chidade.net

The latest release from the pillows is out! Tokyo Bambi. Had a listen, and very quickly went “squeee!” when I heard horns kick in! HORNS! TRUMPET~!!

I just got myself a trumpet for Christmas so I’m even more psyched now that I have a pillows song to learn!

Video is highly amusing. Henceforth, drums should always be played in a a bathtub. And Sawao does an awesome impersonation of a drunken sarariman at karaoke, ehehehehe!

But you know what was most squee-worthy about this entire track? That man playing trumpet with the cardboard box over his head on the television? Yeah! That’s the guest horn player!

Which guest horn player, I hear you cry?

None other than Nargo of Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra!

Skapara and the pillows, together at last!

So….happy!

Oi! Cat Empire! You got some catching up to do!

• Leave a comment... (0)

In the spirit of xkcd, I have constructed a graph:

I’m supposed to be studying today. But I couldn’t get into it. My brain kept pulling cruel tricks on me. So in the end I started doing procrastination cleaning. And to accompany my cleaning? Some music! I should turn on my stereo every so often, after all. Ooh! And look! I have shelves full of CDs! Why don’t I put one on?

Hmm, the pillows! Bloody hell, when was the last time I listened to them?

I’ve been living on a musical diet of Triple J and whatever I can hear from my housemate’s bedroom lately. I haven’t had iTunes on in a while and even then I’ve kept it to the whole playlist, rather than the Japanese or pillows-specific playlists. Kyo-kun hasn’t even been charged in the last ….three months, maybe?

As soon as the CD started playing though, I instantly felt happier. Cleaning and sorting the laundry was fun, I had something nice to eat and I could settle down at my laptop to do a bit of study.

I probably haven’t been the easiest person to be around recently. If I’m not bitchy and hermit-y then I’m stressed and slightly hysterical. Apologies to my friends and family who have had to put up with me this semester. It hasn’t been an easy one. Nearly over though.

And now I know the real cause behind my bad moods! It all became so clear this afternoon, listening to My Foot…I haven’t been listening to enough pillows!

Hahaaahaaahahaha!! That must be it!!! All better now!!!

Probably will be better still when my exams are over and I get a decent grade for them, but for now the pillows is the panacea.

Meanwhile, the procrastination cleaning, then drawing up this graph and blogging about it means I’ve wasted three hours that I could’ve used studying.

But at least I feel better about it!

• Leave a comment... (0)

From a music point of view, this was meant to be quite an exciting second-half-of-the-year. New albums out from my two favourite bands: the pillows and The Cat Empire.

However, while Wake Up! Wake Up! Wake Up! is still enjoyable to listen to, I feel like My Foot was a better album for the pillows. Boat House is a great track, don’t get me wrong! And the fact that Sawao sings a bit in Polish in the track Serious Plan cracks me up. Also a fun track. But overall….some disappointment. It probably won’t be an album I can play repeatedly in the car like I did with My Foot.

As for The Cat Empire…the album is out in September, I’ve already ordered the autographed CD and I’ll be at the album launch at the Prince of Wales in a few weeks time…but I’ve just listened to the first single No Longer There and….

….

…

……..

….it’s fucking elevator music. I see they’ve brought in a guitarist again. Is it the same guy that guested on the Cities album? Cities was a collaborative project, so having new sounds there was understandable and more: extremely successful. But that guitar was guitar at it’s wildest, suckled at the same teat as a sitar! That was guitar that you couldn’t imagine the songs without. Same with the Spanish guitar used in the debut album’s The Rhythm! What awesomeness!

But….The Cat Empire is a band that doesn’t have a guitarist and that is part of it’s appeal, much like Ben Folds Five. Don’t get me wrong, I love guitar-driven music. Look at the pillows, for crying out loud! Melodic guitars up to your earlobes! But…when i first heard Hello, what I loved was the drum solo and the horns. Horns! Trumpet! I love the trumpet! I want to learn it now, thanks to Harry J Angus!

Oh gods, it’s not Harry that plays the guitar in No Longer There, is it?! *cries*

It’s freaking elevator music. Making it finish suddenly and awkwardly like the Cities track doesn’t save it from the fact that it sounds like it should be played on the golden oldies radio station. I heard that JJJ was going to put it on high rotation but I wonder if that will really happen. It’s not typical TCE stuff. Some people say that’s a good thing, that bands should never play out the same thing again and again….I don’t think TCE ever did play out the same thing. They’ve been categorised under as many genres as there are types of instruments! But…this is plain pop. Plain, boring pop. Even Ollie’s piano sounds like something played in the foyer of an expensive restaurant, and nothing more. Kinda stupid lyrics too, although TCE have always had lyrics that tightrope-walked the line between stupid and whimsical. At least, Felix’s songs have. I generally appreciate Harry’s lyrics more.

Is it a Felix thing? All of the other members besides Jumps have side projects - serious side projects - and Jumps may simply be DJing independently as his side project. TCE always struck me as Felix’s baby. Has he taken it all back then? Made it his and his music alone? It’s not that unfeasible. The pillows’ music is certainly Sawao’s music. But…Felix’s songs began to ring warning bells with Know Your Name on Cities…will this be a repeat?

Gaahh! I don’t want to hate it! I don’t want to hate the new TCE album! I already feel a bit miffed about Wake Up! Wake Up Wake Up! - I don’t want the same to happen with So Many Nights! Please, whatever god of music may exist out there, please let the rest of the album be better!

Maybe it has to do with the fact that both the first singles from Wake Up! Wake Up Wake Up! and So Many Nights are ballads…I depend on the pillows and TCE to life my mood, not dampen it. Scarecrow, though, grew on me after a lot of listens….I don’t think No Longer There is ever going to make it up there in the list of ‘Songs I Enjoy’.

Kyo-kun! Tasukete!!

• Leave a comment... (0)

As awesome as K’s House is, I’ll always have a soft spot now for Gojo Guest House, since they provide free wireless internet. I’m only here for the night since K’s House is full. I’ll be back at K’s tomorrow (my luggage is still there) but I may come back to Gojo for one last night before I head to Tokyo. It’s cheaper than Tokyo - AND….it has wireless internet :D

Gojo is more traditional than K’s House. The dorm is a 12-mat room with sliding doors which sleeps 6 people on futons. I had hoped to avoid futons on this trip. Futon is Japanese for concrete >.< But it’s amazing what high speed wireless internet will do to your tolerance levels. Gojo is the same price as K’s House and it’s within walking distance of more attractions - notably Kiyomizu Temple and Gion. K’s House, on the other hand, is only really close to Sanjusangendo. On the plus side it’s walking distance to Kyoto Station. Gojo, unlike K’s, will serve you breakfast and dinner for an extra charge, but the centre of Kyoto is only about 30 minutes walk away so there seems little point.

So who wins out of K’s and Gojo? Well, I prefer modern to traditional, unless it’s going to be a high-end ryokan so for now K’s House is in the lead.

Today was spent in Osaka - specifically DenDen Town, which is basically Osaka’s answer to Akihabara. It’s smaller (only about 500m worth of street) and not as great as Akiba in the anime stakes, but I still managed to spend a fair chunk there.

<geek>

Phoenix Wright 2 for the DS (that can be played in either Japanese or English), a few figurines (Rurouni Kenshin and Sanji from One Piece) and a plastic fish.

Look, I was asked to bring random Japanese weirdness home as a present. I think a plastic fish from a capsule machine falls under that category don’t you?

Am having trouble trying to find volume 2 of the Ragnarok Online Trading Figures. Damn those things were limited edition! I can’t even find Volume 3. Plenty of Volume 1 still around though. Will there ever be a Volume 4, I wonder?

Also discovered second-hand CD shops, so now I’ll have plenty of new material for the radio show next semester. Cheap, too!

</geek>

Today I also got reacquainted with a great Japanese food chain today: Pepper Lunch! You get beef on a hot plate to cook yourself, usually with a side of vegetables and rice.Full meal including drink for under ¥1000. Awesome. There was one outside my eikaiwa back in Yokohama. Ah, the good old days.

Speaking of the good old days….I feel like I’m at home. It didn’t take long to get readjusted. Been away from Japan for just under a year and now that I’m back, I have to keep reminding myself that I’m just a tourist, and that all my possessions are in that backpack, not in an overpriced apartment in suburban Yokohama. You are a tourist here, Chidade. Don’t forget it. I know that you know about things like how to sort your rubbish for recycling but that doesn’t make you a local!

Man, I’ve missed this place.

Big party on Saturday night with old students and co-workers. Can’t wait. Very excited. It’s being hosted by T & M who are the coolest 40-year-olds I know. After all, they told me to bring my Wii remote from Australia with my Mii loaded so I can join in on the drunken Wii shenanigans after the izakaya, hehehehe.

Feet aching. Must wear better shoes tomorrow. Must figure out what the hell I’m going to do tomorrow too. Maybe I’ll relax and spend the day sorting out my new schedule and budget. Ooh, and I guess I’ll visit Pan no Mimi! Done.

‘K, oyasumi, then.

• Leave a comment... (0)

Bwaaaahahahaha!

<3 skapara

• Leave a comment... (0)

I sold nano-kun on eBay last week.

I hadn’t really touched him since I came home from Japan. My last salary from the eikaiwa was spent on buying Kyo-kun and because Kyo plays video and has 60GB of hard disk space - there just wasn’t much need for nano-kun anymore. Admittedly Kyo is too heavy to hang around my neck but I needed to raise funds for my upcoming holiday in Japan.

So off went nano-kun to his new owner.

Kinda sad. Nano-kun was awesome.

Mildly amusing factoid: The new owner asked me to keep whatever music was on nano-kun there when he was posted out. I’d already formatted him when I put him up for auction though, so it wasn’t going to happen. I think the new owner would freak out at my music tastes anyway. Foreign language, anime OST and video game music, primarily.

Anyway, he was sacrificed for a good cause! Just 5 weeks to go before I depart for Osaka.

Wait, did I mention that I’m going to Japan?

I’m going to Japan :D A six week holiday, probably the last holiday that I’ll be able to take for many years, given that my uni course has little break time from next semester onwards - and after that, I guess I’m going to be working full time with maybe 4 paid weeks of holiday a year. So! One last holiday to get my homesickness for Japan out of my system.

Tickets….check!
Spending money….check (damn the exhange rate is so awesome right now :D )
Hostel bookings….90% check
JR Rail Passes….next week
Insurance….next week

Going to have so much spending money in those 6 weeks thanks to a loan from Dad (<3 Dad). Harajuku, Akihabara and Nagano aren’t going to know what hit them :D

• Leave a comment... (0)

3.31pm: Get excited and go “whee!” when Robbie Buck plays Cats, Rats and Pigeons by Jackson Jackson. Noticed with pleasant surprise that Harry falls into a bit of Pogues action when he sings refrains from Dirty Old Town.

3.35pm: Vow to buy Jackson Jackson album despite the fact that I’m meant to be saving for Japan.

3:36pm: Get pissed off at Robbie Buck when he plays Missy fucking Higgins’ mainstream trash again. Switch to PBS.

3:37pm: Do a double take when the first words I hear on PBS are “dirty old town” being sung country and western style by Frank Black. Ok, Frank Black, awesomeness incarnated with the Pixies, etc etc. But a country style of Dirty Old Town? Actually, probably not as bizarre as Harry’s rendition.

3:41pm: Wonder idley whether Shane McGowan would be turning in his grave over these multiple and often bizarre remakes of his music.

3:43pm: Discover on Wikipedia that Shane McGowan isn’t actually dead yet. WTF? Biggest surprise of the last 15 minutes.

• Leave a comment... (0)

I’ve been accepted into university. I’ll be attending Swinburne University of Technology’s Hawthorn campus for another three years of I.T. training. I’m relieved in a way, because I’ve technically been on holiday for the last two years now and my brain has been dribbling out my ears. I need to have a regular schedule again. 4 hours of evening classes 5 days a week in an eikaiwa didn’t count. They were complete no-brainers.

So, I have two weeks left before orientation. Surrounded by 17 and 18 year olds who are going to go batshit insane over the free alcohol. Vodka lost it’s novelty for me a while ago. I wonder how I’ll cope surrounded by kids?

Anyway, I digress. What I was going to say is that I have 2 weeks left to get myself organised for school and my tight budget that begins February 19th. So, while this list is probably quite boring for you, dear readers, deal with it. What follows are the system requirements to be able to install the upgrade to Chidade: version 3.1.

• Purchase replacement Razr V3x and mod it so that it has all necessary ringtones, images and the Final Fantasy victory fanfare as the SMS alert.
• Install the calendar syncronisation program that’ll keep my Google Calendar and keitai in sync, via Outlook.
  Note: this will require installing Office 2003 at last.
• Deauthorise the iTunes on Akiba and convert AAC files to MP3 then backup on PC.
• Backup Akiba and reformat, see if you can get an English OS instead. Learn how to actually operate the tablet features since that’s why you bought the bloody thing.
• Try and get Joomla installed and running for the Aug. website eventually so they don’t hassle you for free web design work during the semester, the tightwads.
• See if you can get a good chunk of the planning done and some psuedo-coding for the fundraising website.
• See if any of the textbooks you spent thousands of dollars on during the first degree can be recycled for this second one.
• Upgrade the blog to Wordpress 2.1 Ella, which looks very spiffy.
• Get Chidade to job level 50 and bloody job change into a Blacksmith already!

Two weeks should be enough to get all of the above done, except for the fact that this weekends seems to want to rip me apart with social engagements. Good grief. I don’t think I’ve ever been so over-booked.

• St. Kilda Festival
• The inaugural Discworld convention and gala dinner Nullus Anxietas - the first outside the UK. Yay! I finally get to do what everyone else already seems to have done - meet Terry Pratchett!
• Snark’s 25th birthday and party
• Madman’s free open-air cinema again on Saturday night. This time, it’s the awesome Read or Die
• R’s Shindig and catching up with Mi
• An old high school friend’s birthday party
• K’s Singstar party

The Gala Dinner, K’s party and the school friend’s birthday party have already become victims. Most of this weekend is going to be taken up by Nullus Anxietas, I guess. Hopefully St. Kilda Fest and Madman get a look in. Ross Irwin and the Soul Special are playing at the festival.

Gah! Busy!

• Leave a comment... (7)

Steve Jobs is my new hero.

Death to DRM!

read more | digg story

• Leave a comment... (0)

Some background:

My sister is a closet emo goth with a Ragnarok Online account rather than a MySpace. Her taste in music goes along what I call the “wailing man” vein. For the last few years I’ve been subjected to the likes of Radiohead, Muse and Jeff Buckley being played through the bedroom wall, quite loudly at all hours. Sometimes, it’s the same song again and again and again.

Because of the wonders of physics, the Bedroom Wall Speaker wouldn’t actually let me enjoy the songs’ melodies, but would instead distort and muffle the music so that all I could hear was perhaps a dischord being banged out non-stop for 4 minutes, or the sound of someone moaning like a cat that hadn’t been killed when the car hit it.

In other words, I grew to hate it. My sister completely ruined any enjoyment I may have gotten out of this music. Now, Muse and Radiohead I could probably live without, but Jeff Buckley! JEFF BUCKLEY! That’s a crime against humanity. I can’t listen to any of that music now even if I had a state-of-the-art digital surround sound system to listen with!

Then, today, on Triple J, I heard a track by Mark Ronson. He covered Radiohead’s Just but did it in a funk style! Trumpets and sax where the guitars once where! It was Radiohead you could DANCE to!

I’m really liking the funk music that seems to be sneaking back into the music scene. In fact, I’m really liking just about all the music on JJJ at the moment. This Mark Ronson track has been around for about a year apparently. I’m really not up-to-date with new music, I admit. I’ve been tuning out of the emo bullshit that’s been overplayed on JJJ and tuning in to ABC News instead. But now that the ratings season is over, and the summer DJs are on, the music has magically improved. It seems that they’re more interested now in playing what they enjoy, not playing what they think would be good for them commercially.

Which means that songs over the day have included:

• Mark Ronson’s cover of Just
• Cornelius (yay! Japanese music is back on the radio!)
• Arctic Monkeys
• Jamie T
• …and what appears to be some old school Sex Pistols

Yep. Am enjoying music muchly. I’ll actually be listening in to the J’s more often, I think. Especially since Jackson Jackson have now released their first single for radio airplay. Album is due out in March. I’m hanging out for some Flicker and the Spark action, personally.

Anyway. Time for me to put some headphones on and enjoy my music without disturbing anyone else.

EDIT: I take it all back. Dools just played original Radiohead and some emo bastard band back to back. AFI, I think? Yech. I’m changing to PBS.

• Leave a comment... (1)