internet

I'll be banned for the whole of next week. When i came back today I found a note from the Res office stuck on my door that read 'We've identified you as one of the 32 users who slowed down the internet, blah blah, from day blah to day blah, u used up blah megabytes, and now we give you 500mb limit for this weekend. If you exceed the limit, you'll be banned next week.'

Merci.But I've already exceeded 500mb counting today, so I don't care. I'm going to school library every day next week and enjoy my 1GB wireless allowance. Not that I'm an internet maniac. Uploading stuff to forums took up lots of my bandwidth.

Garnet Crow's 19th single was out on 23rd this month. Not very impressive, not bad either. Still I'm kind of certain they've reached the point of saturation where talents for song writing have stumbled into a deadlock. It can't be helped. This happens for most artists, sooner or later. I love their 1st album best. It's just so classic there'll be no 2nd runner up whatsoever.

Hmm, what have i been doing recently. Ok, I finished my biochem lab report half an hour ago. This's probably the 1st time in my entire life I beat the deadline by a good 3 days in advance. Miraculous! Truth is I'm so stressed up and fed up I don't know when to act, how to act and what to act. So I just try to be more productive and blindly assure myself the days will always shine even if hell freezes over. It helps to have some mental support. When it's hard to find any, I'd start chewing on chocolate and Skittles, hoping to figure something out on my own. And I'd be reminded of tree's quote 'Life's a bitch. Then you die.' or 'Shit does fly'. Along those spicy lines which I have to agree. But everybody survives and so will I.It's just a bad time, or not the right time.

Earthquake in China, 5.7. 14 or so died and hundreds injured. They say there's a major avian flu outbreak again and the government's been hiding it as usual...

quote of day
'Good girls go to heaven. Bad girls go everywhere.'
It so often appears I can't trace the original. I doubt it's from Jim Steinman.

And coz of my sudden sentimentality for the earlier days of GARNET CROW, I decided to play their 1st song ever. Back in 1999, when they weren't known by anyone, they released this mini yet orginal-flavoured 6-track album 'First Kaleidscope' under the independent label 'Tent House'. It sounds so raw and happy. I miss it just like that old rusted bicycle rested against the wall. I didn't make that up. It's from the album booklet.



Lyrics Translations from Ryuichi's Jpop Station

Kimi no Uchi ni Tsuku made Zutto Hashitte Yuku
- I keep running till I reach your house

Vocal & Song: Yuri Nakamura
Lyrics: Azuki NANA

Changing to my new coat
I change my mood and go dashing out
The times I spend apart from you
I'm quickly overcome by a blue mood

Even living carries no meaning
And I feel as if there's nothing of value
I find myself deeply moved by flowers blooming in the wild
Because they live in such safety

I'd planned to keep running till I reach your house
Let's just fall down and play like puppies
For all of today and tomorrow, look only at me
If we get hungry, let's phone out for some pizza, wow~

Your mind sometimes seems like a maze
A careless feeling that puts me in a silly mood
Even so, I'm a creature that feels lonely on my own
And I want to see you soon

If I could see your smile, I'd cheer up quickly
Is such a simple routine happy...?
Something was wrong with me for passing time in confusion
If I ever start to forget again, sing that song, wow~

Don't worry everyone
We lived for when we come home
Everything, anyway
Anywhere we think of fondly can be a starting point
Starting up brand new day
I'll share them with you
Follow you now... through

Maybe someday, woo baby
And we'll be sleeping with the TV on
Good night, good night for you

I wanna stay together, woo darling
To lovin' that all last forever
Good night, good night for you


ps. And it's one of the rare songs Azuki NANA gives happy lyrics for. This woman usually dumps in lots of depressive and impressionistic words and her explanation was 'I'd put in death themes to satisfy myself'.

The 24th Day

Well... I don't have much time right now to write a full review coz it's 2am and I need to sleep soon... Although I'd really like to write one like what Jeremy did on the new Harry Potter movie...

To be precise, I watched the movie on my computer 3 hours ago. It's a low budget movie with a well written script. I wouldn't say 'excellent script' but impressive enough. It has strong anti casual sex message in it and the social problems caused by HIV as well. Am I allowed to spill all the beans? If I'd to give the synopsis, you'll hear all the spoilers. Guess I'll just leave it to IMDB info.

The acting is great! Have to mention Scott Speedman is an alumnus from our school and he was under the same college(New College) as me muhahaha.(Anyone can see there isn't any real relation in that...)Still it's good to see a talented Canadian actor on screen.

Here's my favourite scene. In fact 2 scenes that call back on each other and give the movie a deeper hue. The main characters are Tom(the kidnapper) & Dan(the hostage).

Scene 1
Dan came back home a bit drunk. He was swinging a beer bottle and collapsed into the couch.
Staring at the handcuffed Dan through slitted eyes, Tom mumbled 'Hey do you know why most of the beer bottles are dark?'
'The sunlight. The bottle's in the sun longer and the scum gets the taste.'Tom answered himself.
Tom: And do you know the purpose of scum scent?
Dan: Defense against other animals.
Tom: Right. Very smart.

Scene 2(the end scene)
Dan: You're lying. This's not possible.

Tom: Today's the 26th day and things seem a bit different.(pausing)Stacey had the right to do to me as what I did to you. I loved her. I was supposed to protect her.And in the end I'm the only one responsible for what happened.And with you, I put my life in your hands, someone I didn't even know, and I got what I deserved.And you're probably getting what you deserve. No you don't deserve this. Nobody deserves this.

(After these words, Tom turned around and started unbolting the wooden boards he put on the window for kidnapping purpose)

Dan: Why are you doing this? Why are you f**king with me. I'm healthy. Look at me.

Dan: Would you look at me?

Dan: (yelling) Look at me!!

Dan in total desperation, picked up the HIV lab report on the table and pulled out the result from the envelope. In faded background, we see Tom ripping off the boards. Daylight flushed in and filled the room with stunning brightness. And Dan's face, a picture of total blankness.

Lots of witty talks and subtle messages. You'll have to read between their lines.

Tired. Oyasumi.

music sharing business

I've listed up all the music files recently sent. Let's not waste resources. Grab it when it's hot(i.e. when not yet expired). If you're repulsed by it, you can always delete the ear sore after you download them.

1. Finding Neverland OST

2. Jewel - Pieces of You
-the album includes the song 'Adrian' previously playing on the blog. I took it down coz Jady 'suggested' it was depressing. Right now playing 'A Prayer' from the Korean animation feature film 'Wonderful Days'. Not like this track is uplifting. no no...

3. Mika Nakashima - Music

4. Ilmari x Salyu - VALON(video)

busy busy T_T let's survive the worst hell before x'mas.

pic of day

cousin engaged

I got an email from my cousin and there're several engagement photos attached. Time sure flies. I hate repeating it but time really flies. It's been about 5 years since I last met up with him. As if it was only yesterday we quarreled about the stinking fish tank.

That's a long story btw. I was away on vacation so I asked him to take care of my fish. I even wrote out a detailed manual of how to clean the tank, when to feed and how much to feed etc. AND GUESS WHAT. When I came back, the tank was green with moss and one of the fishes, a cute little (unknown speices with eyes like bloated up water sacs) had one eye sacked... Basically I was so angry I ended up firing all my complaints at him, not only the fish tank but also nitty gritty grudges that got accumulated over the period he stayed at our house. He moved back to his dorm right after that and vowed never to return again. Well, he did return, after about 2 or 3 weeks of cold war during which I refused to apologize even though my parents made an effort to make me visit his dorm and hope I'd say something nice. He was just as obstinate as me and instead of hitting the target, we talked about how the cockroach which got trapped under his mug was gonna die pretty fast...
'Just now a cockroach was crawling on the table so I trapped it with that drinking mug.'
'So it's gonna die from suffocation.'
'Yeah.'
That's about the only conversation we managed.

Then he went to Singapore for his B.A. After a year I went there as well for my high school. But he left again for England for his master degree in law right after I got there. We were out of touch for some time. Except I know he adopts Chirstianity and he met his taiwanese girlfriend at a subway station. How romantic. Now they're engaged... I do wonder where life leads... anyway wish them happiness and hopefully I can attend their wedding next year^^


2nd from left, his girlfriend and the one sandwiched at the centre is him.

All About Salyu

You know all about lily chou-chou. Here comes 'all about Salyu'

Lily chou, a singer idol borne out of shunji iwai's youth-angst movie does exist in real life. Her name is Salyu. She doesn't wear ghostly paint or mumble about 'ether' yet that familiar hypnotizing voice makes you blink: am I back in the movie?

Salyu's singing is a hodgepodge of pop, new age and gospel(probably influenced by her choir training...). Her slightly coarse voice sounds weirdly abstract and laid back(the old elements of 'lily chou chou'). It might be my illusion that her lazy singing's always quarter of a beat behind melody. Still, the gluey voice drags on & on like this sunny winter afternoon, bathing your limbs your organs your nerves in a numbing comfort. Meditative or dangerously self-indulgent?

Mini Biography
adapted from here (Chinese)

Salyu (real name Suzuki sth) played piano since young and joined the choir where she sang mostly hymns and carols. She used to frequent live house and watched her friends perform. Occasionally she would sing on stage as well. In 1998, Takashi Kobayashi (composer for "All About Lily Chou Chou", "Swallowtail Butterfly") was greatly impressed by Salyu's live house performance and asked her to sing in shunji iwai's movie. The vocal album of the movie was released under the title 'Kokyu'(Breathe). Riding on the popularity, Salyu embarked on her solo career and has been actively invoving herself in live shows. Takashi Kobayashi writes and produces most of Salyu's solo projects. - so there you have lily chou's voice and the same composer from the movie. Welcome back!

Discography
2001.10.17 - 1st Album
Lily Chou-Chou: Kokyu (Breathe)

01. Arabesque
02. Ai no Jikken Experience of love
03. Erotic
04. Airship
05. Kaifuku surukizu Wounds that never heal
06. Houwa Saturation
07. Tobenai Tsubasa Wings that can't fly
08. Houwa(Kukyo na ishi) Saturation (Empty Stone)
09. Glide

2004.4.21 - 1st Single
IImari x Salyu - VALON

01. VALON
02. VALON（～mold mix～）
This's a collaboration between IImari(solo artist from the rap group 'Rip Slyme') and Salyu. 'VALON' in Finland (IImari's birth place) means 'to light'.

2004.6.23 - 2nd Single
VALON 1

01. VALON
02. Niji no Saki (the end of rainbow)
VALON 1 is the rearranged, less acoustic version of VALON and is Salyu's first solo.

2004.10.27 - 3rd Single
Dialogue

01. Dialogue（ダイアローグ）
02. Hikari no Suku (Rays of Light)

2005.3.24 - 4th Single
Peaty

01. Peaty
02. 砂 (sand)
Meaning of the word 'peaty' - partially carbonized vegetable tissue due to partial decomposition in water of various plants. Goes well with Track 02...

2005.5.11 - 5th Single
Suisei

01. Suisei(comet)
02. Taion (body temperature)

2005.6.15 - 2nd Album
Landmark

01. Landmark
02. AIAMU I am U)
03. VALON-1
04. Niji No Saki End of Rainbow
05. Peaty
06. Taion Body Temperature
07. UEE
08. Dramatic Irony
09. Dialogue
10. Suisei Comet
11. Pop

2005.10.26 - 6th Single
Kazeni Norefune

01. Kazeni Norefune
02. Saisei(replay/rebirth?)


Links
1. Salyu Official Site
Discography section contains PV clips. (really interesting, reminds me of surrealistic paintings)and you'll find journas from Salyu (with photos).

2. All About Lily Chou-Chou : Salyu
Chinese fansite dedicated to the movie 'All About Lily Chou-Chou'. There's a special column 'about lilychou/salyu' under which you'll find detailed reviews and CD scans for Salyu's released singles.

3. Liquid Voice - Salyu/Lily chou-chou Fanlisting
fanlisting, discography in eng

4. Cori's Lyrics Translations
Romaji lyrics & review

5. Days of Salyu
Japanese fan site dedicated to Salyu

6. Junk Magnet: Salyu
English review site, disco, review & links

Song of Week
Salyu - Houwa(Saturation)
[#6, 1st Album Kokyu(Breathe)]
- Translation(by me, so please close one eye)

I miss you,I miss you
to the end of a hundred million light years
I miss you,I miss you
400 thousand miles away the moon is smiling
I miss you,I miss you
if only i could return to the tropic of capricorn
I miss you,I miss you
leaning close to your lips
1mm distance away from the gate of saturation

05 Nov 11

5th November,

I started my soul dustbin again, not as warmly as the old version coz I don’t know how to use Microsoft publisher, it’s different from frontpage so I’m just making do with it.

I have 2 important testz next week, Monday and Tuesday, but look what I’m doing here. This might be one quick way of suicide, wasting time on diary pages rather than textbooks and exam papers. I’m stressed coz I’m not doing what I’m supposed to do yet I don’t feel like doing it now, procrastination.

I didn’t know jazz could be so soothing, been listening to Norah Jones. Nightingale, sing us a song, is your journey far too long? I feel comfortably lazy, on a cold day like this, outside the wind’s billowing in gusts. A steamy cup of English toffee and you walk on the campus feeling the trees singing in harmony. I feel at peace not thinking just listening and feeling the warmth. The meadow over there is carpeted with golden leaves. The wind has swept them all to one side of the road, whether they like it or not. Occasionally they swing in small whirlpools, pulling passers by gently into their embrace and settling down again so quietly, sleeping on top of each other. I wish I could just dissolve into the crispy freshness of the air and imagine myself carried by the wind to a sunny hilltop while the whole world disappears around me, to a place where there’s nothing but the green and the golden.

My friend who have just experienced a broken relationship have seemingly lost her faith in such thing called love. While love might be everywhere, drifting in air like the spring pollens, the way you see it in the movie ‘love actually’, a writer & a maid, best friends’ bride and a wasted heart, prime minister and office girl, a boy and a girl, singer & manager, but where is it actually, are we so blind or is love in a hurry it misses us? Where is love headed in her rush I wonder, to this abstract thing called endless desire or to hearts expecting nothing and waiting for nothing? And why would it be so complicated for a simple thing as love itself.

I must start recording things that’ll eventually make me happier, maybe some jokes of my own. Right now guizi’s humming with earphones on but she’s still in tune. It’s almost dinner time, maybe we should go down for dinner. When will those resnet people be back to work? I haven’t used internet for 2 weeks now, I feel like a secluded hermit. Nobody can survive that long without internet. I’m amazing, I’m amazed.

the place promised in our early days

Song of Week - from the animation feature film 'The Place Promised in Our Early Days'. Japanese title reads ' Kumo no Mukou, Yakusoku no Basho '. Info@ Animenewsnetwork

It's a movie about two boys' dream of conquering the high-rising tower that dominates the city in a mysterious way and also a girl who dreams about the fate of the earth. There's a relation between the two of course. No more spoilers. The art is absolutely breath-taking although I didn't quite enjoy the story or the character designs(a bit childish and inconsistent).

The girl who plays violin is sweet and shy. When the two boys asked her to play something for them, she hesitated but eventually brought her score and music stand to the centre of the wooden floored classroom and positioned the violin against her shoulder. As the melody drifts beyond the open windows to the vast expanse of blue, an innocent summer's dream slowly unfolds in sweet memories, before the harsh strike of fate devours the last warmth of their golden time.

- watch it and the above blabbering might make some sense...

Neighbour's cat doesn't have a name. She just calls him 'kitty'.
'Kitty, come here! NO, Kitty!' - most frequently used phrases when it's the cat's dinner time and when he eats off the wrong table, respectively.

Some days ago when I was cooking fish, the cat stalked behind me like a hungry ghost. And when he wants you to feed him, he'll rub his fur against your leg, twice, three times, until he's certain that you've totally ignored him...

BUT CATS ARE JUST SO ADORABLE!!! I'm going to pet a cat after I get a job and a house lol. Ideal type of cat for me: lazy ,nasty and temperamental. Feel like a masochist.