I'll start off by wishing Gakupo a happy 3rd birthday! For those who haven't heard of him, Gakupo (or Gackpoid, as he is otherwise called) is a Vocaloid from Internet Co. His voice was provided by the singer Gackt. Gakupo doesn't get anywhere near the amount of attention that Miku does, which is a mighty shame. Doesn't seem like that's going to change anytime soon, though. D:


Image by もち＠マイピクｵﾅｼｬｽ on Pixiv

Anyways, to the topic I've been meaning to write about. These days I've gotten into jpop/jrock again... It's mostly because I've been watching Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (which is the 2009 FMA anime; unlike the 2003 one, it follows the manga's plotline, I believe). I was reluctant to watch it because it was long (64 episodes drives me insane if the anime isn't really good) and because I wasn't sure whether I'd like it, but nowadays I'm finding that I do enjoy shounen anime (a little unexpected considering that I only read shoujo manga). Then again, I am a big fan of the Ao no Exorcist anime, and now I've discovered that FMA:B may soon become one of my favorite animes too. I actually watched sixteen episodes of FMA:B without stopping at one point, which for me is really rare behavior. Now I understand why the FMA animes got such high ratings on MyAnimeList.

Anyhow, though, I do like some of the music in this anime - more specifically, the first and second endings.

"Uso" by the band SID:



"Let it All Out" by Miho Fukuhara:



I started seeking out some of the other Japanese bands and singers I like, and managed to find my favorite version of the song "Hemisphere", which is the opening to the anime RahXephon (which I've never actually watched, but if you have, let me know what you think of it). I used to have MAKI's version on my playlist, but it got removed by whoever put it up, so I don't have it anymore.

"Hemisphere" by MAKI:



The more famous version, "Hemisphere" by Maaya Sakamoto (I like this one too, but I'm more used to hearing the MAKI one because I heard it first)



I've also gotten really into Yuki Kajiura's projects lately. Yuki Kajiura is a composer who is in charge of the singing groups FictionJunction and Kalafina. (FictionJunction did the song "Parallel Hearts" for Pandora Hearts, if that rings a bell. And Kalafina sang songs for Kuroshitsuji, Kara no Kyoukai, and Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica)

"Magia" by Kalafina:



This came out more than a month ago and I kept forgetting to mention it, but I saw some artist called Nem's Garden had released an album called Moratorium on the Oricon charts one time (Generasia's wiki has the Oricon rankings on it). I decided to look it up on Youtube and discovered that Nem's Garden is actually comprised of many of the singers on Nico Nico Douga, such as Dasoku, Clear, Nero, Miichan, Amu, Gero, Faneru, Jack, and Asamaru. Here's a video that includes a preview of each song. You can probably find most of the full versions of the songs on Youtube.



And just a few days ago, Clear sang another song.



Nowadays, though, my favorite NND singer has got to be Hanatan. (I'm still a big fan of Valshe, of course, and Nero as well, but Hanatan is just amazing.) Back in June she released an album. Here's a PV of a song she sang.

"Bamboo Leaf Boat" by Hanatan:



That isn't my favorite song of hers, though. I love her cover of Imitation, which is originally one of Miku Hatsune's songs:



And also her cover of Aitai, which is originally a GUMI song:



I gotta say, no matter how much I like Vocaloids, they can't compare to real voices. This is the original version of Aitai by GUMI. It's not bad, but I definitely prefer Hanatan's cover.



She has sung other songs, like "Palette", "Cendrillon", and "Romeo and Cinderella", which you can find on Youtube.

Labels: birthday, cover, fma, fullmetal alchemist, fullmetal alchemist: brotherhood, gackpoid, gakupo, hanatan, japanese, music, nico nico douga, vocaloid, yuki kajiura

Some covers of Vocaloid songs that I found on Youtube and liked. Do listen to them if you have the time.
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Labels: aimou, akahitoha, cover, dancer in the dark, electric love, gumi, hatsune miku, hirari hirari, luka megurine, meltdown, mozaik role, music, sing my love, singing, songs, sweet devil, tori no hito

Lately I have been seeing just how bad people are at the ABCs and at counting. I was doing my piano theory homework. I try to do a little every week (but sometimes I forget or my teacher doesn't assign any. She's a bit on the lax side when it comes to teaching the theory. I think that's why we do "auditions" with a national association instead of a California one, since the California one requires you to take tests on piano theory). I took a close look at one of the pages and realized it was incorrectly labeled.

a.
b.
c.
e.

Where did D go? I know it's a small mistake that anyone would make, since we are all human, and probably no one would notice because it doesn't really stand out. But I still think it's rather silly to not know your alphabet.

And the situation with counting is even worse nowadays. One student said, "Is this really all the homework? It's just seven problems." Another student told him, "There are eight problems. "Well...I just didn't add one," said the first student.

In fact, students are so careless about their counting that the teacher must cover up the number line so students won't use it to help themselves on the STAR testing (California's standard tests that we have every year from 2nd-8th grade, if you're in another state). I was really amazed. I mean, is it really so bad that students can't even count to 50? Really. I can understand covering up maps and stuff like that since it can be pretty helpful sometimes. But a number line...

I always hear it's important to have a good foundation. Being able to count and knowing the 26 letters of the alphabet is something very basic and fundamental. If we pay so little attention to our simplest skills, I fear that we are on the road to disaster...

So I encourage you to spend your free time reciting your ABC's. And when you need to get to sleep, count sheep.

Labels: 123, ABCs, alphabet, attention, basic, count, cover, foundation, fundamental, map, number line, numbers, practice, problem, skills, sleep, STAR testing

I often have trouble finding desktop backgrounds I like. I may have complained about this in earlier posts...The screen resolution of my computers makes it hard to find a background. Even my old laptop, which I used to use a few years ago before it got slow and keyboard started deteriorating, doesn't have the 1024x768 resolution that is common of backgrounds, so I could never really find a good one. The background would get stretched out and ugly on the screen, or I'd have to "tile" it. (You may understand what I mean if you have spent time picking backgrounds a lot) This is the link to a site I found which has some nice widescreen, big wallpapers. They are mostly nature backgrounds, though. Click here

There is the possibility I could try to get a summer job. A friend of a friend has her own company, Gal with the Bleu Umbrella, or just Bleu Umbrella Co. The website link is here. Click here It looks pretty cool. Anyhow, there's two jobs you can have, either model or freelancer. Certainly I am not model material (except for that funny time in Mr. Blair's class, when he said "This person will be a model" and picked out MY name XD) so I suppose I will be a freelancer. Apparently, if I apply for the job and get accepted, I'd do things like host stuff for the Bleu Umbrella Co. Anyhow, it's worth a shot trying to get a job; I would like to be able to make some money so I am not always depending on my parents. They work hard and I want them to relax since they are "getting on in their age".

I've just started reading a book called The Prophet of Yonwood, by Jeanne DuPrau (from the books of Ember series, and I have talked about them in a previous post somewhere). On the cover many birds made a strange shape. At first I thought it was a fish, pointing downward, but then I took a look and said, "Wait a minute! That's not a fish tail! That's a nuclear bomb!" Here's links to two pictures so you can see what I mean.
Nuclear bomb (The grey/yellow thing)
The Prophet of Yonwood

My mom cares a lot about getting good deals on things. When she came back from Las Vegas before, she brought me a present, a plush dolphin! I love dolphins. They are my favorite animal. But then I took one look at it and thought right away that I'd seen it before. It had been on sale at Rite Aid for several dollars less than my mom had bought it for. My mom was quite mortified and had a rather strained look on her face. I know I'd want to save money whenever I can, especially if I'm getting the same exact product. But oh well. I like to imagine I am "adopting" stuffed animals and saving them from certain doom. (It's a great exaggeration, though.)

Labels: background, bleu umbrella co, bomb, books, clothes, company, cover, deal, desktop, dolphin, fish, interfacelift, job, money, nuclear, save, screen resolution, summer, the prophet of yonwood

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