Zeus

Yes. Please. Don't.

I caught my first X shiny today. Shiny blue Gulpin. I wonder if this makes me one of the first people in the world to see a shiny in the new generation. I also caught a Pikachu with Light Ball today to double its offenses. I would understand if you all sought me out and killed me.

I checked out a picture of her and I really enjoyed them. Great instrumental post-rock. I hand't heard of them before so it's great to find a new band. They've got enough going on to keep you engaged in or simply lay back and relax 
 
Already know Cyclamen and I'm a fan of the band. 
 
Keep the good stuff coming.

Japanese post-rockers MONO have just released a new single Kanata on bandcamp for $1. It's MONO's theme for the WOWOW television mini-series "Kanata No Ko". Check it out here

I still love it anyways
 

I think that guy's youtube video kind of sucked dick, but I still agree that the show kind of blows chunks.
Now let me rage against modern anime as a whole:
Dear modern anime,
TAKE SOME FUCKING RISKS! For the love of god don't set your show in a school setting! "oh, but it's not a school! You see, it's in the future where bunch of kids are together in this spaceship..." STILL PRETTY MUCH A FUCKING SCHOOL! "Well, you see, it's not about the school, it's about the fighting and the ridiculousness of it all." THEN WHY THE FUCK DO YOU NEED A SCHOOL?!?!
I'LL TELL YOU WHY! IT'S BECAUSE YOU ARE TOO FUCKING PUSSY TO TAKE ANY REAL RISKS SO YOU STICK TO THE SAME GOD DAMN SETTINGS WE HAVE SEEN A MILLION TIMES OVER!
Also, once you have passed the age of 21, it kind of become really gross when you realize that all of the ecchi shit is with chicks that are WAY to young. And come on, people are not that smart at that age. This is why stuff like Madoka was terrible just based on the age of the characters. Am I really supposed to think that a group of 14 year old girls have that mature of thought processes. I can't tell you a single 14 year old that I have met that acts as mature or are as intelligent as anime seems to make them out to be...not that they don't exist, but it is at least 1 in 1000 or something.
Moral of the story: GIVE US SOME GROWN UP CHARACTERS THAT AREN'T IN SCHOOL!

I stopped following BORN a while ago...and I will continue to do so.

Pretty much any restriction they had to impose was because of copyright&royalty laws. I remember when they originally started, there were no restrictions at all. You could upload anything and entry wasn't restricted to the US. And I'm pretty sure TT would have kept it that way, but then the music industry decided that the service was more akin to a radio station and that they had to pay royalty fees like any radio station.
 
Obviously you are allowed to invite some friends to your home and listen with them to music together.  But if you were taking money for it, or the event was kinda public (ie. with other random people able to join), you would have to pay royalties. Granted, you could argue that rooms that allowed for up to 200 listeners is more than just "a few friends", but neither TT nor the users playing the music made any profit from it. I think as long as you are not making any money from playing music to others, it shouldn't be charged at all. I don't see how it would be hurting record sales. It's not like people are thinking "Oh hey, I won't need to buy that CD, because I can hear the songs on TT every once in a blue moon". It's ridicolous.
 
So yeah, copyright laws killed another great music service.

I posted this once before. I'll post the relevant portion again in case you somehow missed it.
 
 
 
You want to know what the real issue is? Too many people care too much about what other people think about their opinions. This mix of neediness and constant validation that manifests on last.fm and other social media is sickening and it's a negative reinforcement feedback cycle. People don't feel like what they say holds salt unless someone backs them up, so they don't speak their mind. Since they parrot someone else's opinion, they never share their own because no one backs them up on it. I can't count how many times I personally have walked into a conversation, shared my opinion which was the opposite of the general consensus, and watched as it quickly became the popular consensus because so many other people felt the same way but everyone was too afraid to say something.
 
What does this have to do with liking/disliking a band based on its fans? EVERYTHING! So many times I hear people say that they don't like MEJIBRAY or the GazettE or Dir en grey because of how the fans act, but they've not listened to the band enough to form a coherent argument of their own beyond that. It's almost universally covering for some other reason that said person doesn't want to divulge, which is (usually) that they don't want to be judged for liking or disliking something so many other "stupid" people like.

Guess what? At the end of the day, it doesn't matter. Like what you like. Dislike what you dislike. Your preferences have no bearing on how valid your argument or opinion is. That speaks for itself.

I posted this once before. I'll post the relevant portion again in case you somehow missed it.
 
 
 
You want to know what the real issue is? Too many people care too much about what other people think about their opinions. This mix of neediness and constant validation that manifests on last.fm and other social media is sickening and it's a negative reinforcement feedback cycle. People don't feel like what they say holds salt unless someone backs them up, so they don't speak their mind. Since they parrot someone else's opinion, they never share their own because no one backs them up on it. I can't count how many times I personally have walked into a conversation, shared my opinion which was the opposite of the general consensus, and watched as it quickly became the popular consensus because so many other people felt the same way but everyone was too afraid to say something.
 
What does this have to do with liking/disliking a band based on its fans? EVERYTHING! So many times I hear people say that they don't like MEJIBRAY or the GazettE or Dir en grey because of how the fans act, but they've not listened to the band enough to form a coherent argument of their own beyond that. It's almost universally covering for some other reason that said person doesn't want to divulge, which is (usually) that they don't want to be judged for liking or disliking something so many other "stupid" people like.

Guess what? At the end of the day, it doesn't matter. Like what you like. Dislike what you dislike. Your preferences have no bearing on how valid your argument or opinion is. That speaks for itself.

I posted this once before. I'll post the relevant portion again in case you somehow missed it.
 
 
 
You want to know what the real issue is? Too many people care too much about what other people think about their opinions. This mix of neediness and constant validation that manifests on last.fm and other social media is sickening and it's a negative reinforcement feedback cycle. People don't feel like what they say holds salt unless someone backs them up, so they don't speak their mind. Since they parrot someone else's opinion, they never share their own because no one backs them up on it. I can't count how many times I personally have walked into a conversation, shared my opinion which was the opposite of the general consensus, and watched as it quickly became the popular consensus because so many other people felt the same way but everyone was too afraid to say something.
 
What does this have to do with liking/disliking a band based on its fans? EVERYTHING! So many times I hear people say that they don't like MEJIBRAY or the GazettE or Dir en grey because of how the fans act, but they've not listened to the band enough to form a coherent argument of their own beyond that. It's almost universally covering for some other reason that said person doesn't want to divulge, which is (usually) that they don't want to be judged for liking or disliking something so many other "stupid" people like.

Guess what? At the end of the day, it doesn't matter. Like what you like. Dislike what you dislike. Your preferences have no bearing on how valid your argument or opinion is. That speaks for itself.

I stopped following BORN a while ago...and I will continue to do so.

I stopped following BORN a while ago...and I will continue to do so.

Turntable.fm will shut down next month after nearly two years of operation. Turntable says that the decision to shut down its social music service was a tough one, but that it wants to begin focusing all of its efforts on Turntable Live, a new site that invites artists to stream live concerts to fans. Though Turntable.fm seemed to have some cult following, it appears music licensing costs finally became too much to handle. "The cost of running a music service has been too expensive, and we can't outpace it with our efforts to monetize it and cut costs," Turntable writes.
 
The service's final day of operation will be December 2nd, when Turntable promises to throw one final party. "If we also want to give Turntable Live a real shot, we need to fully focus on it," Turntable writes. So far, it's happy with the response. The streaming shows — all of which are hosted from Turntable's SoHo studio — try to recreate the live concert experience, straight down to asking fans to buy tickets ahead of time. Eleven shows have been run so far, with the last one bringing in $670 from 170 total viewers. While recreating the feel of a concert may be an exciting goal, Turntable.fm's users will likely be upset over losing the charm of being a digital DJ.
 
Source: The Verge

Hello people who probably don't know me! I am Manda. My job is to make things look pretty and function on the front end of Deadeyes-star.com (Kai gets the back end, hehehe). Here I present to you my first "Letter from the Designer"!
 
The past couple of weeks I've made huge progress in coding out DS's theme with pyrocms. However, we discovered the hard way that pyro is great for back end development and completely sucks for front end. There is little documentation on how to properly set things up functionally in regards to front end functions so it's been a whole bunch of trial and error and making shit up! So I apologize for my part of things taking a little long ;__;
 
As of right now we have the following functioning:
User login and login forms User registration and registration forms User Profiles and control panel User shoutbox "Featured" slider Articles and all article functions complete Category and site wide tagging system Commenting system Static Pages All of this not including the massive amount of work Kai put into building the custom module for bands. Before we can open to the public we need we need to finish up the following:
 
Index page set up Band profile layout coded Search Function MH to DS user accont integration
Once these features are complete the site can launch in it's test phase and designated staff can begin work on entering information into the database! SO EXCITING!
Adding in these features shouldn't take very long. I estimate less than a month if we can keep up a good pace with only a couple of brick walls to run into. 
 
And now I leave you with screen shots of progress!
 
 
 

 

 

And all of the headphones we've recommended don't need to be amped. It doesn't hurt, but it's not worth the money.

If you still want headphones there's a very good deal here.
With the promo code SWIZZLE you can steal these for about $95. STEAL.

If you still want headphones there's a very good deal here.
With the promo code SWIZZLE you can steal these for about $95. STEAL.

Well I don't think there is any solution for this problem.
 
when your mother want to see more videos then she just should check youtube.com for more videos

Does any band ever disband after a conditional disband notice was placed out or do they always manage to get "just enough people" to struggle on? Does it even matter if they don't get to that number, as long as they were reasonably close? I couldn't see this band quitting if only 99 people showed up.
I guess I just don't understand this marketing tactic.

はじめましてみなさん！
 
My name is Ryan, but I go by the moniker "TheStoic" as I use it in most blog/forum communities I take part in.
 
My love for Japanese Rock and Japanese culture originates from 2001 when I moved from the U.S. to live in Okinawa, Japan.  My best friend, whom was half Japanese-half American, introduced me to Japanese music through Arcade games, anime and manga and before you knew it, I was heading to my local Tsutaya Record Store to buy my favorite "introdcutory" artists I fist came to know and love, such as Bump of Chicken, The Blue Hearts, L'arc en Ciel, Siam Shade, Luna Sea, Hide, X-Japan, and Gackt.  However, as I started buying new CDs of artists I would see in Shoxx, Fool's Mate, and Cure magazines, I came to grow and fall in love with darker, heavier acts like Dir en grey, Mucc, D'espairsRay, and The GazettE.
 
Today, over half of my music library is strictly Japanese, and I have been lucky enough to see several of my favoirte acts live both in Japan and in the United States.  I have been a part of other J-Music communities before, and after reading the review section of this fourm, I saw I liked the layout, quality and discussion and have decided to join in the mix.
 
I look forward to meeting everyone!
 
Thanks for the great content here.

Score: | Color me shocked, I actually am impressed.


Not that I started this experiment with the intention to bash releases or anything...

For me, jazz is a musical style that I can only enjoy when I'm in the right mood. I don't yet consider myself to be sophisticated enough to throw on jazz whenever and immediately enjoy it. I also haven't been in the mood lately to listen to jazz, even struggling to put on the flawless Shiina Ringo for more than a few minutes. So when I say that I enjoyed this album, I enjoyed this album.

Stylistically, this album is a lot more downtempo and sparse than the usual fare I review. The main attraction for me is the vocal work, with the instruments taking more of a relaxed, backseat role. They're still there, but they don't steal the show. The vast amount of guest features and the styles they bring to each song do. For some people, so many different artists contributing to one release can be a positive aspect because of diversity. For others, it's a negative because there are too many cooks in the kitchen and ideas from one track clash with ideas from the next. I only notice when one track has Engrish lyrics and the following track has more pronounced enunciation - it's very distracting. It's not something that happens very often, so I'm willing to let it slide. I can say that no track is as left-field as some of the contributions on the SOIL&"PIMP" collaboration album from earlier this year, so if that turned you off this will work better.  
Lyrically - since for once I can understand a great deal of the message - this is a very positive album. Topics range from love to happiness and all of the other positive topics underneath that rainbow and sunny sky. I'm not used to hearing people sing about such positive topics (or even giving two shits about what they're singing about anyway because hey, I don't pretend like I understand Japanese). I like that this album focuses on positivity without sounding contrived, so it gets points for that.
 
If you're feeling down, this album should cheer you up. If you're feeling upbeat, this album may make you melt from happiness. If you're not into jazz, this can be a hard pill to swallow. Try it out - it's worth it.

Conditional disbandments.

I don't understand the motive behind it. I don't understand what it's supposed to accomplish. I don't get how it became popular to pull. But every so often I'll hear of some no-name band claim that if x amount of people don't show up to their next live they'll quit. It's only no-name bands as well! A band that makes conditional disbandment threats is like a teenager throwing a tantrum because they didn't get the new iPod. Yeah, you may get what you want but I still think less of you.

Is it money trouble that's forcing you to do this? The scene invented a better, less overtly douchebaggy way of getting money out of fans. That's called live-distributed material. Record a song, press about 100 to 150 discs, advertise that disc at one particular live, and then sell it. You invest minimal money into the materials and you get money both off the tickets AND the CD sale. Plus, fans get new music out of it. Win-win for everyone. Do that instead if you need money.

Are you throwing a tantrum to get some attention, like "oh that band might quit if not enough people show up"? There's a better way of garnering attention. It's called make better music. I don't understand why I'm supposed to give a fuck about the future of your band because of some arbitrary decision based around some arbitrary number. What are you going to do if you're off by one or two?

For as much as I don't like/respect Nocturnal Bloodlust, they don't do this and if they don't no band should. They saw that they needed to attract more money/fans and they made the moves to do it. If you're at the point where you're telling all your fans to show up and bring a friend or you won't continue to play music, just stop. Clearly no one cares.

The flawless queen of my universe is back!

After disbanding Tokyo Jihen in the beginning of 2012 and promptly dropping off the face of the planet, Shiina Ringo is back! She's doing five concerts this upcoming November to celebrate fifteen years since her solo debut. These are the following dates.
 
2013-11-18 (Mon) Shiina Ringo @ Bunkamura Orchard Hall in Shibuya, Tokyo
2013-11-19 (Tue) Shiina Ringo @ Bunkamura Orchard Hall in Shibuya, Tokyo
2013-11-20 (Wed) Shiina Ringo @ Bunkamura Orchard Hall in Shibuya, Tokyo
2013-11-25 (Mon) Shiina Ringo @ Bunkamura Orchard Hall in Shibuya, Tokyo
2013-11-26 (Tue) Shiina Ringo @ Bunkamura Orchard Hall in Shibuya, Tokyo
 
Official price: Yen 8’000 (approx US$ 80)
Doors: 18:00
Start: 19:00
 
Sadly, they're all in Shibuya or I definitely would have gone all five times. For those lucky enough to be in the area, tickets are on sale already so grab them while they're hot. For the rest of us, this is just a sign that she's up to something like usual and that something may be announced soon.

Score: | Color me shocked, I actually am impressed.


Not that I started this experiment with the intention to bash releases or anything...

For me, jazz is a musical style that I can only enjoy when I'm in the right mood. I don't yet consider myself to be sophisticated enough to throw on jazz whenever and immediately enjoy it. I also haven't been in the mood lately to listen to jazz, even struggling to put on the flawless Shiina Ringo for more than a few minutes. So when I say that I enjoyed this album, I enjoyed this album.

Stylistically, this album is a lot more downtempo and sparse than the usual fare I review. The main attraction for me is the vocal work, with the instruments taking more of a relaxed, backseat role. They're still there, but they don't steal the show. The vast amount of guest features and the styles they bring to each song do. For some people, so many different artists contributing to one release can be a positive aspect because of diversity. For others, it's a negative because there are too many cooks in the kitchen and ideas from one track clash with ideas from the next. I only notice when one track has Engrish lyrics and the following track has more pronounced enunciation - it's very distracting. It's not something that happens very often, so I'm willing to let it slide. I can say that no track is as left-field as some of the contributions on the SOIL&"PIMP" collaboration album from earlier this year, so if that turned you off this will work better.  
Lyrically - since for once I can understand a great deal of the message - this is a very positive album. Topics range from love to happiness and all of the other positive topics underneath that rainbow and sunny sky. I'm not used to hearing people sing about such positive topics (or even giving two shits about what they're singing about anyway because hey, I don't pretend like I understand Japanese). I like that this album focuses on positivity without sounding contrived, so it gets points for that.
 
If you're feeling down, this album should cheer you up. If you're feeling upbeat, this album may make you melt from happiness. If you're not into jazz, this can be a hard pill to swallow. Try it out - it's worth it.

Score: | Color me shocked, I actually am impressed.


Not that I started this experiment with the intention to bash releases or anything...

For me, jazz is a musical style that I can only enjoy when I'm in the right mood. I don't yet consider myself to be sophisticated enough to throw on jazz whenever and immediately enjoy it. I also haven't been in the mood lately to listen to jazz, even struggling to put on the flawless Shiina Ringo for more than a few minutes. So when I say that I enjoyed this album, I enjoyed this album.

Stylistically, this album is a lot more downtempo and sparse than the usual fare I review. The main attraction for me is the vocal work, with the instruments taking more of a relaxed, backseat role. They're still there, but they don't steal the show. The vast amount of guest features and the styles they bring to each song do. For some people, so many different artists contributing to one release can be a positive aspect because of diversity. For others, it's a negative because there are too many cooks in the kitchen and ideas from one track clash with ideas from the next. I only notice when one track has Engrish lyrics and the following track has more pronounced enunciation - it's very distracting. It's not something that happens very often, so I'm willing to let it slide. I can say that no track is as left-field as some of the contributions on the SOIL&"PIMP" collaboration album from earlier this year, so if that turned you off this will work better.  
Lyrically - since for once I can understand a great deal of the message - this is a very positive album. Topics range from love to happiness and all of the other positive topics underneath that rainbow and sunny sky. I'm not used to hearing people sing about such positive topics (or even giving two shits about what they're singing about anyway because hey, I don't pretend like I understand Japanese). I like that this album focuses on positivity without sounding contrived, so it gets points for that.
 
If you're feeling down, this album should cheer you up. If you're feeling upbeat, this album may make you melt from happiness. If you're not into jazz, this can be a hard pill to swallow. Try it out - it's worth it.