music:::Massive Attack – Smalltime Shot Away

Things are so much better now. It’s lovely what a difference a simple telephone call can make. Right now, I’m hanging out online and downloading LotR movie files (not from the actual movies but TV specials, interviews and so on) for C-chan and myself. I noticed that an obsession gets even worse when you have a good friend sharing that very same obsession. It kind of doubles.

I forgot to mention earlier that I got my Betsuma 2, Shoxx 3 and RahXephon Bible on Tuesday. The RahXephon artbook is adorable, the design is very stylish. There are a few very pretty illustrations in it. I really love the whole book as it also explains a lot of the mysteries in the series.
The Akuma de sourou Illustration collection is already out… Don’t have the money to order it at the moment. And I haven’t even preordered our Massive Attack tickets ;_; I’ll be seeing them on May 2 in Berlin. I think I’ll also buy tickets for the May 1st show (also in Berlin) and maybe for one or both Cologne shows in mid-May. The problem is, all the gigs are on weekdays and I can’t afford to miss so many classes at uni.

music:::Massive Attack – Man next door

So here’s the anti-post to Monday night’s.

I’m feeling rather… blah. The only thing that lightens things up a bit is that one of my friends noticed I’d forgotten my origami frog and gave it to me a day later. Awww.

It’s been a week only since I’ve last seen TTT and I’m itching to see it again. I’ve already spent too much money on tickets for that film but even telling myself I’ll have someone burn me a internet copy of it soon doesn’t make things easier. I want to see it in good quality, on a huuuge screen. So far, I haven’t been successful in finding someone who wants to see the film with me again ;_; Everyone’s seen it at least twice and doesn’t want to see it again >_<

Tomorrow I’ll be going to Saarbrücken again. I think I’ll spend all my money for February, just because I feel like it and need compensation for sleep/love/LotR-deprivation.

I think I’ll never ever read reviews of CDs I really like again. Sometimes, they can destroy everything, no matter how fixed my opinion of an album is. Or they make me want to throw something at the reviewer for being so damn dumb and lazy. Everyone’s free to have an opinion of their own but making it quite obvious in your review that you haven’t even listened to the album more than once makes me wonder why you’re even getting paid to have that review printed in a magazine.
Oh whatever. I wish 100th window was a bit bass-heavier (if there is a word like that). Feeling the resonance of a strong bass line in my body is so wonderful o_O That’s why I’ve been listening to Mezzanine a lot – but not more often than 100th window, actually. I love 100th window and it definitely ranks higher than Mezz because I love all the songs on it whereas Mezz has a few tracks I prefer to skip.

We’re not going to Paris in March cause none of us has enough money. I’m glad I’m not the only one who’s constantly broke -_-;; That means I’ll have to stay here till the end of August, after the 2nd semester. This is going to be hard cause I’m dying to get out of here for a few weeks…

music:::some weird mix of GLAY and Hikki in my head

This post is just for me. I have little scribbles that I wrote down during short moments I felt incredibly lucky or happy and this entry will be my digital scribble for tonight.

I’m so overwhelmed by just everything – friendship, love (and alcohol?). Shinnenkai was awesome, I’m so tired I’m taking ages to type this because I can’t move my fingers properly. I love this city, my friends, law students who look like a cross between Justin Timberlake, Orlando Bloom and 3D (this may sound utterly strange but if I could show you a picture, you’d agree), Japanese guys playing the guitar and/or bass and singing with um, heavenly voices, Japanese girls just looking kawaii, sushi, cold pizza, giggling like mad until you have tears in your eyes and everyone blames it on the alcohol, being kissed by someone you only wanted to be good friends with, warm sake to warm you up at the busstop before this night ended kind of abruptly.

Damn, I forgot my origami frog (done with Hello Kitty paper) on our table.

music:::Massive Attack – Butterfly Caught

Look what my dear friend just sent me. From my geographical point of view, it’s the Evil in the west. We agreed we definitely prefer Sauron as erm, Lord of the Ring, though.

Yesterday was quite hectic again. I wish I hadn’t been robbed of my precious precious Saturday, as it is my favourite day to clean my apartment and now I’m probably forced to live in a mess for another week -_-;; And most importantly, I wasn’t able to attend the anti-war demonstration in the city. There were several demos held in Germany yesterday, saw them all in the news last night and got rather pissed off cause I couldn’t go to the one in T.

It’s quite scary, actually. I remember how we talked about the Gulf War when I was in elementary school. And now history seems to repeat itself. It’s just sick. If our beloved Bundeskanzler decided to run down say, Thailand (because they have beautiful beaches! and the best weather, all year! and teenage prostitutes!), we’d lock him up in a dark hole 200 metres below the ground. And if we wouldn’t do it, other countries would.
I’m not saying that Saddam is an innocent man himself, but it’s not about choosing sides anyway. It’s about saying no to a war that is about to break out.
…So I guess it’s back to waiting for Tuesday evening.

(I know I’d strangle myself if had to live in the US. I’ve never been more thankful to live in Europe.)

music:::Kagrra – Saiyuuki

Eh, I wish people would make themselves a bit more clearer, especially when it’s about things like Kagrra >_< Now that I've read Miyu's email again (with a clear and focused mind, unlike last night), I think she wanted to say that Kagrra will be playing in Japan again in April, and not in Paris or something. She just wrote 'I just came home, and it was Moi dix Mois all over the place so next time I will go for kagrra^^ I heard they’ll play in april…‘ and doesn’t say anything about Japan, but mentioned Paris in the subject line of her mail o_O How was one supposed to understand what place she was referring to?
So no Paris show or something, if I got things right this time.

I noticed that many people like [gozen] a lot. I’m a bit surprised because all the elements on that album are to be found on Kirameki, too. People should’ve started (or kept) paying attention to Kagrra a few months back.
I was quite hyped after I got Kirameki (not like I was ever calm when I got a new Kagrra CD -_-;;), it’s such a lovely mini-album and I like a few songs on there quite a lot better than some songs from [gozen]. I do like the whole concept of [gozen] better, though. It’s like a mini-drama with certain themes reappearing.
If you really had to choose, which CD would you guys out there say is better: Kirameki or [gozen]? I’m quite indecisive about that myself, but I’m tempted to say that Kirameki is a little better in terms of outstanding songs and variety.

Uni courses are a little boring at the moment. I’m not complaining cause it’s a whole lot better than last weeks’ stress and hectic with all those media projects. Which reminds me, I have another one of those tomorrow, on a Saturday! And I had planned to attend the anti-war demo, but it’s at the same time I have to be at uni for that damn project >_<
One of my friends is quite an avid anime and manga fan and keeps doodling characters during classes. She’s really really talented. (Hehe, I asked her to draw me a Legolas in history last Tuesday and she did! In just 10 minutes! (And he looks really cool, too *_*)
Anyway, she was sitting next to me during background studies yesterday, drawing a huuuge pic. So I started to draw too and came up with a new layout for coup d’etat o_O It’s pretty similar to the first coup d’etat site design, the one that had to be taken down due to S’cube wanting me to remove all the baro pics. This time, I’ll be using a few magazine scans for the layout again, come what may. It’s just a layout, so I don’t think S’cube’ll come driving to my door in a black van and shoot me or something. They’re not the mafia protecting their ‘family’, for God’s sake.
I don’t want to talk about the layout any more because I haven’t even started working on it and it might turn out completely different than what I had intended. All I have is this small sketch on the back of an old kanji test, we’ll see what will come out of it.
This (i.e. my working on a layout again) means I probably won’t shut down coup d’etat in the next two months. I’m going to wait for Chaplin (till the end of February, and that’s all Devil Kitty’s fault *kicks them for the 100th time*) and see if it’s good enough to justify my spending (wasting?) time on a baroque site.

music:::LotR: The Two Towers OST – Evenstar feat. Isabel Bayrakdarian

So I’ve just returned from watching The Two Towers for the 6th time (or was it the 7th time? need to count my tickets…).

I’m tired because I’ve had two very stressful weeks, probably the most hectic in about 1 and a half year’s time. My eyes are burning. I need to check my emails cause I’m expecting mail from someone important. Read Kagrra ML post by Miyu instead:
Kagrra in Paris??? o_O This April?

I’m dreaming, right? Somewhere in Rohan, between Edoras and Helm’s Deep, I lost my mind. I’m seeing things. Right?

Oh. My. Fucking. God.

Someone let this rumour be true!

(How am I supposed to sleep now???)

music:::Massive Attack – Smalltime Shot Away

My impatience was getting too strong to bear so I finally gave in and downloaded 100th window. I don’t feel bad about it because I’ve already preordered it. It’s just that the closer the date of its release got, the longer the days seemed to stretch. That’s why today I had a small WinMX session between two seminars and downloaded the tracks.

After reading all those negative comments on the official forum from people who’d already heard the album, my hopes weren’t exactly high, to say the least. I was a bit afraid of listening to the songs for the first time. (But that’s what always happens to me the first time I get to hear a long anticipated album.) And now, about half an hour after listening to the whole album for the first time, I cannot describe the songs. Only the feelings they gave me.

It’s exactly the kind of music I’d be making if I was a musician. It’s both intimate and personal but also reflecting the world as it is today. So much warmer than Mezzanine but with the same complexity and also a feeling of something dark looming in the background. Some people say they can’t accept this as a Massive Attack album, as it’s been mostly only 3D working on the tracks. For me, this is Massive Attack (even if it’s only Dee). Not the Massive Attack from say, 10 years ago – but wouldn’t it be such a shame and waste of energy if they were still the same band/project like 10 years ago? I’m glad that 3D got his own space to work on the music he wants to make cause if this (100th window) is his baby, it proves he’s done everything right. I don’t really miss the ‘old’ MA. This is an album I could listen to all day, it’s the music I still hear even when all the songs are already over, it’s something that I don’t want to miss cause it gives my life a certain ‘quality’, a certain way of perceiving things that nothing else could give me.

I love this more than anything and I’ll love it even more with every time I listen to it. I really don’t care if it’ll take MA 5 years again to put out a new album – cause I have this one.