SUBLIMINAL

Saori@destiny - ヒカリ・シンドローム

1. Marina & the Diamonds 2. Angelo 3. Anna Calvi 4. 宇多田ヒカル 5. Dio 6. Lykke Li 7. Unexpect 8. 夢中夢 9. Saori@destiny 10. Sleepytime Gorilla Museum Been too busy at work lately to properly listen to anything other than the top two, who each have something close to 100 plays this week. I always listen to Marina, though. As for Angelo, I'm thoroughly enjoying BABEL. Some of the songs are rather unusual, as a whole it has a more PIERROT vibe to me. Oddly enough I prefer REBIRTH over this album, however.

Most of their recent music (and lyrical content) is plain ridiculous. It's nice that they don't take themselves seriously and all, but there's a fine line between goofy and obnoxious. Prefer older albums. I think around the release of that "Amerika" song I stopped listening to them. Musically they can still be catchy, though.

Zess, I am so thoroughly pleased that you're listening to one of my favourite bands of all time. Tristania are wonderful. Were wonderful, I guess. Since I own and listen to that album constantly, there's no need for me to review it as if it were new to me but I want to try Amon Amarth, so I'll download and listen to that and mosey on over to the linked topic to suggest albums myself. ETA: Oh, wait, no more definitive album suggestions? I'm so late/slow.

Dark Souls. Infinite rage. Went almost two hours without dying, had 30,000 souls, decided I was going to locate a bonfire and save and OH SHIT I'VE WONDERED INTO THE LAIR OF A GAPING DRAGON AND SUDDENLY I'M DEAD. >:C

Me too! I can flirt with and hit on and get jiggy with whoever I want when I'm single.

Oh, crap.

Vandal Heart Finally beat Dungeon Siege 3 on hardcore difficulty.

Been listening to this band on and off since their inception. Loved earlier releases, then they began to sound repetitive and Natsuki's vocals started to grate on my nerves. I got bored of -OZ- quickly, a lot of their songs sound identical, but this new song sounds interesting. I'm glad they're experimenting a little more.

Intense excitement! Some really talented musicians there. Zero and Tsukasa seem inseparable!

Admittedly I only downloaded this VA as a joke. I had no idea this was going to be released until a friend linked me to Aoi's cover of "Can You Feel The Love Tonight?" and I disliked it so much the masochist in me wanted to ruin my other favourite Disney songs. I googled the tracklist and decided I had to hear this for another reason: I wanted to hear Yasu pronounce supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. I was fairly certain I was going to hate it, that I was going to get a kick out of how bad it was. But I didn't. I actually thoroughly enjoyed it. If I wasn't giggling at how awfully ridiculous some of the songs were, I was genuinely dancing and singing along with them. ナイトメア - The Sorcerer's Apprentice: Heavier than I expected of a ナイトメア opener. It's excellent though. I'm one of those people who can only listen to them in small doses and find them forgettable otherwise, but the two tracks on this album have a distinct sound I have an affinity for so I might yet give them another chance. Doesn't tamper with the infamous original too much, has the same fantastical flair under that frightening drumbeat. When I was younger I used to be scared of the brooms in Fantasia, so they got that right! Lacks some of the magic it could have had if it had been longer. I wish they had tried some of the more complex musical parts too. The Sorcerer's Apprentice is around seven minutes in length and has some interesting instrumental pieces that should have been implemented. To cut it down to one or two minutes is unfair. One of the better VK introductions to an album I've heard. 7.5/10. ナイトメア - Friend Like Me: It breaks my heart that no one sang "A Whole New World." I'm sure Yomi would have wrecked it though, his English is terribad. All the same, this is an extremely difficulty song to sing! So I can't pick on him too much. Even if the only discernable lyric is "you ain't never had a friend like me." It does almost sound as if it's being sung in Japanese. Or Gibberish. And is indeed similar to 惰性ブギー (Dasei Boogie), which happens to be my favourite ナイトメア song. They do swing elements quite well. I give Yomi props for trying, but they probably should have picked a song that wasn't so vocally demanding. Or at least sung it in Japanese. Decent cover only marginally marred by poor pronounciation. Impossible to sing along to, but fun to dance to. Nice bass line. 6/10 河村隆一 - 美女と野獣: Beauty and the Beast is my most beloved Disney film. That movie was my childhood. There was no doubt in my mind that 河村隆一 would do it justice when I discovered he was participating on the VA. This, for me, is the best song on the album. Gorgeous in Japanese, especially atop those minimalistic verses in the beginning. Love the guitar solo it erupts into as well. Superb. I can't pinpoint a flaw with this song. It's one of the songs I've had on repeat since I downloaded the album. Perfect, in my opinion. No one else could have covered this song so splendidly. Beautiful piece with a big rock 'n' roll mid section. 10/10 PENICILLIN - Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride: Confession! I have never seen Lilo & Stitch and have no intention of doing so. I am also not a PENICILLIN fan. I forgot the name of their vocalist. He's attractive, but he is an awful singer. And the only thing I remember being remotely interested by was how the too brief guitar solo bled into this messy bass... solo... whatever that was. Since I've never heard the original song I can't compare it to that, but on its own it's... not good. Oh, and the end. I remember the end. Because it ended. Rubbish noise that I'm guessing is supposed to pass for upbeat, feel-good punk. Hated it. 2/10 Plastic Tree - チム・チム・チェリー: They made this song their own. More melancholy than the original, which was fascinating for me personally because I found myself imagining the scene from the movie in a different light. The accordion was awesome. And if the song was drifting into that lullaby-esque territory some Plastic Tree songs are known for, they pick it up toward the end. Lovely harmonies. Pleasant pattering drums. Tinkering keys. Is that a flute I hear? Overall this is wonderfully, ultimately Plastic Tree at its core. 8/10 Sadie - This is Halloween: I will start with I hate Sadie. Always have, always will... But I don't hate this. They nailed it, in my opinion. I was surprised. It creeps out of your speakers. It's scary, angry, guitar-driven, the atmosphere is pitch black. Doesn't hold a candle to the original, but it is definitely not as dreadful as I anticipated. It's great, actually. Although there are bands that would have done an even better job. (Not D ) Really enjoyed the chanting "la la la la" and the guitar riff. However, this captures the spookiness of the original and twists it, Sadie style. 6/10 葵 - Can You Feel the Love Tonight?: Anyone who can even suggest this man is anywhere near as talented as Elton John... I won't spare words for how dumb that is. Oh, God, I cannot stand this cover. Don't mind the guitar (the acoustic twang here and there). Hate his voice. Hate the twinkling 80s-christmas-song-style synths that are so fucking high-pitched I couldn't stop cringing. It also sounds way too... decorated. And that's not how the song should be. His English is alright though, so I suppose that's a bonus. 3/10 THE KIDDIE - Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious: This was the first track on the album I listened to. And I was in hysterics the entire way through it. Only Yasu could pronounce supercalifragilisticexpialidocious and not atrocious. My only gripe is that it's mainly the chorus, and I would have loved to hear Yasu sing the rest of the lyrics because he does have an amazing voice and deserves a round of applause for even being able to say the word. But this is hilarious. Fresh, fun, bouncy, upbeat pop rock. Catchy, but can get repetitive. Even the guitar solo is bright and cheerful. Great for singing along with. 8/10 ニンジャマンジャパン - When You Wish Upon A Star: I have no clue who this band is or why they are on this compilation. I am glad I have never heard them until now. Awful, simply awful. Almost had me hooked on that ska intro and then, lo and behold, vocalist begins to sing and I exit my media player. Why is this even on here? Surely they could have found someone else willing to do this? 1/10 CASCADE - ハイ・ホー: I love CASCADE. Maybe it's because I haven't listened to them in years, but I remember their music being a lot more exciting than this cover (I WANNA KISS TONIGHT, oh man). Maybe it's because I adore Snow White as much as I do Beauty and the Beast and my standards are too high. But I couldn't get in to this. And that's weird, because for me it's impossible not to fall in love with a CASCADE song. CASCADE - Everybody Wants to Be A Cat from The Aristocats would have been so much cooler. 6/10 DASEIN - ユール・ビー・イン・マイ・ハート: Not bad, not bad. Of course nothing can top the original, but I do like this a lot. A lot. An unexpected "gem." It's the right choice for the end of the album, too. Everything feels... right about this. A pleasant, romantic, fitting end to a trip down memory lane~7/10 ETA: I got lazy towards the end of this review. Yawn.

So I've had Dead Island for about a week now and... my expectations were not met. It's not a terrible game, but it certainly didn't live up to the hype. It gets the survival down, and there are moments of genuine panic when there are dozens of furious infected running after your character who is low on stamina and has a busted flimsy weapon. And sometimes, sometimes, the co-op is fun. But the level scaling is absurd. Once you've beaten the game, you should be about level 45 - 50 and have the option of going through the game again via the new game+ on the main menu. Great! You can mop up the remainder of your challenges and achievements, because it certainly won't be to experience the story again. Only the zombies are level 45 - 50 too. But, oh, what's this? Those shitty weapons you get at the beginning of your first playthrough? Yeah, they don't level up with you. Good luck killing even the weaker zombies with a battered broomstick that does 30dmg. It costs far too much to repair a weapon that shouldn't be busted in a swing or two. The map is awful and cluttered and the compass will lead you in the complete opposite direction of where you want to go. RPG elelemts are awesome and each character has their own unique set of skills, which is fine. It controls well enough. But christ are those fetch quest fucking tedious. And it has so many glaring flaws, frankly it shouldn't have been released for another couple of years until they were absolutely sure everything was working because I'd heard horror stories about corrupted save files for no reason and then it happened to my friend's level 30 character. It also suffers from Borderlands' irritating (and sometimes game breaking) co-op mission sharing and/or stealing. Apparently they attempted to patch the almost unplayable aspects of the game and broke it entirely, so it's going to take them even longer to fix. So. Decent zombie survival RPG. Not a fantastic game. Not an omgterrible game.

I'd buy thousands of these and put them in every public transportation vehicle.

I wish Catherine would hurry up and be released here in Europe. It's taking forever. If not I will probably have to import it from Japan. I have been playing... Deathsmiles (360) Mushihimesama Futari ver. 1.5 (360) Phantom Breaker (360) Dead Island (360) on and off, eh. and trying to complete Dungeon Siege 3 on hardcore difficulty, which is a bitch. Even more so now that I've encountered a game breaking glitch and have to start all over again.

Well, it is pretty rude. But most churches will spend the majority of a sermon telling you why you're going to hell anyway, so whatever.

Did they perform Battle with the Four Fiends?! That's my favourite Final Fantasy piece. I've always wanted to go to one of those, but never had the opportunity. Lucky you!

So beautiful. I wept. Wondering how old the little one is though. And whether s/he's male or female with a moustache drawn on.

Aw, that's sad.

Me, me, me, me! I already have a team to play it with, but wouldn't mind going through it twice with a different character (besides said team are somewhat unreliable and liable to switching who exactly is gaming with us) Still stoked for this. I know a guy who owns a review copy of the game and he says, personally, as a diehard Left 4 Dead fan, that he likes it more than Left 4 Dead and that the game is gorgeous, that it's so much more RPG than he expected. Which is perfect for me because I'm an RPG and zombie fiend. I'm glad it's not going to be your typical, boring ol' FPS.

Borderlands, still. Ever close to 100% completion with a level 69 Siren. A blast. And Gray Matter, for when I'm winding down and want a tricky puzzle or two to indulge in.

I behave the way most people do in public, because I don't feel like I need to announce my sexuality to anyone and everyone. It has nothing to do with being ashamed of it, it's more to do with believing that my sexuality does not define me and doesn't make me any less or more special than any of the other strangers wandering the streets. On the flip side, if I happen to be with a girlfriend in public and we do hold hands or kiss, the sort of attention I get isn't entirely negative, which I suppose is different from, for instance, a male couple who might be doing the same thing. I think because society deems it more socially acceptable for two women to kiss and there are plenty of men who think that two women kissing = two straight women kissing to tease males. People could still stand to be way more open-minded, but oftentimes that's asking a bit much of the human race. Baby steps.

Angelo: Entire group of musicians with odd jaws.

I have so many friends in New York and the surrounding areas so I'm extremely worried for them.

No, all five members were involved in the creation of the new album, Karyu and Giru are supposed to have helped compose the music, so it should be really interesting. I used to love PIERROT but never gave Angelo much of a chance, I probably will now. I love that this thread was only two pages in before bashing and negativity and "X band sucks, X musician sucks, everything post/pre-X album sucks, X's old band was better, yadayada."

I am so thrilled about this. He took the loss of D'espairsRay so badly, I was afraid he would dive deeper into depression, but it's such good news that he's able to play in a band again, and with friends to boot! It's nice that they're all so close! Better this than forming a new band with people they don't know so well.