colorful人生

This brings up a question for the EU folk. How large of a role does your close proximity to countries with varying cultures play into the acceptance/interest in vk? I had a Finnish friend growing up who exposed me to all sorts of music nonchalantly. It was much diff. to the mainstream hivemind I was generally exposed to. That's merely my experience though, and it could've been diff. in any other part of the U.S.

Zeus breaks it down pretty well. To add a smidgen of my opinion, I think that Visual Kei's western popularity (U.S from my experience) greatly paralleled the interest in emo/counterculture in the mid 2000s. They both had similar aesthetic and garnered similar fans w/ plenty of overlap. That interest has largely died out and has re-surged into -core genres and melded itself into other indie acts. Visual Kei, being a physically distant/foreign genre, in-turn became a niche interest again. Additionally, Japan is still the premier example of Galapagos Syndrome and is pretty self-reliant. K-pop, on the other hand, is dependent on a global audience and embraces Western interest which reciprocatively affects its own music industry. Also "Cool Japan" hasn't helped jack-squat with well-known figures like Gackt being critical of it (it's futile when the industry at large is isolated.) Finally, Japanese music just sounds different. I try to link to this reddit thread w/ nonotan's comment when I can b/c I've always felt there was some underlying music-theory reason why J-Music attracts and repels certain groups of people. There are a lot of people that I've met that have thought Japanese melodies were cheesy so this helps explain that a little. - As an aside, I'm a bit more on the pessimistic side about anime becoming more popular (rather than just accepted). I still think the combination of the "nostalgia factor" and internet culture have drawn more (perceived) attention to it than genuine interest... But, the $$$ points to it growing so we'll see. Maybe I'm more of a skeptic w/ the rate at which recent boom in interest has happened.

Yooo Chisa hasn't had a long hairstyle like that since NEXX. Looking forward to the album *_*

I hope I'm not derailing the thread, but I had to think about that comment for a while... ...and here is the product: http://i65.tinypic.com/24xj2gy.jpg If you scan right under the transition zoomed closely w/ a barcode scanner, it links to his twitter profile. It's possible to do the whole face, but it's too much time to spend on something like this. dafuq is wrong with me - It's unfortunate they couldn't get Kana back T_T

(G)I-DLE is actually quite impressive. I wasn't crazy about Soyeon's solo release, but this is much more my style. I'm getting BLACKPINK/ Hyuna~ish vibes.

Ah, ok. I had that revelation last night that you might've been from a different country, lmao. ( initially thought you just completed 4 in 3 years) Soo... Everything aside, if it's only a year long I would agree on it being a good safety net. It's unfortunate that you're stuck in a career path and have to deal w/ it T_T. Sorry for the confusion XD.

It's not looking good

It's never too late for a career change, but it does require you to be more aware of the cost/benefit balancing act w/ education. I was on the final stretch (a touch over a semester) to complete a 4 year GIS degree but had to come home b/c of health problems. Now I'm doing a 2 year web development program at a local community college before going back since that's what I really want to do now. (Lucky b/c both cross over) If you want to work with animals (vaguely), I would suggest thinking about a 2-year (A.A.S) vet-tech program at a cc. It's less of a burden financially, and if you switched to a Vet. Studies or Biology B.S you might be stuck taking a ton req. classes to compensate for the major. (less of a hassle if you change your mind in the near future+ less $$$ per class + you can transfer some gen-ed credits.) If you really want to be a veterinarian 100% there's a lot more to think about w/ all the requirements and whatnot. It might be more worth it to stick around and change to a relevant 4 year degree. Though that's really up to you and your adviser. Additionally, I would caution you about pursuing a masters degree if you're not committed to the subject. A Bachelors is really where it can be more "open-ended" career-wise, but 6 years is a lot to dedicate for "taking the train to anywhere". *I totally just assumed you're in the U.S. If not uhh it should be kinda similar o_O

Axkey Web-Shop Bonus DVDs (from last live) tracklist: Type-A: 1. DAHLIA 2. ロストワン 3. ファンタジア 4. スターマイン 5. アイシア Type-B: 1. Dispect 2. D.I.D 3. 24/7 4. エターナル (ETERNAL) (unreleased sound source) 5. クリアノート

I've been meaning to share my Spotify profile, since it's basically everything I scrobble at this point. Two of my larger playlists are below, but I have a lot of smooth jazz, kpop, etc. It's easier to migrate my youtube playlists b/c of spotlistr. colorfuljinsei

Wow, every part of this is utterly fantastic. I love Daisaku's seamless transition from scream to growl. Also that bright synth sounds almost like Sonic 3's Ice Cap Zone.

this is how my mind works.

I can't stop listening to this. It's a daily ritual for me. Yes, one of his main inspirations is YMO.

So you can buy a 128 GB SSD (in the US) for just $36 now... So I got one to replace my aging laptop's boot drive. https://www.amazon.com/Kingston-120GB-Solid-SA400S37-120G/dp/B01N6JQS8C/ref=pd_lpo_vtph_147_bs_t_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=K8CA123YN7MMVPCTWTZ4 To think I spent roughly the same amount of money on a 32mb PSP Memory Stick in like 2005 boggles my mind. It was dead on arrival...

Lovelyz - Heal comes out and now this... I know I'm going to love this concept. They also all look gorgeous too

twitter was annoying and I deleted facebook years ago... time to post my repository of photos. https://www.instagram.com/colorfuljinsei

Ran compiled and uploaded this earlier in March on Twitter to Gigafile, but the link is down now. Feels trip.

Looking forward to listening to CONFLICT, 勿忘草, and Ophelia. This definitely fills the gap that Royz left (for me). Super hyped.

Did people not learn from Valvrave or basically every other drama? (Throwback to the guy on 2ch who ripped up all his Kannagi novels because of the "used goods" chapter.) There always are people who take it way too far. I've hit a roadblock with newer series since both this season and the following consist mainly of adaptations from manga that I already follow. The Pop Team Epic was a blast though, so major kudos to everyone who worked on it.

Looking forward to Lovelyz comeback on the 23rd. APRIL & OH MY GIRL (-sans the banana song) have been great this year, completing the (generally) soft k-pop trifecta.

Can't really embed niconico vids, but here's one by Shougo's (アンフィル) ごまめろん project. Used to emulate Vocaloid vocalizations. http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm23105393 There are a handful of doujin and indie bands that are in a similar vein to the post above. Blood Stain Child is another example of a band that I think uses tasteful autotune/pitch correction.