Sunday 11 August 2019

The Collecting Of Stuff: Past, Present And Future

Yes, this is just an opportunity to show off the new photo album I bought on a novelty store. Haha forgive me please I'm a nerd I can't even please send help

If you think this isn't the pinnacle of me making myself happy as I'm typing this... please leave before I beat you into a pulp haha welcome welcome!! *laughs*

Eh basically this is just a post to talk about something I have done incessantly over the years as a kid and towards today albeit rather inconsistently... it's collecting items. They need not be free, they need not be relevant today or tomorrow, but I'd like to talk about them. About what it means to collect and what I have done in the past, now and possibly what I might do in the future. I mean, especially the past stuff, right? Okay maybe not I'm worried now haha




COLLECTING STICKERS
  • What and How They Came To Be
Well it wasn't a hobby of mine until I noticed this was the cheapest stuff my mom could buy for me and make me happy lol okay this was nearly 2 decades ago already, please. Stickers were dirt cheap back then, and they are really nice especially some of them which are made of good quality, but other than that since I know of no tastes anything will be appealing as a kid, isn't it? Nonetheless, some of them are real nice, and I have them all kept nicely inside a sticker album that I have kept all these years.
  • How Much They Costed
Most of them are SGD1 in a bundle so I swear they aren't as expensive as the ones below haha we'll get to those don't you worry

Some of the nicer ones though I know are a tad bit more expensive, but those are also (I'm sure) the ones with way better quality and I'll still like them today. (That was a lie haha)
  • How It Usually Happened
Well usually it's me and my mom (thanks mom) going out and then we pass by a sticker shop or those places where there'll be a bunch of these in like, street shops and stuff (it was the '90s) and at some point it became my mom asking me if I would want something and that smile on my face must be the only thing that kept me collecting all these stuff.

Eventually I stopped mostly because I've moved on to higher stakes (lol) but also because they don't sell them anymore at these prices either they got expensive or those stalls or shops get closed down because they got "cleaned up" by local authority since they weren't recognised establishments. Oh well, there goes my childhood.
  • Evidence
Since I still have the sticker album... here it is in all its glory haha >w<
With the most suitable cover ever haha no really it could be worse
(You don't get to see Page 1 it has my name in it but OMFG)
Stock-taking as a kid haha yeah no joke
How to show patriotism to your country
(Also, the stickers as the flag pole were beautiful)
Haha yep this too love you Mac
If you could use some imagination the cars form the road
(haha yeah)
Oh God
If you need evidence for the next thing we will discuss then this is it
I loved country flags as a kid so these were a natural collection
(Note the page number btw)
Recommended YouTube video (by me) about country and state flags, by the way (No I didn't watch this as a kid)
If you need explanations this is a street map in bird's eye view, noted by arrows on the ground with traffic signs forming the road.
It was quite a bit of imagination but you get what I mean.
Just here to add up in numbers lmao
(Page number haha)
These are some of the better stickers in the album, I promise. The ones on top were pretty thick in material and can (wait for it) glow in the dark!!! Hell yeah! (Just take my word for it I'm not going to lay this under a light source for an hour)


COLLECTING TRADING CARDS
  • What and How They Came To Be
Man, if you thought this was like Duel Masters or like, Pokemon cards then you are horribly wrong. As a kid I don't know any of those (not until I watch the TV series especially Duel Masters) but yeah, before these two I was actually interested in something way more relevant to me as a Chinese... and as a kid: Jackie Chan Adventures. If you don't know of this series don't look it up, but suffice it to say that's when they released like, talisman sets and trading card sets to collect and if I'm not wrong there was a game there I just have no one to play with lmao
  • How Much They Costed
The whole set should be about SGD60 if I'm not wrong (yep) and then the subsequent card packs from each monthly magazine release was around SGD12 if I remember correctly. Yeah, the stakes were up real quick.
  • How It Usually Happened
So, in exchange of my grades, my mom would promise me to buy the latest monthly release of the magazine when I was like 12 as long as I maintain my grades. Yeah, no joke. Those weren't cheap already, so of course my mom would take no chances to exploit of my diligence in exchange for my desires for things such as this. It sort of worked for a couple of years though, and it was until I graduated that I noticed collecting these lacked meaning and I did not put in more effort to maintain my grades (RIP Higher Chinese lol), and I think I did tell my mom that too. She probably had a smile on that face or I hooked myself with something else at some point that she still had to pay for haha (it was probably a female lmao) (nope this is not going to be a post of my crushes as a kid)
  • Evidence?
If you need evidence refer to the previous part about stickers since I literally kept the sticker which houses all the stickers to paste on your collection box as shown below. But otherwise...
[Below are not my images btw because I probably threw them away already haha yeah]
The Cards were kept in a metal box shown above which rusted real quick tbh.
The magazines below had content but who cares when there's the card pack/talisman
I know I didn't collect all of them (not even the main 12) because sometimes I would not meet expectations and my mom will not buy them for me. And I cried, legit. *laughs* The 5 below weren't actual zodiacs so I didn't bother with them.


COLLECTING BEFORE COLLECTING SKILL IN THE SIMS 3
  • What and How They Came To Be
Today, if you are able to play The Sims 3 (yes, that game) and play the game with the latest update or with all expansion packs, there should be a collection journal dictating everything you need to do to collect all the stuff lying around the world(s) in the game itself. But when I started (illegally) (okay can't mention that liao I'll only say this once) (so yeah don't ask about price I don't even pay for the PC and electric bills lol) in pace with the game's release they don't have all these. Collecting wasn't even a skill, and all the items aren't fully identified and dictated completely. But even then, I was OBSESSED with collecting everything. That, and mastering all the skills in the game but that is for another story.
  • How It Usually Happened
In terms of collecting stuff, because I made my old man (yep) rich (well he was after mastering all those skills) (never cheated in this save btw besides aging which technically isn't considered cheating haha), he was also able to maintain a basement which houses all the treasures from the journeys in various expansion packs and all the ores and ingots and gems and so on that were collected over time. Due to me still being in school, I had a lot of time on my hands to play this game, so...
  • Evidence
Screenshots are a great way to show off (it's still on Facebook when I started playing this though) so here they are:
How they looked like on the map, with the Collection Helper, a Lifetime Point Reward (40k I think)
As a reminder you collect one of those ores, smelt them (via the mailbox lol) (40 simoleons) and it's one small ingot. Put 10 of them in a display rack and it'll become one of those seen here. Yeah, I have a LOT of time in my hands.
A LOT OF TIME in my hands....
A LOT.
In case I couldn't see my large ingot collection clearly behind the window haha


COLLECTING BROMIDES
  • What and How They Came To Be
This one is easy. They come with the CDs for review. You need more? Because of a certain phenomenon called pre-ordering, one is able to get a free gift, a photo, a bromide as Japan calls it, and they are as rare as you can think because limited stock for so called First Press release. So, they eventually appear on auction sites like this today and you should consider if those I've collected are worth anything. But to me, they are worth my effort to go through all lengths to get the CDs from places where I shouldn't go, because normally you would need to forward that shipment which allows one to receive from an online shop to a local (Japan) address and many other complications which will increase the risk of them being delivered to here instead of an international shop like this or this. (Well HMV wasn't until 2 years later since CDJapan in 2012 so...) So around end of 2013 I took my first effort to buy 2 singles on pre-order from Animate Online Shop, and got them shipped to here. It was my happiest day ever since buying my first batch of CDs haha

But it was only recently that I had that desperation to get more than I can get my hands on without buying the original products, and that's where those auction sites come in. The rest should be history because I talked about them twice, in "The Auction House Journey" and "The Auction House Journey Part Deux". Feel free to read those in detail yourself. In summary, it was a huge waste of money just to make me happy haha
  • How Much They Cost
You don't want to know. You really don't want to know... They are free. As I mentioned before- Oh. You want to know how many more other ones I bought through that auction site above? You've come to the right place.

So since those ones I got for free couldn't be measured financially, I'll talk about the various times I went to the auction site and precisely calculate for all of you guys (outside of those posts) how much they costed.

THE AUCTION HOUSE JOURNEY
(*All calculations below include two A4 clear folders)

9 Bids + Service Fee: 450 yen (SGD 5.99) + 450 yen (SGD 5.99) + 400 yen (SGD 5.33) + 400 yen (SGD 5.33) + 400 yen (SGD 5.33) + 400 yen (SGD 5.33) + 400 yen (SGD 5.33) + 360 yen (SGD 4.80) + 450 yen (SGD 6.02) = 3710 yen (SGD 43.46)

Package Consolidation + Shipping Fee: 6,230 yen (SGD 85.77) [Including M/elody single]

Total: 9940 yen (SGD 129.23)

That is... a lot of money burnt. But don't worry: the worst has yet to come.

THE AUCTION HOUSE JOURNEY PART DEUX
(*All calculations below include one A4 clear folder)

12 Bids + Service Fee: 750 yen (SGD 9.93) + 750 yen (SGD 9.93) + 1,150 yen (SGD 15.29) + 750 yen (SGD 9.98) + 850 yen (SGD 11.30) + 2,850 yen (SGD 37.86) + 2,350 yen (SGD 31.22) + 750 yen (SGD 9.98) + 500 yen (SGD 6.66) + 2,350 yen (SGD 31.22) + 850 yen (SGD 11.30) + 850 yen (SGD 11.30) = 12750yen (SGD 195.97)

 Package Consolidation + Shipping Fee: 4,791 yen (SGD 63.34)

Total: 17541 yen (SGD 259.31)

Jesus. I can buy my first three photobooks with those. (More on that later)

Overall: 27481 yen (SGD 388.54)
  • How It Usually Happens
For the free ones since it was always due to a pre-order I had to buy the product in advance, knowing full well that I might hate the songs inside because maybe I didn't get to hear the songs in full (refer to the Twitter reading post two days ago for details) so suffice it to say I'm taking a gamble. And I did a lot of that with Toyosaki Aki and her singles, to be honest. It was only on two specific occasions (which I still do today) that I specifically bought bromides to keep them, and they are (1) Komatsu Mikako because she's the only one who will still sell her live performance goods online becuase she has her own online store and (2) Tachibana Haru aka Futon-chan because she also has an online store in which she sells her stuff sold on comiket (ok now I wished I did that other post first so I don't have to explain who she is, so Twitter profile for reference)

For the auction house ones I just felt like giving them a shitload of money so the reasons behind going on a spending spree are on the posts themselves haha
  • Evidence
Before this, the photos were kept in a detachable photo album which soon I noticed will damage the products so I switched to a photo album recently, way better. Here's how they look like below. (If you want more most of them are available in those two posts I've been mentioning to do help yourself to those)
From left to right: Fujita Akane, Amamiya Sora, Amamiya Sora haha
Two from Futon-chan, two from amatsuuni which I reviewed recently, Touyama Nao and my imouto lmao


WORTHY MENTION: COLLECTING CD
This technically doesn't fall in this category, since I wouldn't call collecting songs a thing, but hey, it's sort of like it. You like the songs, you buy them and they stack up. *laughs* Not going to do pricing on this one because... I spent a lot. Over the past decade alone, I've spent a lot. A good portion of my salary when I was in the Army went to those, and those were the first things I bought with my own money. So yeah, I'll update if I can count them all haha maybe I can do this


COLLECTING PHOTOBOOKS
  • What and How They Came To Be
It has been going on for some time already (should've done this before all of them I guess) but yes, the stakes are going up to yet another level. Though technically I'll be spending less money because the ratio of shipping fees to the items themselves will be smaller so I don't feel so bad of burning money just to ship to where I am, but hey. I gotta spend money on something lol. This time, it's on women. (It's always on women haha) But not just that, because this time it's a book. Full of photos. Of the one woman I've boiled many years of feelings on. That, is called a photobook. I have withheld myself from buying any of these because they aren't cheap, and the online community has been kind to provide previews on these, but other than that... I guess it just happened. Happy birthday again, me. *laughs*
  • How Much They Cost
(Title: Base Price + Extras + Shipping = Total)
Amamiya Sora "10 looks":
3,240 yen (SGD 42.03) + 510 yen (SGD 6.62) + 2740 yen (SGD 35.35) = 6490 yen (SGD 84.00)
Asakura Momo "pleasant":
3,240 yen (SGD 42.03) + 750 yen (SGD 9.74) + 2740 yen (SGD 35.35) = 6730 yen (SGD 87.12)
(Title: Base Price + Shipping = Total)
Natsukawa Shiina "Nukegara":
3240 yen (SGD 39.95) + 5640 yen (SGD 71.83) = 8880yen (SGD 111.78)
Kouno Marika "Marinka": SGD 74.60 (6150 yen)
Kido Ibuki "breath": 3860 yen (SGD 48.78) + 2700 yen (SGD 34.56) = 6560 yen (SGD 84.34)

Overall: 28660 yen (SGD 441.84)

The books themselves average about 3000yen give or take and with the help of international shipping makes each book average about SGD 80 depending on how I got them. The first two listed here have to be obtained from an auction site so I have to order gifts to bring up their value ie. they don't have special gifts so I have to get one so prices may be slightly off along with the reduced price of the book over time. So far? Yep already exceeded the bromides mentioned above, just so you know.
  • How It Usually Happens
Well it was first supposedly used as an excuse for a birthday present early this year, but now it has just turned to me going "who's the next person who will come out with a photobook in which I know" because I hardly even know Toyota Moe but I want her new photobook SO BAD haha. So yeah, considering the women I knew of today (goddamn now I really wish I did that post yesterday) I set a list of requirements on who and how then I could get new photobooks to do a review on. "She must be younger than me" and "I must have known her for years" are probably the current standing ones so I haven't violated any of them just yet, but who knows? If in the future I want to get Moeshi's photobook in which she is half-naked who is to stop this pedophile? *laughs*
  • Evidence
Here, here and here. Period. *laughs* They will be easy to identify in the future too becuase the titles in this blog will contain the phrase "Worth Of Photos" so you know that's me enjoying myself again hehe




This shall be it. Didn't expect this post to be this long to be honest. Finances can't lead to this long of a post, or so I thought. I'll try to update this place for consistency (especially pricing I just copy pasted from the relevant sites) but don't expect more images this is all you are getting haha. Cya guys next time then, and until then... I think I'll be continuing the legacy of collecting stuff after all, as much as they aren't collecting now since I am paying for them haha bye

P.S. Well technically collecting calendars is a thing lol but I've done that already (it's here) and they aren't collecting because if I were to "collect" I'll be buying Sumipe's calendar for every year since she ever released one haha NO WAY lol
Reported by Kaineng on
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Saturday 10 August 2019

The Classic Note I Never Listened To The End

Okay, welcome back. I decided this post should come first since I can't figure out the others quite yet so today's will be a short one.

If you think this is related to Klassic Note, do not be surprised because it is. (Also, the title not a typo) This is just one of those posts I like to do to enlighten myself of such a time where I may not be able to hear songs in full and I can still like it and it's still on my list. How and why? I guess I should go back to the year 2011.

(Note: It's not that I "never" listened to the end; it's just I didn't get to listen to it because it's cut off. Read on to find out more)




THE BACKSTORY
Because back in 2011, I was still stuck in a time where digital download of music is barely there, music streaming isn't a thing, and most importantly, I'm still exploring artists in Japan, old and new. With regards to the "old" part... I watched an Anime titled "Bartender" in which the theme songs are written by disbanded group "Natural High", and yes, it's a bunch of wonderful ladies who have wrote and sang songs for like a good number of years but about a decade and a half ago. Yeah, that old. The Anime too. But despite of that, I still got interested in their music, so besides the Anime theme song release, I set out to find more of their releases to listen online and I found... nothing. Well, almost.

THE SEARCH
So I covered as many (possibly) illegal sites as possible, searching for even just a preview of whatever potential this band has in like 2005 that I totally missed. Trust me, it was a tough search. Their band name too, it hits a lot of very normal phrases in English and is also the name of many brands and labels (adult video too) (and that's how actually...) (haha) So eventually I landed on sites which provided me a listen to the full song of two tracks, speficially from their "LIFE" single (same song title) and also from their "Prologue" single. So drum roll please...

THE (INCOMPLETE) PREVIEW
"Prologue" was the song that was incomplete. I know I did say I had a listen to the FULL songs, but.... here's the big BUT here... it wasn't all complete. It did not play till the end. And it's not like the preview was broken or whatever, but supposedly it ended before like what, two notes till the end? It's really obvious if you listen to the original (preview) yourself. But I had already heard the song in full and loved it. So how? I came up with the most innovative solution ever, and with the power of audio editing... I faded the end away so it sounded complete. Whether the end of the song featured an abrupt pause or a smooth end with extra instrumentals, I will never know. But I would argue that it definitely sounded like the end and unlike many songs today, do not feature extra notes just to protect their own copyright or whatever because it's 2005. So yeah, this song has then been on my song list for as long as I've heard it.

The double A-side single cover

FOLLOW-UP?
I wondered to myself as I started with the idea for this post as to whether I will ever listen to this song in full, and the answer as of this post is... no. Maybe I will someday I continue to dream about keeping the ultimate music collection through legal music download (which technically is not considered mine because copyright laws) (no really, go read it up) but until then... I should go listen to it actually. *listens to it on niconico*

Oh. That's it? Well technically this one is also kinda clipped as you can hear in the ending but still, nothing else in the end. And I think this is the same source I've gotten years ago so yeah, you can listen to it. I just happen to only have one that missed a good amount of seconds right after the clipped end.

But someday, man. Someday I'll take that digital download and listen to it for myself. The time is not ripe yet, but when I do... I'll be sure to update this post and pat myself on the back that I have done something practically no one will do to pursue decade old Japanese music. Which will probably be the same as the (recorded) track I have now anyways so...




This is it, I guess. It wasn't meant to be a mystery or anything, so don't think too much. Also, I chose to do this first instead of a long one like tomorrow and also on Monday (that one hopefully) because there's that new VR gear that has been around since 2 weeks ago. I broke the previous cheap one due to leaving on the shelf for too long (I sure hope the fate for this one won't be so) but yeah, Google Daydream headset, everyone. Coupled with my Google Pixel 2, I could explore the worlds in a less than stellar resolution but that's fine, since YouTube VR is probably the only thing I'll ever do since the games are expensive and I'll NEVER use this to watch pornography. *silence* Haha cya guys tomorrow
Reported by Kaineng on
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Friday 9 August 2019

How To Read A Tweet I Liked For Dummies

Or if you don't actually want to learn some Japanese haha

Hello, everyone, to one of those posts that I know I will waste a lot of time on which will trigger no memories for me in the future, but I feel I can refer someone to if anyone asks about my Twitter account and if they wonder why I keep liking Japanese tweets which no one understands besides me. So yeah, here we are.

In this post, if you are keen of learning even a little, I'll tell you how to identify certain Tweets made by artists, idols, staff and official Anime Twitter accounts and so on, so you can be informed the moment it appears and not have to wait two days for a translation. (I don't think it's this long now but still) I will cover how to identify and analyse the following:
  • Any Major Announcement Tweet
  • New Music Release Tweet
  • New Music Video Tweet
  • Song(s) Mentioned In Tweet
  • Songs Released on Streaming Services Tweet
  • Artist Debut Tweet
  • Other Tweets of Importance
  • Tweets Which Are Repeats and None of the Above
For sake of sanity, I will also provide recent examples via embeds here so you can see it for yourself and not just see me list Japanese phrases which you can't read anyways. Nothing beats learning from examples, yes? Also, we are NOT going to learn from Tweets which can translate itself into English ie. they posted it for international audience because then what's the point? (lol)

Let's start, shall we?




MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT TWEET
These generally refer to Tweets which talk about important announcements typically regarding the fate of the music artist, and normally start with the specific phrase ご報告 (gohoukoku), so they are really easy to find.
In this example above, note the above phrase once again (it may be in a sentence, or just alone to stand out so you guys will notice scrolling down your feed) and more importantly, the phrase 解散 (kaisan) which can only be nothing but sad news. (Yeah LILI LIMIT's one must be the most abrupt in terms of announcements, took me a while to see it)

Other examples of such Tweets include rescheduling or cancelling live events due to personal or weather reasons, but suffice it to say we won't be in Japan to see them so I won't discuss about them here.


However, I will draw your attention to a particular Tweet in which I will not pursue on the issue but I will talk about how to identify alternative Tweets that would otherwise be important. These can be disguised as normal Tweets but typically come with an image of text in which will be hard to translate on device but! Its easiest identifier will be addressing to the fans, normally in the phrase 皆様へ (minasama e) coupled with the phrase お知らせ (oshirase) (typically may or may not be together) and in most cases do not appear in normal text form in the Tweet itself, like referencing to other websites, for example. In the above Tweets, it was announced that one of the members went missing (why) and was then later found (and subsequently shelved for future performances), so these could be hard to identify since their presentation is less consistent in terms of phrasing. But yeah if there is an image of text I'll just do a retweet and comment since no one will understand besides those who can read.

Okay, sad things aside, we got good news to cover!


NEW MUSIC RELEASE TWEET
These generally refer to an artist releasing any music title, from singles, albums, compilations, digital singles (I will cover these too) etc and they are pretty easy to identify without reading in much, to be honest. They are identified by the phrase リリース決定 (ririsu kettei) or XXX 発売決定 (hatsubai kettei), but can vary because they will always talk about a specific release format. So, to save you the trouble, here are the mappings from English to Japanese:
(So in the above, replace XXX with the following)
That should do for starters. Others that aren't mentioned here probably are obvious enough to identify, eg. EP in the example below, or "Best Album" (lol) or SG (abbreviation for single) or... well you'll figure those out easily once you seen enough of them they are just shorthand for spelling them out in Japanese.

Other keywords to take note of are 連続 (renzoku, so consecutive release, typically for new songs leading up to an album) タイアップ (tai'appu, representing tie-in to Anime typically represented by アニメ or commercial indicated by CM), 主題歌 (shudaika)/テーマ曲 (teema kyoku, theme song tie-in) and ニューXXX (nyu XXX, prefix to a "new" release) because they will make the definition of whatever you read above very different, and also, to provide additional related information where necessary, so I think you should know of them.

(Man, I've only done two? This may take a while)


NEW MUSIC VIDEO TWEET
Besides the most obvious hint of a video or a link to a video shown in the Tweet itself (I mean, they can spam videos, those accounts), and also the words "MUSIC VIDEO" or "MV" appearing in the Tweet itself.... not that I have to teach you more otherwise because artists are getting eyeballs by using English in their Japanese tweets to cater to a larger (international) audience, but otherwise if you see the phrase ミュージックビデオ (myuujikku bideo) that is most definitely the kind of Tweet you are looking for.

I mean, how obvious can this get? You tell me.

These are however, not to be confused with teaser videos typically with the word ティザー (tizaa) as these, obviously, are not full song videos so if you listen to them and ruin your own experience this is how to prevent them haha well I guess that's just me


SONG MENTIONED IN TWEET
Not too often, I like some of those Tweets that remind me of the awesome songs I have heard of (or not), whether it is in the form of live performance or just a quick snippet. Sometimes, they are also the opening to giving some of the songs I have not given a particular artist but have once again given chance now. I'll provide an example below because this is really hard to coin on terms and phrases, so when you notice I like a tweet and it involves a video it's just a song recommendation from me so feel free to click and take a listen. No harm listening to new songs, am I right? The below Tweet is from a live event, specifically from "a flood of circle", singing a song from "Yoru no Honki Dance" with them on their collaboration within the event.


SONG RELEASED ON STREAMING SERVICES
To be straight to the point, I'm not talking about those we mentioned above of a new digital single or something; I'm talking about those which have been released and then are delayed to appear in streaming services, so how do you know what is coming out? I'm here to help, don't worry.

Also, if you don't recognise any of them it's fine, because I'll do a good deed by giving a retweet and explaining what is up, and where is it up on. Like seriously, they don't even write it detailed and sometimes just dump the consolidated link of links and then you have to see whether the service you subscribed to is in the list haha yeah #ModernSubscriptionProblems
In terms of keywords, the phrase サブスクリプションサービス (sabusukuripushon sabi-su) is mostly used with some phrases including サブスク配信 (sabusuku haishin) again, going for abbreviations, try to reduce their character count. The phrase 配信 (haishin, meaning transmission) should be a good indicator when that is not talking about a CD or Blu-Ray release, to be honest.
In the above example, cinema staff is announcing their indie catalogue being available on streaming services in which they aren't previously due to moving to a major label about 3 years since their debut release. The only other clue you will get is the phrase インディーズ which is the word "indies".

Artist Debut Tweet
This doesn't come as often, but since I've witnessed one myself, maybe I'll talk about it. You should know of me following people other than the ones you see in the official list here, and they are mostly future idols waiting to prosper. So yeah, when news drop that their wonderful voices get to be a singing voice on its own and not rely on Anime, I'd like to show them some publicity one way or another. In the example below, voice actress Kitou Akari has announced her solo artist debut under Anime music label Pony Canyon and will release her first single due October 2019.
If you do follow such people and are waiting for their debut, the phrase to take note of is アーティストデビュー (a-ttisuto debyu-, artist debut) which is typically an indicator of their peak of the careers in the industry lol


OTHER TWEETS
Oh boy, this is going to be a long one. I'll try to keep it short.

This will list as many recent Tweets that I can find which talk about some of the more relevant Tweets which are not categorised in the above, so we'll have to talk about it as we go. Ready?

  • REVEAL OF RELEASE DETAILS
I got to keep this separate from a music release mainly because that's the break, and then today's marketing in order to retain social media attention will reveal details one Tweet at a time. To make sure you don't miss anything, I typically like the Tweets of releases I know do half-a**ed announcements of new releases like this (literally a one-liner there) of this (just the release title?) and then give a couple more weeks and reveal the cover art like the ones below.

The phrases to note here are ジャケット写真 (jyaketto shashin, cover art) or ジャケ写 (jyakesha, cover art abbreviation) or アートワーク (aatowaaku, artwork) or 収録曲 (shuuryokukyoku, included songs) if you are interested in the track titles or composers/lyricists behind them in which I probably still have to translate for anyone to understand anyway so... I just listen to the songs haha been doing that for a decade and counting already. And if you are like me who like to pre-order stuff the word to note is 特典 (tokuten, special gift) because that's how I determine which online store to buy from so I get the best buck of my money since they are literally free gifts.


  • PREVIEWS
We have talked about revealing of music videos, now let's talk about those rather stingy ones. These Tweets typically only give like at most a minute preview of the whole song (to preserve intellectual property integrity and to hype up sales) (which doesn't work for me if you have noticed after all these years) but it's no harm to take a listen especially if you know about it. Anime or not, these typically come in segments or if it is from an album, like once every couple of days nearing release date. The words "PV" and 視聴動画 (shittei douga, preview video) should be the most obvious indicators for the songs you might be looking for, although I would argue that you will need to know the song title in Japanese in order to know what you are in for, and that might be quite an issue. Again, when I like a Tweet it's a song recommendation, so... sorry about this Tweet below I'm doing this for the Anime
  • LIVESTREAMS
Since artists and all do these often, I will catch them if I have the time or if I remember them. In terms of the video platform YouTube is likely without boundaries, and then there's LINE LIVE which depends on region restrictions (basically Japan vs the world) and then Niconico which is Japan's YouTube and is the bane of international streaming lol. Anyways, I have ways to watch all of them (DM me on Twitter if you want to know) but suffice it to say those livestreams would reveal new songs, maybe do a discussion or two, or heck just perform for an hour literally for free for the Internet. So yeah, the phrase to note is 生配信 (namahaishin, live streaming) and typically come with a link so you can subscribe or get notified when it starts. Once again, the platform you are on determines how it's notified, so be aware of that. I just click the link when they remind me again and I see it on my feed, like the one below.

  • SOUNDTRACKS
I'm keeping this brief since it only concerns Anime, but sometimes I like some of those Tweets as a reminder to myself to go listen to them if I have the time. The keyword to notice is オリジナル・サウンドトラック (orijinaru saundotorakku, original sountrack) or just サウンドトラック in itself so it should be easy to identify whether you should ignore that or not.


REPEATED TWEETS
Okay, this one is the hardest to identify, but this is advanced strats already and technically I will hardly post Tweets about stuff I have liked before to avoid confusion, but yeah, they do exist from time to time, and outside my Like feed it happens all the time, so I figured I should teach a few strings on this. Also, if you start following artists and read your feed every day, this will be of an issue. Let me explain why.

If you know of a new release already or have heard of the preview, there is technically no obligation to listen to them again, right? Well, companies today don't believe in that so they try to remind you and as if by clockwork, set up release schedule reminder Tweets which can be real irritating because it may come off as fresh news if read wrongly and waste precious Twitter feed reading time lol.

In the example above, it's a reminder Tweet that Amamiya Sora's single is released today, or when the Tweet is posted, so you know to go give a listen if you haven't already. You might already have known of the news, so the phrase 本日発売 (honjitsu hatsubai, release today) should help you identify whether that is still of importance if you have given it a listen. Another good example is below, where it's a reminder Tweet of a one week countdown to the physical (not the digital because that's already out) release of AyumiKurikaMaki's new mini-album. Their release schedule is weird, so it's wise to notice that they have announced a digital release nearly two weeks ago from this particular Tweet, so if you have listened to it before then this shouldn't shock you.
On the other hand, it still takes prior knowledge of the above, what you have and have not heard, and kind of taking down notes on when releases come out so to not be thrown off by repeated Tweets which would otherwise serve as a reminder instead of "delivering the latest news" as some of them stated in their profiles.


FURTHER EXAMPLES
I figured it's hard to identify all of them anyways, so here are a couple more examples with my analysis so you could see it for yourself how I read a Japanese Tweet so to know to Like them, basically.
In the above Tweet, if you haven't noticed the word "Music Video" you need to study more English than the Japanese (lol), but also in the Tweet is the announcement of digital release AND streaming media release, as noted by the phrases 配信リリース and 配信サービス as mentioned in the parts earlier. See, it's more than just one piece of news.

Ah, this one is a real common phenomenon. Artists and others like to retweet official news outlets announcing their announcements to show credibility and publicity, or even sometimes that's how exclusive interviews and announcements are communicated so it's easier to promote the artists themselves. In the Tweet above, the hard part is to realise this is the opposite of a disbandment from the phrase 再始動 (saishidou, restart of artist activity) and the band VELTPUNCH is performing one-man lives (meaning they perform alone, which sounds abnormal until you notice most artists do not have the budget to rent a location to do so unless you are under a major label) around the country once again after a sub 2-year hiatus. Not as important as a music release, but it's a symbol of artist activity. Also, news articles like to entice their audience with the mention of videos present in the article as noted by 動画あり (douga ari, video included) so to provide more than just a piece of news, which is typically also provided by the artist themselves. On closer inspection it's revealed that their limited edition song from the previous live tour has surfaced once again on YouTube for a week (why) so to hype up the live performances soon which of course, will include a performance of the song.

See? So many news in one Tweet, eh?




This is not an exhaustive list, but I should stop here for now. I do hope with these examples you would have learnt to read some of the Tweets I liked over time and in the future. You know, if not I may just retweet random stuff that you shouldn't be interested in, and hopefully just focus on the ones above that are related to music or maybe I would just retweet with a comment "Not something you should like" lol. Cya guys soon then, and hopefully by tomorrow I can keep up the holiday fever with posts from today up till next Monday. Don't worry, I have plenty to write it's just too much to do that's why I'm holding back haha bye
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Sunday 4 August 2019

The Entertainment News 2019 Edition Issue #31

I'm back!! Haha

Well, I didn't leave here anyways lol you don't see it anyways. But suffice it to say after fighting with myself (my body) for a whole week and practically doing nothing at home but sleep... and going to work for in the middle of the week with a splitting headache for some reason, this must be a wonderful week haha. Anyways, whatever fun is over (if any), and next week features a public holiday filled weekend lol, so let's end this week at least with me spending an overall of... I think I spent more time in front of my work laptop than this PC lol let's begin

I DID NOT EVEN CARE ABOUT THE FREE TO PLAY GAMES THAT I PLAY haha let's move on (#ModernDayProblems amirite)




アニメ Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san 2
"Damn it Nishikata, how did you get so strong?" Haha you should've found out about his exercise regime. Excuse me, Takagi regime haha
I'm like, how do you beat Takagi-san? Nishikata, just don't accept anything. Just don't, and you would have won her. *laughs* Again, that would have made an awful series, so here's another episode (#TakagiSanS204) of him losing haha. So yeah, firstly, it's arm-wrestling time! So once again if the above is not obvious enough, at this point Nishikata could be considered as RIPPED for a middle school student (lmao), so he clears the floor of male classmates with ease. That is, until Takagi-san decided it'll be fun to top his high score lol. I mean, it's not hard actually. Just either pretend that you cannot do it for long enough so that he laxes his grip and you strike, or just say something embarrasssing like holding a maiden's hand and you strike the moment he blushes. All very, very intuitive approaches to win over a guy who has plenty of ego up his whatever haha. (Not his heart you won't win BOOM haha) Next, everyone is thinking about being mature. Lightning probably struck Mina-chan again for her to think about the short passage of life lmao (but yeah Mina-chan seriously get an image change for a start because even the others look more mature than you), whatever new guys were introduced just to make Nishikata not feel too lonely asking that fat friend of his (Kimura if I'm not wrong) (sorry bro for the insult) but yeah, also not another thought, because coffee is not a measure of how matured you are. I drank coffee at a pretty young age and people have only told me my tastes are old-fashioned or bitter. "Shibui", they call it. So yeah, so much for drinking a week of coffee at home Nishikata, only to notice that the one serving in the vending machine (there's two btw you could've chosen the one not drawn so detailed lol) is way bitter than the ones you drank before and you also are dumb enough to think Takagi's facts were right to hold it in your mouth for better taste? Haha only liars can come up with this kind of nonsense. *laughs* (Trying to be matured here btw so...) Lastly, someone's bike did not come to school. We are of course talking about the bike of Takagi-san, and Nishikata intends to guess why she didn't bring it to school today. And yeah, Nishikata is probably right, but considering the Master Teaser she probably is capable of planning this on you already, so either way you will lose because the truth will never be in the answer. Yeah, only boring people like us will say the bikes' brakes aren't working and be done with it. Geniuses play a long draw since the day before, and then throwing you into a long route to school giving you plenty of time to think about your kid life (lol) and then letting you think you were duped the whole time only to find out that you were duped into another truth which isn't the primary one. *laughs* I must say, Takagi's IQ might be really too high for any of us to comprehend haha. Anyways, he lost, for even for a moment I forgot what was the second answer in which she hinted she said at the beginning, and to save you the effort of finding out, Takagi said she wanted to hold hands with him to go to school. Again, Takagi-san, that way of picking up this boy is not going to work. I don't think any of them are going to get laid this season, I'm pretty sure. *laughs* Lastly, loved that BGM the moment Nishikata stares at the coffee drink with the man face in it haha that's the best this episode
#FeelsBadMan
DON'T YOU EVER FEEL SORRY ABOUT THIS BULLY OF A GIRL haha
"Meitantei Nishikata" lol
(Yes I'm referencing Conan here that's the original title)
P.S. "This is... a girl's hand?" Haha *nods head multiple times* #DamnYouNishikata getting all the TV airtime fun we don't have
P.P.S. "I see... I've simply become too strong" He's like Aizen now lmao sorry for the BLEACH reference I just gotta
[You know what else is best this episode? This.]
I know this must come with her saying the skips, but you can imagine it hehe

アニメ Araburu Kisetsu no Otome-domo yo.
"Is that how Sugawara-san feels..." Haha yeah, yep, yes Izumi she just gotta explain her life story to you to get the one point across
Okay Sugawara I say this is ENTIRELY your fault for spilling the beans but thanks author once again because if she doesn't say it this will never hit that blockhead haha. In this new episode (#AraOto05) of cries and laughter, if "TOMO YO" doesn't symbolise friendship in real life I don't know what will haha. Anyways, story first. Firstly, it's Sugawara (still typed it wrong) (mistake not shown throughout the review for sanity purposes) and Izumi. Not that Kazusa saw it because she can only be worried about it so we might as well leave her be (it's like, a scene of her self-thought every episode keeping this series going tbh haha) so let's talk about whatever they talked about instead. Sugawara revealed her past on Izumi, talking about her kid theatre days, there's this director who likes kids a lot (yes technically a pedophile but no since he doesn't "esuibatsu" lmao) (Episode 2 please haha) and in particular Niina-chan as a kid (too cute haha) (again, must be toxic in this fictional Japan, all those jealous af kids) so he decided to cultivate her to be an outstanding actress. Like yeah, with all his effort, as all he sees... is in the kid's beauty. That's it. Makes you wonder if such purity of attraction exists (I'm about to find out haha give a couple more years and I'll be illegal to like kids lmao), but yeah, in Sugawara's story, yes it exists. From her lesson, it was to remind Izumi (also of course leak to him the secret) that Kazusa is also a girl, and to say anything completely flat out without going through your head is... going to make things awkward any way you say it. So I sure hope Izumi learnt his lesson. Also, sorry Kazusa in advance because your classmate ratted it out on you lol. That you like your childhood friend. *laughs* (Also, what is with fingers on a bowling ball handle? Haha) Next up, it's Mo-chin. And contrary to what I mentioned as we saw last week, instead of being the control group (having a pure romance) we might have an outlier. A serious one, this time round, but also as expected, is a guy who doesn't really care. It's as if he just wants a girl to go out with. That, in hand, will make Mo-chin even more so confused about boy-girl relationships, so yeah, thanks idiot. *laughs* (I'm not going to talk about paying the restaurant bill, but) Sugimoto appears to be fine in front of her, but then notice how much he changes when in messaging. If the subtitles didn't do much justice he sounds way more canny than he should have, talking to a female. Again, is it just me or do I behave like this too because I'm a male? *thinks* I may have to think about it when this happens next time haha. (Although I would argue I'm more feminine in expression compared to a male) (I put stickers and stuff lmao okay that depends on the platform WhatsApp sucks haha) (And yeah guys don't do the "haha" thing) Then, there's Hongou-san. Sitting on the teacher's car whizzing by, and doing all the weird sh*t I wish I could censor but this is not Seitokai Yakuindomo so it might still happen? Okay, one thing at a time. In search of the truth, Hongou-san still believes what the teacher says, and to be honest thus far? The teacher isn't wrong. Of course he's saying all that in chat just as a reference (he did state that he isn't interested in high school girls and she barely passes as one lol) (I agree haha), but it's still pissing her off as usual, but more of the point is she... is kind of clinging on him because she doesn't know of anyone else to consult this on. As a novice novel author whose manager is nothing but useless. So yeah, we might be in for a ride for a while with these two hehe. Last but not least, and you bet I have been waiting for this as a highlight and climax for this dull episode (was it dull though?) to end well: It's Sonezaki's reply to Amagi and his report. Of course, the farce here is she literally marked on his work lol, and then Amagi is just excited to read them all haha of course to read the end of it where he literally asked her out in writing and... good news, guys. He got laid. *applause* You did it, bro. You broke the zero record in this series already. Congratulations, man. *laughs* Of course he has reason to be excited, but as you might hear (literally) from the next episode preview where the students are going on a field trip, you will notice Amagi may not have the privilege to brag about his relationship with the Literature Club President. You know what? If I get to go out with someone and she's scared about telling the world about it I'll keep my mouth shut haha cya guys next episode (FIELD TRIP HYPE haha)
Me when only I got an "A" grade for Chinese in the whole class, no joke
(I mean, I have never been accepted by a girl, so... *sob*)
MFW I notice Sugimoto-kun is another one of the creep of the series so far
P.S. "Cruel and heartless words are fine." Oh you son of a bitch haha sorry Izumi I gotta say it
P.P.S. "Yes." *Sensei shifts his pedo glasses up* *Sensei shifts his lolicon sunglasses down* *laughs*
["Win-win" What? No, that's not how it works haha Kazusa you *looks at DomeKano* Oh. *laughs*]

アニメ Joshikousei no Mudazukai
"Well, it's not as amazing as that, though..." Wow she got topped by Robo real quick haha nice one Aki-chan
If.... *laughs* If... IF!! If the first part of every episode never left you to want to punch Tanaka in the face, you can stop watching this series because it is boring to you lmao. Ignoring the fact that production is literally ensuring that intro segment happens every week, in this week's new episode (#JoshiMuda05) if girls are your thing and guys aren't I'm sure you'll go along with the new transfer student lol. I would say "not classsifiable" would be applicable to you too, Lily-san, so shut the f**k up keep it down a bit, that attitude haha. Okay, it's a new girl, she voiced by (OMG I love this already she retweeted too many times this week) Satou Satomi-chan, and as you would have known, I have hardly heard of her in such a role. (Okay "Seitokai Yakuindomo" but) And you bet I'm filled up all the way up till my neck. Not in spots, no (haha), but man is the voice acting on this good. So yeah, Lily herself, she weird (the class determined it real quick) but it's not because she's like an onee-san or something, but she seems to have a phobia. Allergy, even. And from the looks of it, it might be the latter, for good or for worse. (I want to imagine the extent of jokes on this but I think I'll leave that alone haha poor girl) Anyways, she introduced herself real well, thought she could get away with sitting at the back of the class only to notice she sat with the dumbest, most unpredictable classmate of all time... we don't need to introduce her I've gotten quite enough of Episode 1 haha. So yeah, this episode is somewhat dedicated to Lily for her to you know, blend in with the class and get to know people. Firstly, targetting the weak social people so she can be friends with them. I wish I was a woman in another life in a girls' high school but... yeah. Then, be friends with the most popular girl in class. And in this case that will be Ninomae, and as we know a lot about her, this time around... I guess Lily-san may be thinking too much. But damn, haha. Then, helping people out if you can, and not all the time, unlike Ninomae. (Hey, if you need a reminder that Google removed "Don't be evil" from their company motto list...) In Lily's case, she helped out Loli kinda, in refreshing her mind about what it means to have kids. Eh... she probably got into a worse situation considering it involves Tanaka haha, but yeah she kinda got away with it for now maybe. Lastly, get helped so misunderstandings can be cleared. Which is mainly on why the heck Lily would be allergic to touching Tanaka even when she says she's only allergic to males. I guess testing with all male animal species may be unwise, so Robo did the smartest science thing by doing a psychological blind test, and if Tanaka touches her again and she's fine then it's psychological. It's not. I mean, it's not haha. She can feel a frog's hand from a mile away, this girl. *laughs* Aw man, with this episode going on and on, I have a feeling I'll like this series a lot haha. But man, is Satomi-chan's acting standing out even more than Rieri's from last week. (GOMEN! MAJI GOMEN!!) (And yes it's because they suppressed her good as Shichijou Aria... well not really lol) Okay, cannot praise more liao she's going to get allergic to my compliments lmao
[If I didn't end this review yet, it's because I would like to talk about the difference between "archer" and "acha" lmao this show is just too much]
Girls when I accidentally do a kabedon on them lol
That lean though
(Notice that pillar of tissue papers, by the way)
P.S. "She's not that different from me though?" Wow, Tanaka, how many reincarnations worth of leopard's courage have you consumed to be able to say that lmao (I want to say this in Chinese so bad but I'm not going back to those days lol)
P.P.S. For research purposes Tanaka has gotten hit by a tissue box 1 2 3 time(s) since this episode may continue monitoring for further occurences (lol) (on the other hand I should've counted how many times Lily screamed hahaha HAHAHAHAHAHA)
[Yes that "please don't tease me" is NOT a reference to another Anime on this list. NOT, I say. *laughs* MORE GIFS!!! Okay maybe just one]
HER ACTING ON THIS EPISODE IS SO GOOD THOUGHHHHH
(Haha that face)
When you can see that 6th Dimension in which females can't lol
(Not see through mode btw haha)
[Oh shit I missed an image ah whatever I just want to make a joke on watching the argument between two idiots on the right or watching Akane undress on the left is better haha *looks at Akane* (and then you realise reading the manga that it's filler content dammit Anime]

音楽 This Week on Klassic Note
Well as you guys have known I didn't spend too much time listening to songs this week, so... Porno Graffitti's new single isn't impressive, and I think I did mention this in recent releases from them already, but yeah, not enough punch on their song structures, you know, making drastic changes to verses and choruses won't be making their resume good in any case to be honest. miwa's new single is... not released yet (two weeks from now) but the topic song is... I mean, she has changed a lot ever since she cut her hair. I miss her long hair now. Next week we'll finally get our hands on CHiCO with HoneyWorks new single as opening theme for Anime "Araoto", so that's good, been looking forward to that for quite a while. Hope it doesn't disappoint. Now I'm really starting to think if there will be anyone good to put on Top 20 this year lmao

On Twitter this week, TrySail released a new video for their music video collection which is chosen by fans, and... I mean, you can see it for yourself. It's super cute but you know, China because those Japanese chose a kung-fu song which I didn't give lol why. Natsukawa Shiina is coming up with a new EP end of September (yay Nan-chan) (summer too so I sure hope she'll make it a summer to remember hehe), they revealed the cover art for Asakura Momo's new single (what else am I going to report here? lol) and... you may want a listen to yucat's new song on YouTube. It's a recorded live performance and... you can like the song I'm fine haha




That's it. Note to self to also spellcheck last week's issue because... I didn't go to work so there aren't any lunch breaks to read through them lol. Cya guys next week then, and maybe then, MAYBE, I'll start doing up on a couple of those posts over the long weekend. I'll try. I want more time to make a better blog template because Blogger can't do responsive so I'm doing it myself somehow... you can try to play around with it if you aren't in mobile if you want. I'll refine this if I have time haha bye
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The worst thing about a party is that everyone feels happy to be in it and I don't.

I'll try not to rant too much on this, but call me antisocial or whatever because I hate parties. Especially when it's a bunch of people being happy when I either don't have the mood to be in it or I just don't like it. And to this, I feel a sense of hatred. And this will likely never go away. From events I'm forced to be in, to whatever is blasting loud music in my neighborhood park every single morning... I will never relate. Is peace this hard to achieve for a simple person like me? Is it really too much to ask? Don't tell me to blend in my the way I will slit your throat haha

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