Champ213

Didn't they just.... resume activities earlier this year? And didn't they have a new single not too long ago? I remember seeing a PV and the song was quite good actually.... I really liked them some years ago, but then I lost interest because their music kinda went downhill, but the new PV seemed to be a return to form. I guess I have to get that single.

Actually, we added the Major/Indies split to give the major bands a better chance. XD From experience, people here traditionally vote for indies bands - the "big" indies bands, but still - and a few selected major bands. For what it's worth, here's the list of categories, we had list time, minus the Indies/major split. Bold are the ones that I think should stay, in brackets those that may have to go - though maybe not all of them. Add to that a vk/non-sk split for the most important categories. Best overall artist Best full album Best mini album Best single/maxi Best PV (Best song) (Best ballad) (Best Look) Best Newcomer (Best individual musician) (Best live) Saddest disbandment Most disappointing release (Most overhyped band) (Most overhyped release) (Band that changed their sound for the worse) (Most improved band) (Band you spent most of your money on in 2012) (What the Hell were they thinking!?-award) Most anticipated release of 2013 (Your wish for 2013 (relating to jrock) Best non-japanese release Oh, and I would like to keep the voting on the forum, or at least not use the Facebook poll, which requires people to have a FB account. I known there are probably other sites that allow you to make custom polls, but they can often be easily rigged by people making a bunch of fake accounts etc, or have their FB/Tweitter freinds vote too. I think the poll should stay exclusive for forum users, and they shouldm't be required to register somewhere else to participate.

Testimonial time: Received my delivery today and everything went smooth and fine. Can recommend!

So.... basically this is the reverse of sai's thread. XD Meaning, are there any songs or maybe even releases you really like by bands you normally dislike/don't care for at all? Maybe even just one song from all those you have heard by that band? I know several of such cases, but I'll start with just this: I never really cared much for The Gazette. To be fair, I didn't try their most recent works, and I remember DIM being a decent album, but I can't really remember any specific songs from it. However, there is one song that I have always liked since release, and that is Cassis - (because deep down inside I'm just a ballad-loving sissy.) XD

As always I'm really late to the Party, buuuuut.... I have a Playstation 3 now too, so here's my PSN ID: elmtree213 (Champ213 was already taken *gasp*)

If your favourite bands haven't released anything worthwhile in 8-9 years, maybe it's time to reconsider your favourites.

I like me some good doom metal every now and then, so I will try out Church of Misery for sure!

Those clear vocals are...... umm, yeah. I kinda liked the rest, I guess I will wait for some more samples to see if he sounds like a tone-deaf cat on fire in those too. XD

I thought about that too. Not sure if that would really change much.... the effort of collecting the nominess is basically the same of counting full votes, having an additional poll on the results just really seems to complicate things. But I think I will definetly scrap some of those categories that didn't get many results in last years. ("Changed for the worse" was actually always a very popular one - but after years of Mucc and Girugamesh fighting for the lead here, it might just get boring XD)

Oh yeah, I forgot about that! XD I think it's not a bad idea and I will definetely consider it, as well as your offer for help.

Well, the end of the year is coming quickly, and usually around December I would start with the annual MH J-Rock awards. However, participation in the contest has been going down in recent times, and not because of lack of people. A lot of folks that didn't vote would later comment on the results, usually voicing their displeasure with the outcome. In its current format, the awards are a LOT of work - since I have to count all votes manually. So it's not very encouraging to go through that trouble again if not many people are interested in it. Plus, it's really hard to get decent representative results if not enough people participate. So if we want to have another voting this year, I think we have to make some changes. I asked for some opinions in the discussion last time, but I may as well bring this up again. Here are some suggestions I can offer: 1. Reduce the number of categories. Last year we wanted to mix things up my splitting some categories into Indies and Major. But maybe the poll is just too long and bothersome so we should remove some redundant categories. 2. Add/change some categories. Maybe people would rather see seperate categories for non-vk releases instead of Major/Indies? Or any other categories that should be there? 3. Make participation more worthwhile. For example, by raffling away a price to (a) random participant(s). I would be willing to pay for such a price, most likely a gift coupon for an online jrock store. 4. The last resort: change to nominees. If anything else fails, the last resort would be to scrap the open format of the voting completely. We would only take the most important categories and offer a list of pre-picked nominations and have people vote on them via forum polls. This would mean a lot less work for me, but also a lot less freedom of choice for you. So.... thoughts?

Sooo, my order arrived today, and everything was fine and as described. Included a bunch of random flyers too. I also received an excellent mp3 rip of the tape, so I wouldn't have to digitalize it myself. Shipping was pretty fast too. I actually hadn't checked my mailbox for a few days, so I'm not sure how long it took exactly, but I'm guessing roughly a week to Germany. It was post-stamped the first work day after my order in any case, so no complaints there. 10/10 will buy again

Well, that's the internet for you. It pretends to be a place of tolerance and personal freedom, but the collective hive of the internet is actually rather small-minded, conformist and reactionary. Either you conform to a very narrow ideal of appearance and conduct - or you're meme material.

Raphael's "Huckleberry no koi" - I give them props for the mere wtf-ness of making a country song, but I just can't get into it. XD Other than that, there really isn't a single song in their repertoire that I don't like.

Except Kamijo. By now I am convinced that he will take that gothic-aristocrat-thing to his grave. XDD In all fairness though, most vk bands drop the vk image long before just getting too old. Actually most vk bands disband before they get to the point of dropping vk imagery, lol. I can fully understand though that after a few years of needing more time to prepare your makeup for a concert than actually spending time on stage, you want to tone down your visuals. And, since being in a vk band typically doesn't pay your bills, some people may just drop the pink hair in favor of getting a decent job. XD

Ah, that's a great idea!

Um yeah, here is mine: http://elmtree213.tumblr.com/ Maybe I will even use it one day. XD

Es gibt auch Dinge, die Deutsche sagen, die anderen Deutschen ein Rätsel sind. Ich bin immer wieder traurig, wenn andere Leute so schöne Wörter wie "Pömpel", "Pinörkel", "Bockermann" oder "Kopsterbolter" nicht kennen.

HAY. I will be lurking in the thread. Carry on.

I'm interested in the Metis Gretel DVD. I'm in Germany too, so I guess shipping shouldn't be too high?

For the moment, the split of the forums is temporary (trial run). If by the end of the year we decide that it will stay like this, then I will probably remove the "visual kei" tag (although all the other forums like Videos, Discographies etc. are still mixed.) So, after reading through all of this, I came to the following conclusions: 1. The tagging system will stay open for now. I think it would be cool to change to a closed system one day (so much less work ), but the limitations of our tagging plugin (Drop-down menu) prevent that for now. 2. I will most likely make tagging obligatory to two tags and see how it works out. Adding two simple words that describe the nature of your upload is not too much to ask, especially in an open tagging system. Even rudimentary tags like "metal" or "rock" are better than no tags at all. And I hope it will encouarge poeple to put a little thought into the music they're uploading, minstead of just dropping the link and leave. Surely uploaders want people to download their stuff? Then why wouldn't they give as much info as they can, and make their uploads easily searchable by using proper tags? 3. I will start working on a list of recommended/often-used tags. The tags will be linked, so the list will function as an extended tag cloud for people that want to browse uploads by certain categories. But the list can also be used by uploaders looking for good tags to add. 4. The rules we have now remain in place: no artist names, no release titles. I will continue to remove wrong tags when they appear in larger numbers and I will try my best to continue merging duplicate tags like "Post rock" & "post-rock". If people decide to tag their files with stuff like "happy", "sad", bitrates etc. I won't remove them - but I won't encourage to use them either and they will probably not be included in the recommended tags list. If we ever change to a closed system in the future, these sort of tags can be up to discussion again. Anyway, thanks for all the feedback.

Well, that was an enthusiastic audience right there..... But seriously, Kyoka needs to get a proper band I release something again.