★

Butt exposed

2007-03-10T11:27:00.000+08:00

hahaha... i just realized I forgot to mention something in my live report of the kyo-mei 対バンツアーThe Back Horn vs 银杏Boyz live. And it's something that HAS to be mentioned!

See, when the vocalist was creating havoc at 2F of the livehouse, his shorts were slowly but surely getting looser and looser... waist string got untied??? Dunno... Anyway, it started slipping...slipping... until JUST as he was exiting 2F with his back to the audience, it slipped FULLY and his ENTIRE butt in its full glory was exposed to the world.

XD XD XD
That guy's definitely crazy.

2.23: kyo-mei 対バンツアー　The Back Horn vs 银杏Boyz

2007-03-02T00:15:00.000+08:00

Only managed to arrive at Yokohama Blitz at around 6.30pm, because before that I was at a friend's place at Saitama.

Packed!!! Yup, all the lockers were taken! And there were piles and piles of jackets, scarves, shoes and wotnot thrown on top of the lockers! How~~~ In the end, I had no choice but to bring my bags in with me to the livehouse... all 3 of them! orz...

Livehouse crowd: a fair mix of TBH and GNBoyz fans, judging from the T-shirts. Many, many guys in the audience.

First band up: GNBoyz. All of them except the guitarist: Topless! (and the guitarist will join them in being topless shortly after the live started) 'Ooohs!' from the crowd. It's the first time seeing GNBoyz for me, and i must say, they lived up to my expectations of being one helluva crazy band! Halfway through their setlist, the vocalist disappeared from stage, only to re-appear again on the 2nd floor of the audience! There he sang and MC-ed, and created so much amusement that even Eujin & Kohshu peeped out from backstage to see what the commotion was about XD

But for me, the real excitement came on only when TBH started its setlist. In fact, only when TBH started playing did i realize that the livehouse sound system was quite good after all! What a difference a band makes.

Setlist:
01.レクイエム
02.コバルトブルー
03.ブラックホールバースデイ
MC
04.風船
05.生命線
06.アカイヤミ
MC
07.美しい名前
08.涙がこぼれたら 09.声
MC
10.光の結晶
Encore
01.共鳴
02.無限の荒

I've come to realize that I really enjoy watching Kohshu play. Unconsciously my eyes will end up straying onto him, hahaha. The level of engrossment of his playing was so high! Halfway through he deciding to untie his halfhead-ponytail, and at times he would look out for the audience's response to their songs. As did the other members, actually, especially when they played their new single to be released in March. TBH's sound is still as strong and mellow as ever, especially when there was GNBoyz as comparison just moments before. It's still TBH's sound that I like. & I'm sure some new TBH fans were born that night :)

输血

2007-02-28T00:34:00.000+08:00

Was rejected for blood donation today because my haemoglobin count, even though normal at 12.2, was not high enough... I needed to show a count of at least 13 because i had just come back from Cambodia, a high risk malaria area. Was informed that I have to wait 6 months before i can donate blood (unless the count is higher than 13, but i wouldn't know until i do the test at the blood donation station). Darn!

Anyway, am back from Japan. Yup, went for a short whirlwind trip there (5 days) and caught 3 lives:
2.23: kyo-mei 対バンツアー　The Back Horn vs Gingnang Boyz
2.24: サイケデリック　アナライシス
2.25: サイケデリック　アナライシス

やっぱり、ライヴ最高。

Back from Cambodia

2007-02-14T01:06:00.000+08:00

Just returned from a 5-day trip to Cambodia. Tiring but shiok. Angkor Wat was indeed magnificent. Will blog and reply comments later... mata ne! :)

Because of Mucc...

2007-02-08T21:08:00.000+08:00

... i saved my employer S$1,229!
The long and short of it is, because i requested to leave one day earlier and transit via Paris, i ended up taking Air France on all legs of my working trip to Slovenia, hence the supposed 'savings'. (Wonder what Air France is like on long-hauls??)

So the plan is:
25 March 7.10am: Arrive in Paris, groggy from flight but probably too hyped up to notice.
25 March 4.00pm: Mucc live!!!! live!!!!! live!!!!!! ... though... i'll probably get blocked by tall guys in front of me throughout the live... orz...
26 March 1.00pm: Grudgingly tuck my platforms back into the depths of my luggage and leave Paris for Ljubljana (gotta figure out how to pronounce that!)

It's not the norm, u'know! I don't usually like to mix leisure trips with working trips!! But... this was too awesome a coincidence to let go lah... plus i must say my current employer has quite flexible rules on this aspect, so...

Alrighty, now for the goodies! The recent Gyao clip shows scenes of Mucc's Psychedelic Analysis tour, more specifically the 26 Jan live at Sendai Club Junk Box. Clear lives shots! The actual clip itself is quite massive. It's massive because they've included some PVs (Utagoe, Horizont and Ryuusei), for promotional purposes i suppose (duh, they're called PPPPPPPVs after all...).

So, i've extracted the first and last portions of the clip, which have more of the live scenes, and uploaded them onto yousendit. Highly recommended!

Clip #1: Music & People & Mucc!

Tatsurou has like the best post-rebonded hairstyle ever XD XD... the narrater is definitely trying to seduce someone with that kind of voice!!!

Clip #2: 優しい歌　live!

Tatsurou seems to go on a bit too hard for the song, but the atmosphere's kinda... different, huh, from previous mucc lives? Hey i wanna draw my face like that for the lives! *nudges BH* Will eyeliner do? 教えて下さい！

Muse @ Fort Canning Park, 16 Jan 2007

2007-01-20T01:36:00.000+08:00

I still remember, the first time i heard Muse's music, i thought, it's the kind of music that's bound to sound 100x better live than recorded. Not that I don't like their recordings, I do! (A lot) It's just that, well, there's the magic of a live that can't be captured on the CD. For some bands, it doesn't matter, but for Muse's brand of dramatic rock, I was sure something else would be found in their lives.

Boy, was I right! Singapore was lucky enough to be one of their stops during their current tour, and on 16 Jan 07, at Fort Canning Park, they blew the crowd away, i tellya. Since it was after work, I could only arrive at the venue just minutes before the scheduled starting time of 8pm. But there was still a long queue to the entrance, so by the time I got in, it was about 8.15pm. The band didn't come out till about 8.30pm. There was a sizeable crowd, but it wasn't packed full, imagine that! They were still selling tics at the door! This is the band whose live at the UK Wembley Stadium was sold out within 1 hr of release!

The show focused on the music, with minimal lighting or other special effects. They only let loose a bunch of huge confetti-filled ballooons into the audience halfway through the show, and i think there were also some fire sparkles at the end. But really, with the band's charisma and stage presence, there wasn't a need to depend on effects. My eyes were rivetted to the members all the time. Matthew's guitars were totally mersmerizing! As were his piano solos! What intensity! I also didn't expect his vocals to sound so clear live.

Yes, I was moved close to tears at some parts of the live. Sometimes at the most unexpected parts! (like during the guitar solo in "Invincible", this is the first time I think, that I've been moved to tears because of a guitar solo in a song like this!)

The setlist was a mix of old and new songs:
01. Knights Of Cydonia
02. Hysteria
03. Map of the Problematique
04. Butterflies & Hurricanes (YESH!!!)
05. Supermassive Black Hole
06. New Born
07. Forced In
08. Bliss
09. Feeling Good
10. Sunburn
11. Invincible
12. Time Is Running Out
13. Plug In Baby

Encore
14. Soldier's Poem
15. Starlight
16. Stockholm Syndrome

It's amazing what came out of these three people (+ support keyboardist). For a glimpse, there are 3 short video clips up on www.stomp.com.sg. Here's one: Hysteria.

The members didn't speak much to the crowd. But at the end, I thought i heard them say "See you next year!". Did they??? I hope so! Muse is a band i'd consider travelling to watch. Too bad their shows in Malaysia and Taiwan fall within the dates I'll be in Japan!

I went to check out the tour mechandise only after the live, but many items were already sold-out, so i didn't manage to get anything, sob! The mad squeeze out amongst all those sweaty Singapore men was just un-tahanable... but, by that time i was already grinning from ear-to-ear and lightning could have struck for all i cared, i was already thinking, the ticket's totally worth every cent!

Mucc in Euro 2007

2007-01-15T21:42:00.000+08:00

aaaarrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!

i'll be in Europe during that period!!!!!!!!

yup, i'll be in Slovenia from 27-30 March for work. this means i can try to go earlier and catch the 24 March live in Switzerland and 25 March live in France, or stay on after my work to catch their last live in Germany on 31 March. Their lives in Germany are 2-man lives though (i'm not so keen on Balzac).

full euro tour live schedule on their official page
(yup, they're going to UK, Sweden & Finland!)

どうしよう？？？

Josu, which lives will you be aiming for?

三年B組　健八先生

2007-01-09T00:09:00.000+08:00

LVER的　『三年B組　健八先生』　- with cameo appearance by YUKKE!

笑到爆！！！真服了他们！！！

苦尽甘来

2007-01-03T21:52:00.000+08:00

I must be doing something right, because to my pleasant surprise, my boss informed me today that i've been offered a permanent appointment! This really comes as a surprise, as my contract's for 2 years, and normally here they'll confirm you only towards the end of the tenure. With the appointment, there's a small increment and also a higher appointment title. Good start to the new year! :)

Tenipuri>>
Thanks to BH's weigh-like-a-ton DVDs, I'm now happily hooked on the 178-episode series. A bit late, I know, but better late than never! XD There's proof!!! Yup, there's now proof that even DVDs can be worn out because i can see which DVDs have been heavily watched by her ;)

Anyway, I never thought i'd be interested in a series like this, seeing that i don't play tennis myself!! But when you have a bunch of distinct characters thrown together, playing towards a common goal, with cool playing techniques, then multiply that by about 5x cos there are rival schools, it's hard to resist!!!

I'm only up to like episode 132 (the family chibi episode, fufufu), but here're some things i like about this series so far: (spoilers alert!)

- Healthy competition. Even when there's intra-team competition, like between Momo and Kaido, in the end they're still using that energy to drive themselves up to another level. The doubles match where Mom and Kaido were paired was a match I really enjoyed... "No one knows more than me what Kaido is going through now", said Momo when Kaido's Boomerang Snake was retaliated.

- Most unlikely friendships developing, whether it's between rival schools, rival individuals (Atobe and Tezuka, Fuji and Tachibana), or intra-team (Kaido and Inui, though this one's more of a mentorship, i suppose) I am trying to resist the slashability of all this here...o(><)o - Tenipuri sense of humour. Muahaha, what can I say... I love the chibi episodes too, hoi hoi!!!

Current character obsession: Kaido! Didn't like his black face at first, but as the anime progressed, I got extremely tickled by this character who tries to carry this tough exterior image when he i) is scared of ghosts, ii) has a soft spot for animals, iii) turns out to be not so self-centred after all, and iv) what's with that family of his!!?!?!?! XD

Current technique obsession: Fuji's Higuma Otoshi, if only for the beauty in his execution!

Caution: suspend all notion of reality when watching the tennis matches, please. Fact: realistic anime is seldom fun to watch.

Trivial questions unanswered:

1) Why do the Year Ones shoot up so much in height once they become Year Twos? Ryoma and the rest of the Year Ones look absolutely puny compared to the other Seigaku Regulars!

2) Does Horio of the Freshmen Trio only have that one irritating green & orange shirt??! XD

3) I could have sworn Kaido started off with an orange bandana in the beginning. Why did he change it permanently to green?

4) What is Tezuka's real mental age? 294?

5) What is Nanjiro's real mental age? -294?

6) Is Itsuki Marehiko from 六角中 actually SATOち in disguise???!! XD

7) How will i be able to cope with the withdrawal symptoms when i finish the anime??? orz...

My niece is perturbed by Near's finger puppets

2007-01-03T00:35:00.000+08:00

Happy New Year~

Besides the usual change in calendars, I've also taken down the Bleach chibi figurines in my room and replaced them with Near's finger puppets that came with the special box set for DN Chapter 13. Unfortunately this wasn't met very well by my niece when she visited this morning. But hey, can't panter to someone else's taste when it's my room we're talking about! Not least when that someone else's favourite colour is pink!!! XD

I've also put up an A4-size PoT postcard. Geez, I'm starting to sound like some female otaku... orz... i assure you, my room's not just full of such stuff!! There're also piles of CDs, DVDs and books stacked sky-high waiting to be seen/heard/read... not that that sounds any better! ^^;

But, I guess, the most important thing is whether there are changes beyond the obvious. My main focus in 2007 will be to alter some of my behaviour patterns at work... a tough experiment considering things must have already gotten fossiled into stone after all these years, but nonetheless, i'll try it out. Got nothin' to lose!

Mucc 『World Tour Final Nippon Budokan 「666」』 Hidden Tracks

2006-12-31T01:25:00.000+08:00

ムック『ワールドツア-ファイナル日本武道館「666」』隠しコマンド
Disc 1
1. Pre-live outside Budokan At "Play All", press "Left"
2. Lighter When watching 1. (above), press "Enter"
3. Mucc members arrive At "Play All", press "Enter". When the translucent DVD cover appears, press "Enter"
4. Insanity Tabasco At "スイミン", press "Left"

Disc 2
5. Yukke @ rehearsal At "雨のオーケストラ", press "Right"
6. Miya @ rehearsal At "流星", press "Right"
7. Satochi @ rehearsal At "夕紅", press "Right"
8. Tatsurou @ rehearsal At "遥か", press "Right"
9. Tatsurou+Yukke At "遥か", press "Left"
10. Moments before the live At "大嫌い", press "Left", then "Enter"
11. Mucc members leave～お疲れ様でした！ After the end credits, encore 「謡声」 comes on, after it fades and the words "Mucc World Tour Final Nippon Budokan 666" appear, press "Enter"

雨のオーケストラ

2006-12-28T22:58:00.000+08:00

It's been raining non-stop for the past 2 weeks... perfect weather to dive into bed, snuggle up in those bedsheets and sleep the day away! But nah... I'm saving my leave-days for 2007 ... yeah... it's THE BRILLIANT YEAR after all!!! XD

Dessert spread during X'mas-eve-eve dinner at ABOF, a fusion-Scandinavian restaurant at Millenia Walk. That chocolate cake is to die for! Warm and soft, with just a thin layer of crisp, and filled with dark liquid chocolate just waiting to ooze out...ooooooohhhh... definitely choco-gasmic!!! And not too "jerlat" after that too. Behind, that's the apple crumble recommended by the restaurant... the combination of crispy crust and apple filling (that's just the right consistency) turned out to be surprisingly good.

Oh yeah and in the background that's Mr Thick Lips and Mr UltraMallow (both Halal k!) hovering over the plates... XD (er these two are not on the restaurant menu)

handbag horror

2006-12-26T23:41:00.000+08:00

i couldn't resist... XD

Evil!

2006-12-26T19:57:00.000+08:00

Of the news released today, this one made me sit up!

2007年5月～6月
MUCC 10th Anniversary WEEKLY LIVE
『HISTORY OF MUCK』決行決定！
ムックの10年が約2ヶ月にわたり、ここに集結！
2007年X月XX日　『哀愁』『アンティーク』day
2007年X月XX日　『痛絶』『葬ラ謳』day
2007年X月XX日　『是空』『朽木の灯』day
2007年X月XX日　『鵬翼』『6』day
2007年X月XX日　『SPECIAL COVER』day
2007年X月XX日　『REAL MUCC』 day

uuurrrgghhh... if you guys have one live a week, how am i gonna plan my trips!!?!!! so very much want to watch the first and second lives!!! and the last two lives too!!! Need to take the whole 2 months off, demmit!!!

i originally wanted to try to catch at least one of their overseas lives next year, because i think the tension they exude in their overseas lives is really one-of-a-kind, but now, looking at the lives line-up... orz.......

orz...

orz...

orz...

Merry Christmas!

2006-12-25T20:46:00.000+08:00

TBH Official 翻新！

2006-12-19T23:43:00.000+08:00

焕然一新！振奋人心！TBH 来了！（嘻嘻，怎么有点像广告词！XD)

Leave your message on the Kyo-Mei page... lend your voice to them! :)

另外，TBH at Excite Music 有好多宝，值得一看！

好期待新single 和 DVD... ... ...

也希望下次日本行，跟他们的live有缘（crosses fingers）... 2月底2月底2月底2月底2月底...(念）

2 more Quattro vids on youtube

2006-12-19T00:18:00.000+08:00

謡声（ウタゴエ）- Shibuya Quattro, 06/10/03
The Utagoe PV really spoilt the song for me at first listen, but after reading the lyrics (and after deleting visions of those hip-hopper skateboarders in my head!), the song's really rather interesting. Live-wise, i must say it brings a somewhat different atmosphere to a mucc live, as may be evidenced from this video.

流星 - Shibuya Quattro, 06/10/03

Would love to get a DVD of this live recording! >_<

2006-12-18T01:02:00.000+08:00

(Prince of Tennis) Which Seigaku Regular are you?

You're Ryoma!
Take this quiz!

mucc humour

2006-12-16T00:30:00.000+08:00

It's a light stick or something close to that, one of the live goods during their current winter tour... and they've named it "Yagami Raito (Light)", the protagonist from the manga Deathnote! XD

小肥羊

2006-12-15T00:34:00.000+08:00

Yuj, Monet & June brought me to "Little Fat Sheep" at Tsim Tsa Shui when i popped by Hong Kong some weeks back.

oooooh... just looking at that soup makes me salivate
:)......
That's the spicy soup on the right and the herbal version on the left. They use the herbal soup stock to replenish both types of soup, so towards the end the spicy soup wasn't so spicy after all. It was still fragrant, though!
Rolls & rolls of lamb meat! They're fab after you dip them into the soup and all the soup essence gets absorbed into the meat...

Too bad i got so caught up with the good food & conversation, i didn't take pics of any other of the food items. Besides the fish chunks, which were a bit tough to bite into (even if you dip it into the soup for a short time), the rest of the ingredients were really tasty!

Here's the company website: 小肥羊 website (warning: loud chinese music!)
The restaurant stems from Inner Mongolia, and it became rather popular in China before it started opening shops in the region... in fact, they just opened their first shop in Japan, in Shibuya (near Quattro, haha!) Here's a pic of the Shibuya shop:

Wonder when it'll come to Singapore?

三線

2006-12-12T23:50:00.000+08:00

Just read the R&R Newsmaker interview, and Miya confirmed that it was indeed him who played the Okinawan Sanshin in 優しい歌! :)
And it was composed during the World Tour Extra in Okinawa. :) :)
I like how he described what the song was all about. :) :) :)

Someone uploaded the performance of 25時の憂鬱 during 69Days live in Quattro on 3 Oct. It is WAY cool:
25時の憂鬱 - Shibuya Quattro, 06/10/03

Yes imagine watching it live. Imagine those sounds echoing through the livehouse, enveloping you completely. Pure b.l.i.s.s.

Full Album Review!

2006-12-10T01:00:00.000+08:00

Theme
When Miya previously mentioned that the theme of the album was "Psyche" (in katakana), i was scratching my head over what that meant. I thought he meant "psychic" or "state of mind" or something to that extent. Later I found out that he meant to say "Psychedelic". Hence "Gokusai", I suppose. It's also in the name of the Winter tour, which has been titled "Psychedelic Analysis" (you gotta give it to engrish!!!).

Well, if you ask me, "psychedelic" is indeed an apt description of the album -- there's a whole range of styles in melody, lyrics & musical arrangement. As the jacket design suggests, each song is a manifestation of colours. It's interesting how the normal vers. of the album has the multicoloured hand plummeting through the sky, sweeping past eageles - hey, aren't these the same eagles in Houyoku? Hmm.. wonder what the significance of that is?? *ponders*

Track 1 - レイブサーカス (Rave Circus)
Nice. I like the overall mood & guitars in this one.

Track 2 - 極彩
Hard-hitting number by Miya. Hard-hitting yet melodic - like the bridge to the chorus, as well as the final verses of the chorus itself. I've always admired Miya's ability to inject such melodious refrains into hardcore stuff.

Track 3 - 嘆きの鐘
Another hard-hitting Miya piece. I like the part that goes:
カラカラ哭いた
憂鬱の虫よ
お前はどこへゆくのだ
色の無い景色背負って
当ても無く　道なき道を

Track 4 - 謡声（ウタゴエ）
Seems to be the same vers. as the single.

Track 5 - 月光
The first phrase coming from the acoustic guitar may sound like Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven", but in the Shoxx interview, Miya said that he had not heard "Stairway to Heaven" prior to that. I believe him, really, because the purpose of the opening phrase in 月光 is very different from the Led Zeppelin song. In 月光, it's merely a soft introduction into Tatsurou's opening lines. That's why it carries the same underlying tune. Quite different from the purpose of "Stairway to Heaven"'s guitar strains.

I like this song a lot. Be it the opening phrase, Tatsurou's entry, the different melodies, the soaring chorus.. yes, I'd like to see this song live.

Track 6 - パノラマ (Panorama)
Seems like this song is getting the most flak from the western audiences. Many muckers in the itai_tegami forum stated this as the song they liked the least in the album.

I want to say something in this song's defence. This year, many bands close to Mucc (like Deadman, Kagerou, La Vie En Rose) disbanded. Tatsurou actually mentioned this in recent magazine interviews, and said that this song talks about how even with the disbandment of a band, the members still go on down their respective paths, together. I have limited Japanese language knowledge, but I think the lyrics touch on the vehicle that had brought the members through their tours so far, down their 'road' so far. I thought there was some very good use of words (僕「等」の夢) & imagery here.

Anyway, with this in mind, listening to the song, i was moved close to tears. Especially during the chorus, because i can't think of how a better melody could have fitted the lyrics. Really, i can't. If you really want me to pin-point, perhaps i can say i don't really like the opening arrangement, but other than that, this song is one good song in my view.

I want to see it live too.

「パノラマ」
詞 / 逹瑯　曲 / SATOち・ミヤ

くたびれたシートほこりまみれシガーソケット
重たいハンドル効きの甘いブレーキ

カーステレオにはハイファイのロックスター宿り
継ぎ接ぎだらけの道を走るおんぼろワゴン

夢積みすぎて沈む車体で
誇らしげにキラリ光るエンブレム

さぁ行こう僕等パノラマ描く夢人
飽きもせず毎日笑い会うこの場所で
現在と未来繋ぐタイムマシンさ
どこまでも道は続いてく続いてく

僕「等」の夢は終わったのかな？
空っぽになったトランク寝ころんで

空を見てた雲が流れてった
ゆっくり形を変えながら千切れながら
今日から僕「等」それぞれの夢を
飽きもせず笑ったここから（歩き出して）
さぁ行こう僕等鮮やかなパノラマへ
どこまでも道は続いてく続いてく

Track 7 - ガーベラ (Gerbera)
Different arrangement from the single. Gerbera's my favourite amongst the 4 singles released this year, so I'm glad they did the re-arrangement. They even did a surf vers of this song in the bonus CD, cool.

Track 8 - リスキードライブ (Risky Drive)
Edgy track with a fair share of hard rapping!

Track 9 - キンセンカ
Satochi's work by-and-large (though he had help from Miya for the lyrics).
Didn't know what the title was until i googled the name - it's Pot Marigold!
I like the ending.

Track 10 - ディーオージー (DOG)
Traditional rock-&-rollish. This album certainly contains a variety of styles!

Track 11 - 25時の憂鬱
Well, I've written about my thoughts on this track already in the previous post, so I won't say too much here. Oh, but just to point out that in Shoxx, Tatsurou mentioned that when they played it at Quattro, the title of the track wasn't determined yet. Later when they decided to include it in the album, they recorded it by playing it the same way as they remembered the atmosphere to be during the Quattro lives. That's awesome.

Track 12 - ホリゾント
Seems to be the same vers. as the single.

Track 13 - 優しい歌
This track has some personal significance for me.

Just for future memories' sake: Wed, 6 Dec, was a really bad day at work. On retrospect, I was probably too hard on myself. I've realized I usually am too hard on myself, actually, so I should learn not to belittle myself at work. But anyway, I was truly down in the dumps on my way back from work. Hate to admit I was close to tears. I couldn't get my thoughts sorted out even after I confided in my mother about my problems. My mood was elevated somewhat after I watched some parts of the vers. A and B DVDs, and listening to the new album. Then I immediately went to bed. Next morning, I was listening to the album in the MRT on the way to work. Then, when 優しい歌 came on, I was... gosh... just suddenly STUNNED beyond words.

It was like Tatsurou was talking to me.

I quickly took out the lyrics booklet and re-played the track. Yes, what I heard was correct. Then I took a look at the person who wrote the lyrics - Miya-kun! It's Miya-kun's lyrics!! I was... so moved that I couldn't stop myself from tearing as I read the lyrics together with the music.

With the song, my thoughts were finally sorted out. Isn't that what a good song is supposed to do? Change the way you look at things? Affect you in ways you never thought possible? Brace you up for the rest of the day, or even, the rest of your life?

優しいね～ミヤくん。 I am grateful to you for that. I'm also very, very heartened by the lyrics that you have written.

I want to see this song live. Is that the okinawan sanshin in the song? But there weren't any credits for an okinawan sanshin musician in the sleeve. Does this mean that Miya played the instrument? So many questions...

I also want to see this song live for the harmonica portion.

優しい歌
詞・曲 / ミヤ

お元気ですか　変わりはないですか
こっちはなんとか　頑張ってます
世間では近頃、憂鬱な事件が多くて
少々、閉口ぎみの毎日です

街行く人々　相変わらずで
険しい顔に　早足で
何処へ向かって　歩いてゆくのだ
何に向かって　歩いてゆくのだ

ねえ　聴いておくれよ　ほんの少しだけたちどまってさあ

ラララ　ラララ　僕らは歌う　それぞれ違う空の下で
生きることにせかされる毎日を　不器用に噛み締めて

もう泣かないでおくれよ　さあその顔を上げて
言葉に　声に　うたにすることで見えてくる世界もある

心折れて　泣いてるのかい　所詮人間さ愛がなきゃ滅びちまう
どこかの国の偉大な神様は　なんて言ったんだっけか

今日も明日もせわしい日々だ　ちっぽけなうた　かき鳴らせよ
悲しいうたも優しいうたも誰かのためのうたも　きっと形ある
「何か」にかわってく

誰しもが持つその歌声を
今　ここで　響かせて
うたうことで少しだけ強くなれる　聴かせておくれ
君だけのうたを

Track 14 - 流星
The album ends with an unedited version of Mucc's 2nd single in Devilish Year 2006. Oh yes, by the way, Tatsurou has mentioned that 2007 will be titled: "10th Anniversary The Brilliant". Muahaha!!!

Final Thoughts
I like this album. I like it far more than Houyoku, for sure. Although it's not 'old Mucc', there's still a heart-felt sincerity in each of the songs composed for this album, and that's what makes all the difference.

I shall blog relentlessly this weekend

2006-12-09T01:41:00.000+08:00

Yup! It's that time of year again! The time of the year when i NEED to go on a relentless blogging mode about Mucc's new album, so to all non-mucker readers of this blog, you either:
a) go pick up the album and check it out yourself too! or
b) skip this post entirely.
Of course i'd prefer you do a). Good things must share mah!

Anyway, on to the album. [Warning: long soliloquy ahead.]

Need I say, the first inkling I got of the album was during the 2 Oct and 3 Oct 69days lives @ Quattro, when mucc first played a "new song", later to be famously-known as "The Quattro New Song". At first, we didn't know whether it would come from the new single or album (Horizont had not been released yet). But when we saw the jacket design of Horizont, we though, "nah, can't be the single!" Unless it's a B-track of the single. And yet, the song was so experimental, so alternative, that it just tingled "album material" to us. So, we waited.

Of course, when Horizont came out, it became clear that the song was from the new album. Then the question was, which title was it? Mucc had also played another song from the new album during their 69days lives, but to be frank, I can't quite remember which track it is now. I only remember "The Quattro New Song". Why? Simply because it blew me away. Yukke used a handsome new bass for the number, and we heard frighteningly new sounds coming out from Miya's guitars. At first, Yukke's bass went on loop for some time, haunting the live-house. Yet later, he had a beautiful solo part too. As mentioned earlier, there was a strong experimental feel to it, so to see the band play something like this live was a first time for all of us.

From the description, some muckers might already know I'm referring to 「25時の憂鬱」. Yup, it was eventually revealed that "The Quattro New Song" was 「25時の憂鬱」, i think Tatsu said its title in the recent Zy. Stylish Wave event or somethin'... Anyway, my point is, it made me really excited about where the band was gonna go in this new album. What are the rest of the songs like? Equally surprising? Worth it for me to consider watching their Winter lives?

Oh yes, I'd also like to say, the darn loop and tune for 「25時の憂鬱」 re-emerged in my head on the first day back to work on 5 Oct. Scary, cos I had only heard the song like, what, 2 times??! I was so amazed at that, I sms-ed yuj (who's in Hong Kong) about it. Later, yuj sms-ed me back saying, the same thing happened to her!

[To be continued...]

lonely planet + hainanese chicken rice

2006-12-09T01:13:00.000+08:00

Kinokuniya's having 20% off for members right till the end of the year, woot!
So today after work, i trooped down to the Taka main store to do some book-shopping. In the end, I only got Nana Vol 16 and Shoxx. The Shoxx episode was plain weird. The mag was supposed to arrive at the store by 6pm today, but up till about 8pm it still wasn't out on the shelves. I wanted to ask a staff guy about it, but got distracted by a Lonely Planet book (more about this book later..). Got distracted by that book for a good 1 hr (!), then went back to the Japanese magazine shelf where Shoxx is usually placed, only to find.... only ONE copy of it left?? What's this all about?? Were they snapped up so fast, within an hour? Amazing!

Anyway, about the Lonely Planet book. It was an autobio of sorts by the two founders of Lonely Planet, talking about how they started on their first travels & subsequently the LP concept, way back in the '70s. A little-known fact: Singapore played a prominent role in the beginning! Apparently, their first full-fledged LP book was "Southeast Asia on a Shoestring", and most of it was written in a small hole of a place called "The Palace" (gawd, i don't even know if such a hotel exists today!). They spent some 3 months in Singapore, amidst Hainanese Chicken Rice and Komala meals! In fact, they were such regulars at this particular Hainanese Chicken Rice stall, they just had to signal to the owners while they're approaching the stall, and by the time they sit down, their 'regular order' will be on the table waiting for them!

The book was also interesting in that it gave a first-hand account of how the Lonely Planet business just grew and grew, way beyond the two founders' expectations, before hitting a number of major hiccups in the early 2000's. After that, there was a major revamp of the management in the company, which similarly forced a revamp of the focus of the business.

Interesting stuff. Now you know why I was engrossed with the book for a cool 1 hr! U'know, that Hainanese Chicken Rice stall should try to capitalize on this! But perhaps it's already quite a famous stall and has no problems attracting customers. Hm.. must go find out which stall it is.. (see? the publicity's working already!)

Bleach Vol 24

2006-12-07T23:51:00.000+08:00

Finally, some of that former fighting glory of Bleach has been brought back with Vol 24! I'm so glad about that, cos I had so much trouble finishing the previous volume... in Vol 23, it seemed as if the plot was going nowhere...

ps. Am I the only one who thinks the guy in the pic on the Speedpost track & trace webpage looks like Taufik? LOL! Wait. Is it really him??

Natural High

2006-12-06T22:51:00.000+08:00

「極彩」到着~
只看了A & B DVDs 的一些部分,
现在听者CD。

喜欢！
现在偏爱着Quattro一'听'钟情的「25時の憂鬱」:）

歌曲好振奋人心~~
My spirits were totally lifted up shortly after I pressed 'play'
I've been wanting to say this for some time now, it's something that I've been struck by ever since the 老夫妇 song in 6, followed by singles like 「謡声」.
All this talk about how mucc is going 明er, not the old them anymore, well people can go on talking about this but it's quite clear to me why they're writing these songs. Life's a myraid of emotions. You may grasp more as you grow older. Or you may not. Whatever it is, you move on. I actually feel as if some of these 明er songs fit my mood better some days. So I'm quite grateful for them. Strangely, it's not because my life's going places. Nope, it ain't, cos workplace politics are still affecting me (very much in fact), but I am a bit past listening to angsty songs in such situations. Maybe that's why I liked Raphael. Maybe that's why I grew out of Diru. I'm just glad Mucc has developed themselves so much.

When I watched the scene where Miya gave the toast at the after-live celebration of えん3 at Osaka，I can't help feeling darn proud of these guys ya'know?

& people who bought the B-初回, the DVD's worth every penny!
(Of course it's worth every penny for the other 2 vers too lah! ^^)

Other info...
谜底揭晓！
白色手 - 逹
绿色手 - ミヤ
蓝色手 - YUKKE
红色手 - SATOち

可惜的是，album没有YUKKE的新作！
不过，这次SATOち参与了几首作品。

两手sample lyrics（笑）：
「25時の憂鬱」和「キンセンカ」（这首是由SATOち第一次尝试填词，虽然リーダー有帮上一脚）

「25時の憂鬱」
詞 / 逹瑯　曲 / ミヤ

真っ赤な鬼灯
深々と頭を垂れる
雨降り25時
憂鬱はさらに絶頂へ

暗い暗い溢れだす
バラバラに砕けた溜め息
そう愛はなびかない
私、壊れた風見鳥

今夜綺麗でしょう？
咲かせ魔性
気の触れたリズムの中
二人で踊る夜は幻
摩天楼の下で

心臓にしゃぶりつく
歯の浮いちゃう様な君の台詞
私は影法師
それを探す君はまつでピーターパン

御伽噺でしょう？
リアルじゃないの
今世紀最高の愛を頂戴
二人で踊る夢幻
摩天楼の下で

華と散った心がすがる場所求めて
君といるから余計一人になっちゃって
愛で人は強くなれるなんて嘘でしょう
だって私はこんなにも弱くなった

「キンセンカ」
詞 / SATOち・ミヤ　曲 / SATOち

苛立つ言葉とひねくれた大人達
この僕に救いの手はあるか
気付かずに知らぬ間にやがて広がるヒビは
靴のない素足で歩いた生き物

汚れた現実に気付かない子供達
なぜ僕に神の手を遠ざける
少年は知っていた物語の始まり
出口の無い迷路の中引きずられる

勝手な理由だろ
つなぎとめた意識の糸ちぎれた

あぁ悲しみに咲く花よ
教えてくれよ生きる意味
僕は今も幼き命欠片一つ見つけられず
人の中

光遮ったその心の中探してあげるよ叫ぶ声を
あぁこの声は届くのか
それともずっと見つけられず息をはく

あぁ悲しみの美粧の花
もがいて彷徨う両手の影
僕は今も幼き命欠片一つ見つけられず
人の中

少年は知っていた

JLPT3 vs 健康

2006-12-04T21:07:00.000+08:00

有点不甘心，准备那么充分的东西最后竟然没得上场！><
不过还是没办法啦，身体比较重要。
其实也没得选择，当时真的是连站起来的力气都没有。
今天也是拿了病假，还拿了个referral。
是神经科的，有点担心。
不过是x'mas过后，所以。。先庆祝佳节再说！

还有就是，明年迈向JLPT2前进！！！

2006-11-27T00:04:00.000+08:00

Was in Hong Kong for a few days this week to attend a conference.
The conference itself turned out to be just average. The annual meetings too. A bit disappointing as I would have thought that an Asia Pacific organization like that has the potential to propose changes in an impactful manner. Unfortunately, just as most things involving multi-country representations are, even if they come from the private sector, implementation ends up straying far from the ideals upon which the organization is built.

Now, it seems like the members use this as a mere networking session. That's a rather narrow and inward-looking notion. Because yes, while networking is certainly important, but so is the harnessing of intellect and experience amongst the members to really come up with proposals to shake the international tax scene. In any case, both activities can and should happen concurrently. Instead, I see the more 'developed' tax jurisdictions in the organization (whom i shall not name) sending senior albeit almost-retiring people; people who only respect the formalities and do not want to rock the boat.

Also, I can't help but see a varse difference in the level of intellectual discussions taking place in all these forums; forums consisting of the Asia Pacific jurisdictions are still so far behind those of Europe/North America. A lot has to do with the level of inconsistency (not to mention corruption) in the Asia Pacific.

Well, the only comforting thing is that at least I managed to get some insights from some Hong Kong tax practitioners about the Hong Kong and China situation. Interestingly, although it is common knowledge that Hong Kong and Singapore have adopted different fiscal policies when it comes to the tax system, the fundamental concerns and beliefs of the two jurisdictions do overlap somewhat.

2006-11-21T23:48:00.000+08:00

Call me lian, but i luv grooving to 伍佰's <<你是我的花朵>>!!!

Bonus --> Bands

2006-11-19T23:49:00.000+08:00

Just about figured out that whatever miserable bonus I get in December will ALL go to the bands. On my list there are already 4 items:

1) ワールドツアーファイナル日本武道館「666」

2) 「ラヴィアンローズ GOLDEN BOX」

3) Maniac Live DVD『マニアックヘブンVol.0』

4) The Back Horn's 「声」

All other CDs will have to wait... I only have so much blood to spare in a month...orz...
***
In other news, my niece built her first totem pole today:

Live（06.11.09 @ アルタ）

2006-11-18T01:42:00.000+08:00

In case the embedded vid doesn't come out, the link:
http://www.barks.jp/watch/?id=1000016600
好担心逹的喉咙!

わたしの好きな場所

2006-11-15T00:22:00.000+08:00

The Japanese composition exam title tonight was: "My Favourite Place".
I really wanted to write "Shibuya Quattro".

But in the end I played it safe and wrote something from a previous practice tutorial instead (where it was on a similar topic).
XD XD XD

心灵雕刻家

2006-11-12T22:31:00.000+08:00

On Channel 8 tonight ~ 特写: 都会新新男人-心灵雕刻家
43岁的郑来福自称是位“心灵雕刻家”。八年前，他舍弃了一份年薪六位数的工作，花了四年的时间去背包旅行，探索生命。旅途中他发现，很多人类的活动对地球造成很大的破坏。回国后，他全情投身于环保和义工的行列，并提倡有机生活。这些年来，来福跳出主流，活出自己，在喧闹的都市里，开发了一片属于自己的心灵净土。
《特写》之“都市新新男人”和你一起走入来福的理想世界。

"My profession is living." - well said!
People like him truly inspire. You can tell when a person does what he does out of a strong belief in that subject, vs someone who's doing something merely as a means to an end (re: all those young MPs who took part in the Causeway Run today).

The programme moved me deeply (good job, TCS folks), and made me re-examine myself once again. What exactly are you doing, dear scenic? To be utterly frank, I think I'm leading a life that's getting more and more inward-looking. Daily concerns are confined to work, work politics, exams to pass, music i like, food i like, books i like, etc etc. All things relating to myself. You would think that without a spouse and kids to feel protective about (and hence deceptively outward-looking), I should be more aware of things outside of my immediate environment, right? But no. I'm ashamed. I've stopped caring about many things. When did that start happening?

So while I express disgust at the Wee Shu Min scandal, what have I really done besides being an armchair critic? Cos actually being concerned about things beyond your own can refer to non-social subjects as well.

Anyway, I think I'll give the prison a call tomorrow.

ホリゾント & 心色 lyrics

2006-11-11T13:28:00.000+08:00

１．ホリゾント
詞　/　逹瑯・ミヤ
曲　/　YUKKE・ミヤ

夕陽に染められたホリゾント
くすんだ街を　絵画に変えて
心どこかに置き忘れた
僕等の日々を優しく包む

恋をして　世間追いかけて
流れ逆らって　それでも明日は来る

頬をさす北風に襟を立てて
空も見れずに歩いてく僕達
大人になりきれない日々を越えて
君の肩に落ちた雪が時間を止めた

彩やかに見える今だけは
止まった街はジオラマのように
「今　どこで何をしてるのですか」
いつかの自分から未来宛の手紙

初雪がこのせわしい世界隠し
あの日と同じように　高鳴る胸
大丈夫　描いてた未来じゃないけど
鏡に映った自分　誇ってあげるよ

頬をさす北風に襟を立てて
大切なぬくもりを抱きしめてる
明日はほんの少しだけ空を見上げ
それぞれの色を塗ろうほんの少しだけ君と

２．心色
詞　/　YUKKE
曲　/　YUKKE

いつもの場所　未来描き
過ぎる日々　帰り道
人混み彩る街の中を
歩いていく一人世界

生まれ持った十二色未来　想像
今を超えてゆく
なんとなく夢跡描きを
忘れ写実プログラム

浮き沈み街並み弾かれ
生きてく事で何思う
あの日描いた青く染められし世界で
見てた景色は嘘じゃない

命　儚し　十一　散夢
またひとつ痩せてく球体

愛す事忘れた体で
生きてく事に何思う

あの日描いた青く染められし世界で
見てた景色は
高く空を見上げた今とあの頃
見てた景色を繋いで　いつか

***
日文比我好的朋友，觉得这次歌词如何？很想听听你们的意见 :)

2006-11-11T00:17:00.000+08:00

http://www.oricon.co.jp/news/confidence/38886/
many msgs on the bbs about this..

the band's also mentioned in this article:
http://contents.oricon.co.jp/news/special/38341/

auspicious day

2006-11-08T23:21:00.000+08:00

Oricon Singles Chart Debut @ No. 9,
おめでとう！

谁叫他们选跟モーニング娘同一天出片啊！XD

***
i passed my first in-house exam at work, yay~~~
Received the pass slip from my boss today..
Was kinda worried i might not make it, so was quite relieved, phew~

So that's 1 down,
i'm waiting for the results of 1 more,
and then there are 3 more exams to take.
If i pass all 5, i'm done with this 'level', and graduate to the 'final level'.
I must make it to the final level!!!

***
CDs arrived today. First time hearing it on my stereo, 娼婦 sounded really surround-sound. They seem to have used quite a number of effects in this single...
逹's illustration is on the CD! :) I like it.
I think he should design more of mucc's CDs, including the jacket!

sigh, the bootleg CD frustration is here again!...

*goes off to watch the DVD and check out the lyrics sheet*

2006-11-07T00:37:00.000+08:00

Another tired day at work.. eating my dinners past 11pm is doing me no good!

This week's work schedule is packed with rather stressful events. Next week we're down by a few people and the week after there's the HK trip. In between I've got the final term Japanese language exams, and cramming for JLPT. I went back to my previous Japanese language school to take the JLPT prep course, and my teacher (i was taking a replacement class with another teacher) bounded into the classroom during breaktime just to say hi to me. So sweet. But she caught me by surprise lah, and i must have confused her by the look of shock on my face XD
Anyway, my mind + heart is finally back after suffering from 1 week of post-trip-withdrawal symptoms. Yosh... gotta buck up gotta buck up.

***

U'know, it's really nice to see the blog entries of the boys talking about the recording and other work commitments, to know that they're all living their lives purposefully. That's right. Purposefully. It really spurs me on to do the same.

I wonder what it'll be next year.
2003 - Golden Years
2004 - Crazy Years
2005 - Destruction Years
2006 - Devilish Years
2007 - ??
Something to do with 10th Anniv? What can beat Devilish Years? How about "Lightning Years"? Well, as long as they don't use "More Good Years"! (for the benefit of non-Singaporeans: that was the slogan of the ruling political party here in Singapore a few elections back... --;)