music:::Spitz – Low-Tech Romantica

I got a little too many new things over the past few days, it’s a bit hard to review all of them. I do have to say that I love love love my Ghibli DVDs, though. It’s so nice to have crystal clear, high quality versions of my favourite movies. I’ve been thinking a lot lately and decided that Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi has to be my favourite movie of all times. Easily beats 2001 – A Space Odyssey. Yes. (Btw, the DVD does have a reddish tint but it’s not that noticable. In fact, I wouldn’t have noticed it if noone had told me.) I’m a little disappointed with the respective bonus discs of the Ghibli DVDs. I would’ve loved to get to see some sort of making-ofs. I don’t think anyone has the patience to watch the whole storyboards so they are a bit of a waste of space. I love the Ghibli museum documentary/portait on the Totoro bonus disc, though! Wow, that museum is just amazing, I have to visit it when I go to Japan! I’ve seen pictures of it in Animage but seeing it and having Miyazaki-sensei explain everything in that documentary was so impressive.

The RahXephon Prelude DVD was definitely worth the money, too. Of course, there’s lots and lots of Japanese film guys talking and I only understand half of it but oh well. There are also short interviews with the seiyuu cast (hehe, I bought this thing because of my love for one of the guys ^^;). I really like the DVD, the whole design of the little films and interviews is just so stylish.
I also got the RahXephon Sound Drama CD but haven’t been able to listen to it due to lack of time -_- I haven’t even touched the Love&Pop DVD… there’s just so much other stuff I need to do.

music:::Feeder – The Power Of Love

Well well, this Christmas was definitely all about family reunion o_O Being home wasn’t all that great in the beginning but now that I’ve sort of adjusted to everything again, things are going much better.
I hope you all had a nice Christmas.

Oh, I sense a shortage of money coming up in the next two months. Baroque’s last indies single needs to be preordered, so does Porori’s first single (♥). Aaaand there will be an Akuma de sourou Illust-shuu!! More info on when the artbook will be out, how much it’ll be and stuff will be announced in the next issue of Betsuma (out in mid-January).
I love Betsuma 1/03! Just got it today (OCS remembered to send it here, not to T.) and I can’t stop looking at it. Takanashi Mitsuba’s new series (Beniiro Hero – Crimson Hero) has finally started! There was a Beniiro Hero postcard in the last issue of Derama and I quite liked it, I also liked the few preview pics in the December issue of Betsuma, and now I’ve finally been able to read the first chapter. There’s something about Takanashi’s recent chara designs I don’t like that much (the chins?, the foreheads? I don’t know, but the faces look a bit weird)… the story is okay so far, nothing that hasn’t been done before but I won’t say anything negative after this one chapter… we’ll see!
My Gothic&Lolita Bible 7 also arrived. Nothing that special in this issue, I do like the stickers though ^^;

My Brand X package isn’t here yet. No gozen, no Aliza Marie, no Hotaru and no Metronome. But also no hideous Kagrra poster *blinks* I always thought that noone could ever make Nao not look pretty, so congrats to the make-up artist/costume designers in charge. And let’s not look at Akiya ;_; What the bloody hell did they do to him? They all looked so pretty in that Christmas pic, the whole atmosphere was just so much warmer than in that recent pic. And it doesn’t seem to be just a temporary image either. (They’ve redesigned the official site using those new pics). To me their new image looks like a combination of their older neo-japanesque style and the remnants of the Matina-style visuals. Damn, they do need a new stylist really really badly >_<

music:::Spitz – Mizuiro no machi

I’m home :)

My Christmas presents aka CD Japan package isn’t here yet, though. There’s still Monday and Tuesday noon but with my lack of luck I know I’ll end up with no presents at all. Aww. Nah, it’s not that bad.

Got a nice phone call from T. yesterday ^^ Feels nice to be missed. It doesn’t seem all that scary to go back to T. in 2 weeks, I have quite a few lovely people waiting for me there after all. But still it’s so nice to be back with my family. My sister hasn’t arrived yet, she’ll be here in a few hours though and I can’t wait!!

And there’s snow! Plenty of it! The cold wind isn’t that enjoyable but it’s better than feeling all autumn-ish during Christmas like back in T.

I’ve got so much to do for uni but I try not to think of it that much ^^; I think I’ll start working on those things no sooner than in the new year. I really want to enjoy Christmas without any boring media theories stuff. But I need to practise writing kanji! I keep forgetting some of the 90-something kanji we’ve learnt so far. And I have to practise all the readings (on and kun). But that’s fun stuff, I really don’t mind doing that.

Bought my train tickets today! I paid so much for them, but I think I was lucky that I still got tickets at all because most of the trains are already full since everyone wants to go home for Christmas. I’m so nervous about that trainride because I’ve never went so far by train. I hope I get off at the right cities and get on the right trains -_-;;

I finished Christmas shopping today. I wish I had a little more money left so I could buy that really cool jacket I saw in Saarbr�cken last Saturday… I bought so many new clothes this month. It’s like I needed a new ’skin’ for the new person I’ve become here.

I decided not to mail the payment to Brand X because of the high mailing fees. I’ll wait till Friday so my mother can pay those fees >_<;; I really don’t mind waiting another four days because I’m not that impatient about getting the Brand X package. I’m so much more looking forward to Zwan’s debut album (out January 28) and Massive Attack’s 100th window (out February 10). Visual kei is still important to me but I can see the decision about my websites coming closer and closer. Things are clearing up, I know what still can touch me and what can’t. There are things I just don’t care about anymore and things I can’t be bothered to put up with anymore. I really want to wait a little longer just in case that feeling is just temporary but I think that’s not just a temporary thing but a solid attitude. (Unless someone comes and kicks my ass and puts my head straight or somehing…)

music:::Zwan – Honestly

For some reason I’m no longer able to communicate through the internet. It’s not like I was sad about that. I really feel comfortable just sitting here and watching, reading, without feeling the need to respond in any way. I don’t want to and I don’t have to. I like this passive one-way stream. I know I’ll disappoint some people because they won’t hear from me anymore (personally, at least). There are still a few people who I’ve never met in real life but nevertheless really like and care about, but I’m afraid I won’t be as ‘available’ as before.

Okay, so how do I get from this to what’s been going on over here…? Let’s see… Vinegar potato chips are yummy. They’re not as good as in Britain, though. But they make me want to fly over to England. We’re making plans for the holidays but unfortunately, England isn’t in the top 10 of our possible destinations. If everything goes the way we’ve planned it, we’ll be going to Paris in March and New York in late July. I won’t have to live alone in this awfully small apartment much longer because we’ll be moving into an apartment together next September. There’s still so much time till that but it definitely makes living here a bit more bearable.

I need to start eating regularly. I’ve been losing too much weight and I know this is due to my completely wacked eating schedule (or rather: the lack of any sort of eating schedule). On some days I don’t have the time or nerve or both to eat or just totally forget about it >_<;; Adding to this, I don’t have the space to cook a real meal for myself so I’m stuck with gross pizza or pasta snacks. Ah, the joy of being home, with your mother cooking for you! Three more days!! Just three more days!!!

music:::Massive Attack – Rising Son

We went to Saarbr�cken yesterday. The train was comfortably uncrowded and someone had left a Bild Zeitung on a seat so we had lots of nice horror stories to distract us from the boredom of driving through the Saarland.
Saarbr�cken must be one of the ugliest cities I’ve ever been to. But they had loads of shops so it was fairly easy to overlook the architecture.
Christmas shopping was fun, especially since we were able to buy a few things for ourselves. Got a book for my trainride back home next Thursday and DEEP RED by Hugo Boss. I also exchanged money at the Traveller’s Bank, I’ll send off the yen tomorrow so my Brand X order will be here sometime between Christmas and the new year, I hope.

100th Window comes out February 10. I’m going to buy tickets for the Massive Attack shows in Cologne next May.

I don’t have anything interesting to say (not like I ever have…). Today’s the first day in about a week that I’m all alone (I so needed a day for myself, my homework’s due tomorrow >_<). It feels so nice to have my friends around me whenever I don’t want to be alone. I wish Christmas was one or two weeks later so I could stay here a bit longer. I’ll be going home on Thursday and I can’t wait to see my family again. But at the same time I know I’m going to miss everyone here…

music:::Hotaru – Kaijin 20 mensou

So, damit w�re das Wochenende dann auch schon wieder fast vorbei… Hab gestern Wetten dass sehen m�ssen, sonst kam ja nix Interessantes. Dabei hab ich dann Japanisch-Hausaufgaben gemacht: eine Seite Konversationstext ins Japanische umschreiben. Das ging sogar richtig schnell, auch wenn ich mit dem Katakana-Schreiben noch so meine Schwierigkeiten habe (Lesen geht ja einwandfrei, aber Schreiben…).
Aber der ist schon richtig cool, der Japanisch-Unterricht. Vom Level her ist alles auf ertr�glichem Niveau, was richtig Neues habe ich bis jetzt nicht gelernt. Aber es macht trotzdem wahnsinnigen Spa�!

Dann gleich geh ich noch mit Christina auf den Weihnachtsmarkt. Das scheint jetzt so eine Art Sonntagstradition zu werden. Vielleicht kommt Kai auch mit oder ein paar andere Leute. Und vorher ruft mich hoffentlich noch meine Mama an! Da muss ich ihr gleich erz�hlen, wie toll gestern das Ronan Keating Konzert auf ZDF war -_-;; Ja ja, den w�rd ich schon heiraten, den Ronan, aber der hat ja schon ne Frau ^^;;

Ach ja, und morgen ist dann endlich Montag. Ich hab seit Mittwoch Abend nix anderes gemacht, als auf Montag zu warten und Electrical Storm zu h�ren. Ich m�sste ganz dringend mal abwaschen und mein Bad sauber machen, aber… zuviel Dinge im Kopf, zu faul etc.

Gestern hab ich die Best�tigungsmail von Brand X bekommen. Bald bald bald kommt dann das Kagrra Album, und noch Kram von Hotaru, Metronome und die neue Single von Aliza Marie! Bei Guruguru muss ich auch noch bestellen…

Morgen jedenfalls kann ich wieder mit den ganzen tollen Leuten zusammensein. Ich hab mich auf Kais Geburtstagsparty am Donnerstag das erste Mal l�nger mit Elke unterhalten. Die schreibt ja auch, und Christina sagte mir, dass sie (Christina) zur Not auch Schriftstellerin werden will. Hoffentlich f�rbt diese Kreativit�t auch etwas auf mich ab.^^

Ich will vielleicht jemanden suchen, der mir coup d’etat abnimmt. Ich werde wohl bis zur n�chsten Single warten und dann eine Entscheidung treffen. Eigentlich wollte ich meine Online-Zeit eh etwas zur�ckschrauben (auch wenn das bis jetzt gar nicht klappt -_-;). Ich glaube, man kann wirklich entweder nur ein total tolles, ausgepr�gtes Real Life haben oder halt nur ganz viel online sein und dort viele ‘Freunde’ haben… Und im Moment f�llt mich hier im RL alles so gut aus, dass mir die meisten Online-Leute nur total auf die Nerven gehen. So nach dem Motto, soll’n die mal machen, ich will keine Websites mehr haben. Auf der anderen Seite will ich meine Seiten nicht einfach offline nehmen. Diese ganze Arbeit, Begeisterung etc. soll nicht einfach verschwinden oder umsonst gewesen sein…