Utada Hikaru- This Is The One

Album cover's shitty, but rest assured the tracks are awesome

Minutes later, I'm back with another not-so-random album. Hikki-chan's back with her new English studio album, This Is The One. Here's another interesting fact about Joanne- I don't like English songs. Don't ask me why. I don't know myself. Perhaps if I did some deep psychological reflection I'd find the answer, but as I don't intend to do so anytime soon, we'll just accept the fact that I don't listen to English songs and that I should be the last person to be approached and questioned about the latest music topping the US/UK/Europe Billboard charts.

Haha, moving on back to the album. It's nice! Yes, it's nice! R&B lovers, this should be your thing. It's smooth, beaty, and there's the interesting Utada twist to the tracks to make them very distinguishable and unique. The lyrics are slightly odd, but the English's perfect, and Utada's soulful, silky voice really works. Like Apple and Cinnamon. Haha. That's one of the tracks you should really listen to. I love it lots. I'm actually still listening to the album, and am currently on track 7- Dirty Desire (kinky title! XD). But anyways, if you're bored and like R&B and can't think of anything to download, download this! But of course, go download d'espairsray's albums and convert yourself into a goth-rock fan first. Haha, yes, I'm still addicted to d'espairsray. Trickster's awesome! XD. Okay, this post is suppose to be about Hikki-chan, not them rock band. Lol. But anyway, I'm done now. Whee.

m.o.v.e- GRID

Fancy.

I realise I have very little blog posts, and most of the recent ones are pretty crapfull. Ah well. It's my blog! Live with it :P.

Well, here we go again with another random album! This is by one of my old favourites, m.o.v.e! Most of you probably know them from their Initial D music. I actually like their later style better, where they use more electric guitar in their tracks to create a very nice dance-rock vibe. GRID is their second latest album, the latest being HUMANIZER, but I honestly dislike that album a lot. Without T-Kimura, the tracks are very...underbeat? Haha. I feel they can do better anyway. GRID is much better in my opinion. The dance beats, rap by Motsu, vocals by Yuri, and the electric guitar thrown in is very satisfactory. Spiffy tracks to listen (and bop!) to would be Disco Time, Disinfected Generation, and Freaky Planet. The latter's remix is sweet too. All in all, I'd say I'm more or less alright with this album. I still like BOULDER best though. Haha.

This post is far too short. That's another thing I realised. I don't like short blog posts. Haha. Nevermind. What else have I to say? Well, I've been pretty bugged out as of late. It's the heat! PMS! God! I'll blame it on everything I can think of, everything but myself. Hahaha. Kidding. But, yeah, I've been acting a right prat, and I'm not going to pretend I don't know. Go ask my classmates- they'll complain to you about me shitting about 'cinta yang tidak dibalas'. LOL. It was the first thing I thought of when questioned about my multiple sighs. And I guess there's a twinge of true to it? Haha. Nevermind. Point is, I'm going to say that, seriously, fate and I do not go together. We just don't...click. XD. No really! It's like every little thing I do gets nicely fucked up some way or another. It's ever so funny. Sometimes, when I look back on it, it gets so funny I'm not sure whether I should laugh or cry until I pee on my pants XD XD XD. Oh well. I'm suppose to accept it right? Accept it and go with the flowwww~~~~ *makes swimming gestures*

...Joanne. Stop kidding yourself that you're happy when you're not. Sheesh. So irritating.

Right. I'm not in the mood to make this an emo post. Eventhough this is supposed to be an emo topic. But, hey, look on the bright side of things, eh? Worse things could happen. I could open my eyes and find myself in the middle of Ethiopia among starving kids. Though what has that got to do with my current situation I have absolutely no idea. Anyway. *Sigh*. What the hell am I spouting? Why can't I just leave it, dangit? I can't. Because I find myself acting like an idot over and over again, being content with so little, with just a glance or a smile. It's so stupid. Why can't I just STAY contented, eh? Human nature- when given something we want, we want more of it. Moar! Moar! MOAR! Haha.

I don't want to feel this way anymore. It's so stupid.

[Random!!!] is back!

With a brand new rap. Lol.


Here's a little known fact about me that most of you (at least, those who have only just recently realised I exist- the recent being probably 2/3 years ago or something) probably don't know. I used to write a lot more than I drew. It comes in phases, actually. Back in primary (and beginning of secondary), I wrote like mad, then went on a pretty-much-4-year hiatus. In that space of time I was honing my aR+ sk!lLz till I reached a point where I was not too embarassed to show others my art. Now, well, yes I've not drawn anything significant in a while, but my passion for writing has been revived- the new arrangement of words penned down into a pretty little red book that is in need of wrapping ASAP (Seme-chan, you're needed! Urgently! XD). Haha. Yes, there we go. And now since we're on this topic, let me just tell you more about my past as a wannabe-authoress. Lol.

It started a long long long long time ago, when I was still in kindergarten. I wrote this story about a polar bear, then another one about one of my pet dogs. My mum still has a copy of both tucked away in one of her super old files. The polar bear story was supposedly my very first manuscript, and is filled with lot of spelling and grammar errors. And the alphabets were all wonky and sloping up and down. What do you expect? I was just a little kid. You wouldn't be able to do any better. Lol. Kidding. Anyway, I've revisited that story and you can read it over at my other blog. It's marginally better, without much spell/grammar errors, and is in a readable font.

Later on I started writing little stories into this really pretty book. I was in primary 2 then. I still have the book with me!!! XD. It's a really pretty floral hardcover with (used to be) perfumed blue, pink and green pages. The pages are detacheable but most of them have been taped down, though it's still coming apart. The first story was written on...OH MY GOD. OH MY GOD. OH MY GOD!!!! IT'S ON THE SAME DAY I CAME OUT OF MY 4-YEAR-LONG HIATUS!! AWESOMEEEEEE!!!!!! XD XD XD XD XD. Holy crap what an awesome coincidence! Or is this what one would call fate? Hahaha. The first story is called The Friendly Horse and The Ghost, written on April 5th, 1999. The other stories go about in the same fashion, some of them very Enid Blyton inspired. Most of the characters are talking animals/insects, fairies, and unicorns, because I used to be really obsessed with unicorns. I remember it was unicorns, then dolphins, then horses, then....uhm, Gackt?

Hahahaha

Moving on...sometime later when that book came to the end of its pages, I started writing in another book, and the first story in it was entitled The Clown of The Rainforest. It's about a toucan (it's a bird that lives in the tropical rainforest. It has a really large colorful bill. Yes.). The rest of the stories were about this fictional group of anthros with animal heads and human bodies. Hahahaha. They were actually my soft toys/plushies in real life, but I gave them characters and put them into a club named Club House Doddy. Don't laugh. I was young. I didn't know any better. Anyway, this CHD craze went on for quite a long while, and they had quite a lot of really wacky adventures, many of them which I never completed. That's a problem I still face. If I get into something, I'll stick to it for ages, until the idea dries up and/or I find something else more interesting. Haha. And then...after countless of stories, both finished and unfinished (I remember one that was completed entitled Lost Horses. Another was The Clue in The Horseshoe Charm- which was probably the last story I wrote with the CHD in it before I moved to the next transition), I went on to the more widely known book of really insane happenings...[Random!!!]

Right. [Random!!!]. What have I to say about it? I was definitely influenced by Totally Spies, then Weiss Kreuz. The things television teach you =D. Anyway, [Random!!!]'s a crazy crazy story about this group of -human- assassins. It's plotless, full of flaws, the earlier books have oodles of errors, and yet it spawned 3 whole books and reaped many enthusiastic fans XD. Not being big headed, but yeah. I guess young kids just love crap. Haha. I remember we used to have group discussions about the plot and stuff, and that was a laugh. Anyway, yes, that spawned 3 books, with 12 chapters in each, and the ending was unsuspectedly twisted. It had mixed reviews, to say the least XD XD XD. And following that was my 4-year-long hiatus, and now, after long last, I am BACK! *pops balloons and throws confetti*. Yes, I am now picking up that pen of mine once more, and the new story's pretty much as insane and random as I can get for now. The concept for the story's inspired by the book 1001 Arabian Nights, where it's all story within a story within a story. I intend to make it as twisted and random as possible, with little planning. Just go right on spontaneaously. I suppose I work best that way XD. And the first part of it, ironically, begins with a fairy story about a unicorn! XD. Fate is indeed as twisted as I am. Haha. So, yes! Let's all drink to the health of the new story! It's following in the footsteps of the great 1001 Arabian Nights...so should it be named....1001 [Random!!!]ian Nights? HAHAHAHA. Okay, I'll keep that thought. Lol.

...So now you know a twee bit more about the Joanne you thought you knew all about. Haha. No, not really. I deliberately left out that -little- part about me collaborating with many other great writers to pen down the holiest of stories, written in an extremely tattered exercise book. Yes, I mean THE BOOK. Bwahahahahahahaha. You shall never know about it. Never. NEVAAAAA!!! *cackle*

I'll leave you to wonder. *bounces off*

REDEEMER- REVISITED! XD

Cheer if I'm right, slap me if I'm wrong XD. Left to right: Karyu(g), Zero(b), Tsukasa(d), and Hizumi(v)

Yeah, I've digested REDEEMER, and I like it so much I have to revisit my review and burble all about it again XD. Seriously, rock fans out there, go download this album while you're still breathing. Man, I must say, I really underestimated this band. Haha. They have a pretty awesome style, really. Can't compare it to other bands like Gazette or Nightmare, simply because they're incomparable. Though KAMIKAZE sort-of reminds me of Alice Nine's White Prayer, overall, their songs are impressive. The electric guitar's spiffeh. Really! And the songs have really catchy beats. Rock-y, gotchic-ky, and just plain cool. Haha. Kohaku's still my fav, but REDEEMER comes a close second. The latter's music video is definitely NOT to be missed. It's eerie, haunting, and just flipping awesome. I have not come across such an enjoyable video in quite a while. Of course, you must not count Gackt's vids. Haha. That's just...way up high on the list. He's not even ON the list-he's too great for it. Lol. Okay, stop getting sidetracked, Joanne XD. Anyway, yes, long story short, I'm now a happy fan of d'espairsray! Yay! *claps*

And, haha, let's choose favourite band members now, shall we? Guess who's mine. Hint: he gets far too little screen time-AND is the most normal-looking of the bunch. Yes, I'm odd that way. From all these really crazily dressed band members, I'm always attracted to the most normal one. I suppose in this era where everyone wants to be different from everyone else, the plain normal, and boring stand out far more. Hahaha. Done guessing? Highlight bottom for answer! XD.

Tsukasa! Yes, in love with a drummer for once. Lol!

REDEEMER

Nuhuhuhuhuhu.

Hello again everybody. Yes, I strike yet again with another one of them randomly downloaded albums. Here we gave J-rock band D'espairsRay, which I first thought to be one of the hardcore visual-kei bands. And, it has proven me that I have been misled yet again. Well, they're more hardcore rock, with screamo vocals as well, though dir en grey certainly reigns supreme when it comes to screamo rock music. Haha. D'espairsRay's REDEEMER album is a cross between Alice Nine and dir en grey, as far as I can make it. They have pretty impressive electric guitars and beats. Nothing to say for the Japlish, but I'm finally attempting to grow accustomed to J-rockers and they're odd tendencies to sing in a language they are far from proficient in. Anyway, yes, there are some pretty nice beats in the album. So far the only song that actually caught my attention is Kohaku, but the rest are along the same lines. So, yes. Woohoo!

Rather short post, but I'll leave it as that as I've pretty much nothing else to talk about. Will be back with more news later~

Uroboros

Woohoo.

Okay, here I go again downloading random albums for the heck of it. And the latest one happens to be the infamous Dir en Grey with their latest album, Uroboros. The name of the album comes from a mythical symbol of the same name (but different spelling, can't remember how that goes) depicting a dragon/serpent biting its own tail and forming a circle. Symbolises reincarnation and things going round and round, I guess. Haha. I'm emoing too much to make sense, so live with it. Anyhow, I was apparently psychotically deluded into thinking that Dir en Grey was just another one of those visual-kei bands. Hah. Sadly misled much. Turned out they are this heavy-metal screamo band with a vocalist that sounds possessed half the time. Not that I'm dissing the band or anything, because honestly the music is super amazing. The electric guitars are ever-cool, and there is a really interesting fusion of exotic instuments like the sitar and mandolin throughout the album so that the overall result is this really cool traditional, almost Indian-infused music. And Mr. Vocalist is honestly not bad at all. From a screamo, Korn point of view. He can definitely come up with a whole load of interesting vocals; growls, screams, pretty much anything. And his natural singing voice ain't that bad either. I haven't completely digested the entire album but I do like the tracks Vinushka and Glass Skin. Sadly, like most Japanese bands, Dir en Grey's English songs are pretty indecipherable, but then again since most of the words are coming out in squeals and screams and demonic voices I don't suppose it matters much. Overall review, I'd say that the album's pretty good, though definitely not for the faint-hearted, pinky bubbly J-pop fans.

Moving on to my life. Lots of things have happened, but I don't feel like crapping now. As I've said, I'm emoing. For what, I'm not sure. Death, probably. Not my own. Others. Loved ones. People that are far too close to me for me to want to give them up now. How ironic can this be? One second I'm typing out a review for some album about reincarnation and shit and the very next second I'm ranting about death. But, yeah. Life's full of ironies, so what the heck. But seriously. Ouch. I suppose the emoness is coming from the vibes of others. Too much empathy? It just sucks. Dangit. Okay, yes, I think I've more or less come to face the truth that things will never be 100% like the last time, but. We've built it up for so long. We did everything possible, overcame almost every single damn thing God threw into our faces. So why the heck are things going downhill again? I don't want to go back to the start, because I know that if I do, things will definitely be worse off. Or worser still, we fastforward straight to the end. Who wants death to come anyway? But the feeling's like a hand around your heart, squeezing it harder and harder so that it hurts to breathe. Is that how it feels, I wonder? If I could take the pain on behalf I would. I'd do anything.

...Ok. Enough emoness for one night.