237Q

well I know YOU're sai! for a very random reason. BUT CHAAAAAAAMT! Even my avatar fits in with this catty theme! :< (btw nice avatar, you should leave it) btw yuuko yes that would be awesome, except for one thing-I would be everyone's bitch then and that is not nice at all I bet T~T Or nobody's bitch? That doesn't sound too bad though

LOL please forget the forum names too!

The universal cat name! Here's Katherine: Katherine is a 1 year and 3 months old snowshoe. Snowshoe cats are really rare in Serbia (actually Kat one of the kittens from the only litter her mom has had. The family I got her from had told me that they had to take their cat to Croatia to meet up with another snowshoe male. Considering this, I'm still not sure whether I want to get her spayed or not (but I think I should for quite a few reasons). She's the best pet I could ever have. She loves people (whenever she meets a new person, she just has to sit in their lap the moment they sit down), and always sleeps with either my brother or me (mostly me). When she's not sleepy at night or feels I'm distressed for some reason, she sits by me, "guarding" me until I fall asleep. I did a test on that once to see what she actually does lol, I pretended to be asleep and after a few minutes she patted my nose with her nose to see if I will react, so when I didn't react, she went to sleep on my legs <3

Not sure if this should go to Cats with good ideas (though I surely am one) Can you just leave the forum like this for a while? pls?

wtf Cat i haven't even heard of any of those artists underground cat! here's mine (all music on my phone playing): 1 Dolly - Spiral into decadence 2 BugLug - Live to Love 3 Glacier - Sadistic Love 4 LIPHLICH - Manic Pixie 5 Mejibray - Fallen"MARIA" 6 Evolve - 2012 (Pretty Little Liars soundtrack) 7 Awoi - Desire 8 Dolly - Alice in Dizzypit 9 Lycaon - Psychedelic jelly 10 DIV - Mousou Nikki Extremely tough choice here, I have like 4 songs that are very important to me

I was never an anime or manga fan (except for Digimon when I was 6-ish, but I still look at it as - I could've watched any cartoon network show and get that hooked), so I skipped that phase. For me the deciding factors were Tokio Hotel and Cinema Bizarre. As embarrassing as it is (though I do still enjoy a song or two by each of these bands), it got me where I am. Mostly Cinema Bizarre though, as they were the ones openly talking about visual kei influence on their band. Belieber of the 2006. and not regretting it!

^same here. was expecting some juicy bangya rants but oh well we have tumblr for that

yes cat is a very pretty girl indeed <3 (i can suggest her some good face hair removal products though)

okay i always thought cat is a girl ok i'm ok me and my random hair color and me and my FEMALE CAT *i'm so outta here*

do not make the old traumas float out again! I was 14 when I first came across champ though, need I really explain more? xD *out of here before champ reacts to offtopics*

@Magatsu goddamn have they tried. HAVE THEY TRIED? I remember getting used to like 20 different methods of downloading from this community, and not even I have been around for that long (I joined in like 2008 or something?). But you do have a point at one thing-what we're doing is considered an illegal activity, so the uploaders who hate reposts (with or without credit) should definitely consider that when they think of whether they are or not okay with reposts. I generally couldn't care less, but then again, I only uploaded like 5 of my own purchases, and can also see where people who are bothered by this come from. For the PM for password thing, god bless the one who has banned it. Not only for the drama reason, but it is actually the most frustrating thing for both the uploader and the "downloader". Why would anyone WANT to be obliged to be online for hours and days just to reply probably around 100+ PMs. And why would anyone want to wait for a PM from someone who might never reply them anyway? Also, I think that "reply for link" would not only be morally wrong (thanking because you have to), but it would create a huge mess in the downloads forum, bringing up the years old threads. Personally I use the downloads forum to keep track of what's newly released and download something maybe 1 out of 20 times I've actually went to the said forum. And I open the download threads that are ages old when they are brought up only because my first presumption is that the link is dead and I could make someone's day by reuploading it. Seeing a "thank you" message posted "today" in a 2011 thread repeatedly would only make me stop opening those threads and BOOM less chance for somebody to reupload a dead link. I am the most against the idea of deleting inactive members. Mostly because of my own account, as I tend to just come and go every six months or so, but for absolutely different reasons (like real life, for example). And I love these people here more than you can imagine (and mine and Maiku's castle with some of the respectful ladies and gentlemen here as our maids and the monsters from the basements. and champ and how I'm always way too scared to talk to her.) I like the idea of having only the people who wrote in "introduce yourselves" forum being able to see the downloads forum. I don't see that many downsides to it, but I'm not sure if that would be possible to make and how hard it would be (though I'm not by any means questioning Zess's techy whizy almightiness). BUT, that MegaCrypter thing or something similar to that seem like a really good solution to me, especially if it could be embeded into the forum generally. Simply because, as many have mentioned up there, blogspotters ARE lazy and once they figure out they can't do it as easily as they used to, they would probably rather than starting to reupload everything, just realize that it's just not worth it and give up on their blogs. At least that's what I would do (but then again, I could never keep a private blog for longer than 6 months lol damn I can't even stay in one town for that long). So instead of MAKING the reposters give up, make them think they've given up by their own will, and everyone's happy! And that's the power of manipulation, my darlings!

It's weird, though. By now I have uploaded 4 or 5 cds, but I'm only going to refer to the last three I uploaded ( 1) Jackman - GIGA, 2) DOG inthe PWO - Doggy style III, and 3) Masa - Life). I always make a rip with windows media player, with all the same settings (same as Magatsu posted a printscreen of). With 1 and 2 I didn't have any problems at all, and the graphs were perfect. With Masa I had to rip the damn cd 3 times before it was good. That might show that windows media player doesn't always mess up? Or the files didn't get checked, I don't know. First I used windows media player in 320 kbps and got a message from the admin that it's a transcode. Don't have the screenshot of that one, though. After that, following the admin's suggestion, I downloaded dBpoweramp but it let me rip with the highest possible bitrate at 240 kbps for some reason With that looking like transcode aswell (even though better than wmp rip), I got the suggestion to download itunes and try there, and, finally, got this As the admin has told me when I got worried that maybe the cd is in lower quality no matter how unlikely it is (it's 2013. cd by Fuji production - Dolly, Liphlich and Yazzmad's label), it is possible. It wasn't the case with my cd, but my guess is that some older presses from 90's maybe do have problems like this. And after listening to all three rips of a song from the cd on regular earphones (very good quality, the noise canceling ones) and played from the same device, I couldn't hear a difference and honestly from that experience, I don't really care if what I'm downloading is labeled transcode or not

will you guys hate me way too much if I bring this topic up? please don't hate me too much. but i made DA today, after i deactivated my old one that was last updated in like 2009 anyway here it is http://237q-dunja.deviantart.com/

To add on Magatsu's post, my brother's reaction to vk was: "Why are the vocals so much louder than the instruments?" And I actually did start noticing it later and comparing to similar music from other countries, with vocals in vk you can often feel like they're just pasted onto the instrumental (i know studios do work that way, but saying it in comparison with others), so that may play a role too

Here are my thoughts about Hiroki's point: I personally think that is the effect of cultural differences, especially the lyrics part. The exact lines you've put there show one of two huge cultural differences between Japan and western countries (let's say England here because I'm far from super familiar with American culture). The first one being Japan's famous love and appreciation for nature. They have stuff like haiku poems about nature and numerous festivals celebrating nature (like sakura flowers day every spring) and through that connection with nature and natural world, they also developed a lot more sensitive "feel" for it and that reflects in the language too. Most of the words expressing some natural happening are translated to english as phrases. Here's an example: In english, there is a word "snow", used for snow in any form. In japanese, there are: 雪-snow, 大雪- heavy snow, 新雪-new snow, 初雪-first snow, 粉雪-powdery snow, 天華-fancy word for snow, 雪氷-icy/frozen snow etc etc There's a comparison with something from the nature in ridiculous amounts of vk songs. Heck, I didn't even know half the names for birds in english (or serbian), before I started learning japanese. The second cultural difference is japan's perceptions of feelings. Being a small island (so you can't easily run away) it was unacceptable in people's heads to insult or get in a quarrel with someone. Naturally, the japanese language developed according to that and that's why some words expressing feelings are, as Hiroki said, a little bit indirect of ambiguous. After all, japanese people are raised to have a "actions, not words" mindset and they express through their doings rather than saying something to somebody directly. Both of these have had a great effect on the way people express themselves, and that's why I think translated lyrics sound so ridiculous at times - we simply don't feel them as much as somebody raised in japan would.

Yes and no. There are songs that appeal to me lyrics-wise and songs that I enjoy more for their melody. I haven't ran across that feeling most of you have mentioned, that I've heard incredibly stupid lyrics and they ruined the song for me. Idk maybe I just have selective attention lol As somebody who translates vk lyrics often, I think visual kei is full with beautiful lyrics I didn't run across in music in other languages, and that plays a huge role in my love for the scene. I like how much variety of topics and feelings are put in it (especially coming from a country where every goddamn song is either about being cheated on, cheating on somebody, or getting drunk to forget the failed relationship. I swear serbian music is all about that). For example, Memento Mori's historical lyrics, Liphlich's psychology turns and Dolly's appeals to modern society and structures. My reading comprehension is far better developed than hearing when it comes to japanese so when I realize that lyrics are horrible in a new song I liked, I just don't look them up lol However I do enjoy listening to music in languages I don't understand, especially when I'm doing something else and I don't want to be distracted but still need some enjoyable BGM. For example, I frequently listen to french artist Tete when I'm reading or studying because his voice tone and music relax me, even though I know like 2 words of french language (and one of them is "school" which is not very helpful with lyrics).

1: Don`t worry about others, is Visual Kei a genre, or a scene, or something else, to you? Objectively, it's not a genre. But there ARE some elements that majority of bands (at least those I've heard at least one song by, since i got interested in vk by now, that's probs around 300 or something) do put into their music, so it's KINDA a genre, excluding those that have extremely specific sound. I'm really horrible at recognizing genres in general, I recognize a band, or a group of similar bands, but never know how to classify them to somebody who's never heard any of those bands for example. Also I started listening to VK artists when I was really young (13 I think) and my music taste and knowledge was just forming, so in a way, I do see visual kei as a genre even though somebody non-biased and more knowledgeable of music in general would say it isn't. 2: Most of the time can you tell the genre, or if you will like a band based on their look? I kind of discover bands by accident, I never really LOOK for bands to follow. Youtube recommendations, last.fm artists, friends spreading the word and so on is my way of finding new music. I actually go through phases where my receptiveness of new music varies (sometimes I'm just good with what I know, and then there are times when I just crave hearing something completely new), and if I'm in the mood for new stuff, I'll just search youtube for any band name I remember seeing, whether I've seen the picture or I've only heard of the band's name. I try not to judge bands too much based on their looks only, because I've ran across a few examples where I've been completely wrong about a band, and thought they would be completely crappy and not worth it, where they end up being absolutely awesome. 3: Do the looks matter to you? If the same band dressed in Jeans and T-shirts with short hair, would you be as interested? I would probably not be so interested in hearing them in the first place, but if I've just randomly heard their song and liked it enough to look them up, I don't care at all how the band looks like. In my head, bands are kind of divided into three sections based on WHY I like them: 1) visuals 2) music and 3) both. If a band falls into the second, I don't care about their visual side of things at all. Bands from the third category though, I would still listen to them and love them even though I would feel it's a pity they don't do visual (/anymore/) (for example, I absolutely worship Moran's PVs and their music is just something that I feel grateful for having in my life. But knowing how they are now and how perfect their videos are to me, I would just value their existence in my life a little less if they didn't have those videos even though their music is more than satisfying itself.) 4: Do you search for music by sub-genre, such as Nu-Metal, Alt. Rock, etc? No, I suck at making a difference between genres, let alone sub-genres 5: Do you get annoyed when others label your favorite music as genres which you don`t agree with? Generally I try to avoid labeling anything in my life, and it applies to music too. Though genres are helpful in a way, I think they also to an extent limit both artists and the audience from experimenting and exploring. But I don't get annoyed simply because maybe somebody wants to justify liking a band a little out of their comfort zone to themselves? maybe they just think the band has some elements found in a specific genre (music sadly does have a little bit limited elements that go through all genres and ages after all)? I don't know what their arguments for labeling something are, so I have no rights to judge their opinion before I hear them out, I guess. Bonus: If a band starts as Visual Kei, even if they change, are they Visual Kei 4 Lyfe? Depends. If all that's left the same are band members and band name, then no. If they didn't make any difference in their music and just stopped dressing up all fancy, they are still visual kei (going back to my reasons from the first question)

i miss you all guiseeeee but i became really way too lazy for forums in general. plus i got a life and started uni.

Now I have to find my news by my own T___T come back Trombeeee!!! and enjoy your hiatus ^^

Champ's post almost made me cry. It's true, I've been giving another listen to bands I haven't heard for a few years already but were my favorite bands at the time-and once I heard those songs again, it not only made me all sentimental because of the memories connected to the music and the band (Tokio Hotel in particular, shame on me), but it also made me realize that I listened to something I would listen to just any day again, and that I have even as a 12 years old girl chosen the type of music I like, that the music and the lyrics are as appealing and as deep to me as I remember them being. I can honestly say I'm proud of the history of my taste in music. But development is natural and anyone who says it isn't is a fool. I love visual kei, I sincerely love it and have loved it for 6 years already. In my case, the love I have for it might be a bit more that a love for a musical genre, since I'm very interested in design and style, and visual kei connects the music and design in the way I like it. And even though I can still say for sure that I love VK, I know that this what I'm feeling for it is different than what I felt just a year back. I find myself caring less for the band members, the drama stuff, the actual people who take part in the scene. For me, having a bunch of bands doing similar stuff isn't bad at all because it makes me assured that even if a band that I like didn't produce any more music and music videos, I'd have another band that would have a similar feeling to them and I'd easily switch to following the other band while still having the old stuff from my liked band. However, for the people who don't really care for the visual aspect as much as I do, I believe exploring and switching to other genres and movements is also very natural. As it was already mentioned, it's true that vk bands care maybe a tiny bit more for their looks than they do for their music, so it's honestly very easy to find equal or better quality music in any other genre. With time, we strive for better quality, and it's really simply natural. It's development. If visual kei music's quality is not enough for the person anymore, why torture themselves by trying to limit themselves just because they used to like it. Personally, I believe people are afraid to step out of visual kei because of the fandom, because most of us at least a bit concentrate on all the stuff happening within the scene that's more musician than music related, and because we've found ourselves friends within a fandom that we want to stay by our side. But if they can't accept that you're not so much into it anymore, are they really your friends? Yes, visual kei is a phase, but not a phase everyone goes out of in the same pace. Going out of a phase isn't just ditching everything you ever loved, it's just broadening. If you don't like what's around, you can always come back. I would love the dream to never end, but I feel it already is. What I know for sure is that Visual Kei will be an irreplaceable part of my growth and no matter what I like tomorrow, nothing can ever erase it from my history and my heart.

-Dir en grey, simply because i'm not the heavy stuff type -also, malice mizer and X japan, not into that type of rock either, though i do like a couple of songs by both -nightmare, I know they're really talented but their songs just all sound similar to me. love it when they do covers though.

well if I had to categorize them: there are a lot of songs in which they (Haru) criticize society and exhibits some of his social ideals, but most of these are on their older releases (eg. Because Dead, Koran, Zecchou high speaker, Kimyou na circus...). they have a lot of positive songs that honestly inspire me to move forward, and even those that are written in a very simple style have that underlaying dose of profoundness when you analyze them better (eg Speed tonight, Miracle GO!, Aozora Halation, Apple world go round, Sugar noise...). there are also quite a few songs that talk about self-hate and lack of self-esteem, of which some have an amazing layer of psychological process of overcoming that, and some that are not so positive (eg WONDERxWONDER, God days for the first, and StyleLover:Rubber-style and watagumo rex (partly) for the latter). along with social ones, some of their themes are rather explicit and that's the thing i love them the most for, as they're not afraid to speak out, for example-Psycho no tegami is a song about overly-obsessed fangirls. They have many sweet themes too, but I respect them a lot for not overdoing standard mellow love songs, and even when they do, they take quite a different approach than most other bands do (eg Shouting star, Rainy Rain...). They also have beautiful songs about friendship (all of their weird every-bandmember-is-a-vocalist-all-of-a-sudden songs, Smiley...) and about how much they love their fans (Dear my, ONE, arutora...) (lol I just kinda summed up 3 years of someones hard work) Also, Ordermade (Haru's previous band) had some very amazing lyrics too, though they are much darker and somehow their charm is more in the style and word-play than the themes themself.

a song needs to be catchy (or in case of heavier songs-have a very strong and good melody) for me to love it before reading/properly listening to the lyrics, and I myself find it sad how many great lyrical pieces I miss because I don't like their melody (of course, I need to at least like the song to even think of looking up the lyrics). I'm lucky for having my "band phases" that in most cases last around a month each where beside listening to band's discography i also check most lyrics out. That's how I found most of my favorite songs, esp by boogieman and Dog inthe PWO which are both my favorite bands now. I must confess I got quite disappointed in Jackman's lyrics as their songs in terms of composition/catchiness/instruments/melody are somewhere around my ideal everyday music, and their lyrics, even though they do try to express a nice message, can get borderline stupid. Zuck is different though, their music style is very similar to Jackman's, but their lyrics are far better in style of writing, expressing the thought and in story. Also, a band that needs just a little bit of stylistic boost to their lyrics is ACE, their lyrics are very good comparing to most bands, but considering that they're one of the most interesting and by far the best relatively new band on the scene, I think they should pay just some more attention to their lyrics to achieve the complete quality.