Album Review: Deadstock- SID

Hello, and welcome to my next album review! Yes, it’s another review of my favourite band SID, but I just had to share this with y’all!

I believe in reviewing and sharing stuff most people likely wouldn’t find otherwise. Actually, it’ll pretty much be all Japanese rock and I’d like to up its popularity. Alright, here we go, with Deadstock.

 

Deadstock was released in February 2011. The songs on it range from 2009, when the first single on it was released, to 2011. Deadstock has a lot of SID’s most famous and successful songs, and fared very well on the album charts, reaching #2 (SID’s unlucky number. They’ve never gotten a #1, but are always stuck at #2.)

No LDK

First track off the album. It’s a pretty good song. It starts off with really little beat, with Mao keeping his vocals soft and carrying it through… until it reaches the chorus. And then it just bursts out with this wonderful, catchy tune and Mao shakes his voice in his wonderful way. The whole song is really catchy, even though it’s not really loud and bouncy. 

Shelter

Alright, when I first heard this song, I really liked it, as it was not usual SID-fare, and had this strange, out-of-world guitar work to it. It slowly faded away though. It’s only 2:45 minutes, and that’s a good thing, as it couldn’t satisfactorily be any longer.

Cosmetic

One of the singles SID released prior to the album release. It’s a very addictive song that is jazzy without going over the top like MOM, which I mentioned in my M&W review. This song is one of SID’s #2s, and it’s not hard to hear why. It has definite playback quality.

Ii Hito

(Title means ‘One Person’, or so says Google Translate. I personally thought ‘Ii’ meant ‘good’, but I guess that’s another meaning.) As far as I know, this song was the most popular among the English SID fans (Googling SID Deadstock has ‘Deadstock track #4 download’ come up). This is a really sweet-sounding song, one with a chorus that you might sway along to. There’s also lots of acoustic guitar, and the bass is easy to hear. Mao’s voice is sweet, but strong where he needs to be. Just something you’d like to sing along to. Good song, but can be boring if you’re not into it.

Wife

A song very similar to Shelter in some ways, but different also. This song just… sounds better. A little themed, you might say, like many of the songs on M&W. Like Shelter it’s very short, and it seems to go by in no time.

Rain

One of the singles off Deadstock, and it’s freaking awesome. Oh, sorry, let’s rein it in. Yeah, it’s pretty cool. Rock, but has that melancholy edge to it that you’d expect of SID. Really, it’s the quintessential SID song. Mao’s voice is wonderfully powerful in it, though he can really make it soft and saddened when need be. Really, it’s a song worth listening to over and over. No wonder it reached #2 on the charts.

Dog Run

What a change in tone. From the sad rock of Rain, to the upbeat jazz of Dog Run. I didn’t quite like this song when I first heard it, but it can be quite addictive and catchy. Mao’s blog advertises the ‘catchy chorus’ for a ringtone, but I personally like the parts better. From the few words I understand, the song seems to have sad lyrics, but you really can’t tell from the tune.

One Way

Another of the five singles off the album, and my least favourite to be honest. It’s upbeat rock, and to me it sounds really forgettable and generic. Mao does some good things with his voice, but this song really isn’t up to par with the other singles in my opinion. It reached #3 on the Oricon charts, though.

Nigatsu

My sister says this sounds like an English song. I can kind of see her point. It’s not really what I’d label SID with, but it doesn’t make this a bad song. It’s just… rather plain. Although when I listen to this song, I can imagine the band playing on a rooftop, and Mao in a crisp pink shirt and skinny jeans. I don’t know why.

Oh, wait, it appears to be some sort of take on this picture. Yeah.

 Ranbu no Melody (ALBUM MIX)

A slightly different version of the single they released. The differences aren’t too marked, just a higher guitar tone. I was quite disappointed. Being not the biggest fan of the original song, I expected something fresh done with it, bringing it up to the level I associate with SID singles. Nope.

The song in itself is just some usual-sounding rock song, one you might hear every day. The original single reached #4 or 5 on the Oricon chart.

Sleep

Fifth and last SID single, and my favourite (with Rain, I guess). It is quite similar to Rain–rock, with a sad tune–but different also. Rain was much louder. Sleep is much quieter, and Mao is really fantastic with his vocals. His voice is so haunting and striking in this song, I love it. The melody in itself is really beautiful without being slow (rock, like I said).

Sympathy

Last song off the album. When SID ended their Deadstock 2011 Tour DVD, this was the last song. They said it was because they usually ended their concerts with sad songs, and they wanted something upbeat this time. (I can vouch for this. Of the four concerts I have, they’ve ended twice with Binetsu, the song that makes my heart crack.)

Anyway, this song starts off with Mao making his voice really strong and powerful, which can be pretty misleading. It’s actually an upbeat rock track, and to be honest not my favourite. Perhaps because I’ve never really cared for this type of music from SID, but it just doesn’t stand out. Not the best song to follow Sleep.

Favourite track(s) off album: Sleep, Rain

Least favourite track(s) off album: Sympathy, Shelter

Overall rating: 9/10 (I’m going to start rating out of ten now. Five is just too little)

Well, that’s it for now. I noticed this review was longer than the others, and it’s mainly because Deadstock is a pretty old album (it’s coming up on its 1^st birthday, one week after mine on 15^th February). I’m also greatly attached to this album. It was my first SID album, my first gateway to my beloved band.

So check out SID’s brand-new iTunes page!  (I don’t know what it looks like, really, so it might be in Japanese. Might be handy to have Google Translate on another tab.)

Thanks for reading! xo

Writing Thoughts: My Writing Wishlist

Hello and welcome to my first post on Writing Thoughts, just some of my own personal thoughts on writing, and how I love it and the challenges I face. A bit of a combo with my How Not to Write a Book posts, but rather on How I Write my Book.

Being a bit of a weird, ambitious person, I have a lot of goals, particularly about my writing. Some I hope to achieve, while others I basically just dream of. I am such a little girl, I love multi-coloured stuff (almost wrote shit there, before I saw what that would look like... multi-coloured shit, XD). My goals are going to be colour-coded. Here's a little key:

Things I absolutely will do is in red.
Things I hope will happen, but still have a high hope of happening, are in blue. 
And things I dream of (and I expect many of these) are in purple.


So, here goes:

Finish my damn book
It's been almost two years, and I have six pages. I keep deleting and re-writing, and it's so fucking annoying. But I will finish it. Y'know, unless I die prematurely. Hopefully that doesn't happen.

Get my damn book published
Not the self-publishing thing anybody can do, but actually have my book looked at by a real editor, and then deemed worthy of publishing. This was originally gonna be in red, but since this is more dependent on someone else and not me, it's blue.

Have someone tell me my writing's good
Well, I guess I could say I've kinda accomplished this one as I've gotten a few compliments on Wattpad, and though I've loved them, I'd really like someone from a more experienced audience to say it. Like people who've read a ton of fantasy books and still somehow liked mine.

Have a book-signing
This would be so cool. It'd mean I'd have fans, too. I mean, that's what real authors do, right? Sign books?

Get Twitter followers
On my Twitter account, that has currently one. Of course, my 'author one' would have my real name, but I'd like at least five people worldwide to actually care what I have to tweet.
(Yes. Blatant advertising. Fall prey to such easy tricks. Now)

(here come the crazies, whoo!)

Have Jennifer Armintrout say my writing's good
Maybe this is not too crazy. But this would mean a hell of a lot. Jen's awesome.

Get a movie deal
Y'know, be in the big leagues. This would also mean I got fans and readers. But this'll only matter if the next one comes true with it:

Be a part of aforementioned movie production
So that I know they don't screw anything up. They don't change my storyline, and I have to confirm every actor they hire. Yes. I am controlling like that. But I am not letting someone like Kristen Stewart play Rinna. She's supposed to be pretty, and exotic, and Kristen Stewart is neither pretty nor exotic. Never mind the bad tag she'll bring along with her. Chick's got anti-fans.

Oh, and Colin Egglesfield has to be in the movie
Because he's hot. And I've already cast him as Leo, who's based off a character in my novel. I seriously cannot imagine another guy playing him now.

Have any of the McFly boys say they like my book
They don't seem like bookworms, but hey, a girl can dream, right? Especially Tom. Not only does he seem like the biggest reader among them, but I love him the most. 

Get my book translated
I'd like people in my country to read it too, and not a lot of them know English that well. I'd also like it to be in Japanese, because...

Have Mao say he likes my book
Self-explanatory. Mao's awesome. It'd be freaking amazing if we were fans of each other. I doubt he'd as big a fan of me as I am of him, but still. Awesome.

Have George RR Martin say my writing's better than mediocre
He is an awesome writer, and for him to every say that my writing's not shitty, would mean everything. 

When I open a bank account or something, somebody looks at my name and says, "Hey, you're that writer! I read your book and liked it."
Fan! The proud side of me's taking over now. It'd mean I actually sold a couple of books, and my name's actually recognisable.



I got more. Wait, let me think of them. Well, I'll be back with them later. I never miss a chance to ramble. If you've got any writing wishes, do tell me about them. I'd really love to hear them. Blatant cry for comments

Somebody tell me I'm not crazy for wishing for these things. This is normal, right? Right?!

SID Pictures: What's In? December 2011 Scans

 Hello! And welcome to my blog. In this post, I'll be sharing SID's photoshoot scans with the Japanese music magazine What's In? I have scans of three months, Dec 2011, May 2012 and August 2012. The boys look fantastic all dressed and made up, and so I had to share these! I wanted to share them all at once, but arranging pictures in blogger is something I fucking hate... plus my internet connection sucks.
So, for now....

December 2011

 This is the shoot SID did for their winter single Fuyu no Bench 'Winter Bench'. That's why they're all in winter clothes. I have no idea what Mao is wearing, though. I'd freeze my ass off in those, and I live in a tropical country.
  Well, I hope you enjoy!

  Credits to SID stock

This is an awesome wallpaper picture. Just sayin'

Clicking on the pictures should get them in full-size. My next SID post will have the May 2012 scans, where Mao is dressed better, and the theme is sakura.
Thank you!

Album review: M&W- SID

An album review on SID’s newest album, M&W (if you couldn’t tell by the post title). I absolutely loved this album, and I had to share what I thought of it with everyone. I tried to be impartial, which was damn hard as I am one of SID’s biggest fans. I hope you enjoy, and maybe think about buying the album?

Thank you!

Konagona

Track number 1– an upbeat rock track, and one of my favourites of the album. While I essentially have no idea what the lyrics are about, I’m assuming it’s sad (Google Translate tells me ‘Konagona’ means ‘in small pieces’), the music isn’t. It’s not uber-bouncy, it’s fun and awesome.

You should especially listen to the track with headphones. The bass plays in one ear and the guitar in the other. Really cool. Not so cool if your headphones are fucked like mine, where you can usually only hear one ear at a time.

Ghost Apartment

The thing about this album is, some of the tracks sound kinda… themed. Like Ghost Apartment reminds me of one of those old horror shows, with the vampires that had too much make-up on, and with the great, fake castle backgrounds and bats. No? Just me?

Still, I like it– it’s dramatic and has that jazz sound. I also love what Mao does with his voice in the chorus. It really doesn’t sound like what I’d expected to see in this album– it feels like a Play song.

Fuyu no Bench

One of four singles released before the album. It’s actually my least favourite single, but it’s still a sweet and warm song. Y’know, winter-cuddling warm. From the couple of lines I could understand, the message was really sweet. About how their love is not over and all– basic heart-touching Mao-fare.

I actually love singing along to this song. It just… feels lovely.

Ito

I knew it was going to be a rock ballad the moment I saw the name (‘Ito’ means ‘thread’. I’m pretty sure it’s referring to ‘red thread’ which is supposed to be the connector of fate and destiny).

So, my expectations were high, and the beginning of the song inspired faith. But, somehow, it didn’t sound as good as I expected. It was less rock than I’d wanted, and I’m not the biggest fan of it.

Café de Bossa

(Can I tell you, I was wondering how to make that little line over the ‘e’ in Café, but autocorrect fixed it for me. Yay)

Uwaa, I love this song! It is also kinda themed– it feels like a holiday, beach song. I love listening to it and swaying. Mao keeps his voice light and sweet in it, and I really like it for that. And I’m a sucker for songs with acoustic guitar in it. I love singing along, especially the pre-chorus! Mao’s voice is really sweet there. I think this might be my favourite song in the whole album.

‘S’

Another of SID’s pre-released singles. So not mellow, new-style SID. Fast, hard rock. I love it. I love how Mao sings the chorus, and I especially love the music. This song went to #5 on the Oricon, and it’s obvious to see why. The music is really… original. I don’t know; I really haven’t heard songs like it.

MOM

Okay, you do not get anymore jazz than this. Bright, loud, fun– it’s much louder than Cosmetic, but I can’t say I like it more. I really liked this at the beginning, but it somehow wore out for me. Still, if you liked Smile and Virtual Bansankai, I’m sure you’d want to listen to this more than once.

Itsuka

SID’s first single off the album. Total rock ballad, their forte, and it was really good! It reached #2, and I’m really not surprised. Mao really strengthens his voice, and he sounds good. It does remind me of Rain and Sleep, except in those two beautiful songs, Mao’s voice really hits you with longing. This song affected me less than those.

Dresscode

Themed song? Yup. The ‘parts’ sound like one of those themes that’d be playing in one of those chic clubs, where skinny girls in short, tight dresses would chatter and sip champagne. The chorus, though, is really different, and really good, as well. The third part, also, sounds like it could be from a different song. It’s much more dramatic and rock, and I really like it. That transition from it to the flitty music is really seamless. One of those songs I wasn’t particularly fond of (the flitty-ness pissed me off), but am glad I took the time to listen to more than once.

gossip!!

From the name, I guessed a loud, jazzy song like MOM, and I was really excited. It’s not jazzy. Really, it isn’t. It’s themed, but not jazzy.

The theme (to me, anyway) is some sort of old, high-school rock. Y’know, like those old movies where students get up on tables and start dancing. I was pretty disappointed. It’s not bad, but not really great. I do like the chorus, though.

Nokoriga

My favourite single off M&W, and possibly my favourite song off it too. So quintessential SID. Touching, beautiful, with this melody that makes me heart move with it. It’s not too slow, though. It only got #5 on the Oricon charts– I expected a higher ranking, to be honest.

And now, because I saw this in someone else’s blog review of Deadstock:

Favourite song(s): Café de Bossa, Nokoriga

Least favourite song(s): Ito, gossip!

Overall rating: ●●●●●

Well, I hope you liked reading this review, and if you’re not a SID fan, convinced you to buy the album. Seriously, I will be overjoyed if I did. One of my goals is to try and gather as many fans for SID as possible.

Thank you!

How Not to Write a Book: Oh, yeah, she’s a really strong character! She’s only crying throughout the entire book!

(Whoa, it’s been a while since I’ve done one of these, eh? Don’t think anyone’s reading them, but it’s fun to write them out. I love rambling.)

Alright, time to look into the story-telling, and not just the characters. Yeah, okay, this does involve characterization too, but I’d like to convince myself I know other shit about writing apart from characters, so just humour me, okay?

This is mainly about portraying your character, rather than building. You’ve got a proper character built, with a good mixture of flaws, strong points and quirks. Now it’s time to think about how you’ll present that character to the reader.

Let’s think about a character named… Alette. (Alette was a name I’d chosen for a princess in my story, before I re-wrote the entire fucking thing. The character’s been binned, but I really quite like the name). So we’ve created Alette to be intelligent and learned, strong-willed and proud, fighting for attention with her seven older sisters (yeah. Really. Hey, don’t judge, they don’t have contraceptives in my medieval-era world). If Alette is a central character, you’ll want to show off her personality, since you’ve presumably put some effort into creating it.

One of the basic ways to describe your character is to have other characters describe her. Your lead character might be Kerra, one of Alette’s sisters. When we (the readers) first meet Alette, Kerra would describe her. Something along the lines of how it was obvious Alette had taken painstaking care in arranging her hair because some foreign king was visiting, and that she’d worn her best dress, or that she flipped a few pages of a book on the table. Small, little things like that.

What I really don’t recommend is you (or, rather, your character) describing her outright. We don’t want to be slapped by Alette’s character straight-off. We want Alette’s personality to reveal itself. We want Kerra’s initial feelings, and then her later feelings of annoyance or jealousy or sympathy to show later, when the situation calls for it.

So, now let’s assume, we have a change in viewpoint, and the character we’re currently seeing through is Alette. Another great way to know a character is to see how they view themselves. Alette might be humble, or she might know how intelligent and desired she is, and keep it only to herself. Think about how you think to yourself, and compare it to what you say to others. Very few people are the same inside and out.

Alright, now let’s come to a later scene. The King has come, but he’s more interested in business matters with Alette’s father, and though polite to Alette, he hardly regards her. She responds by making a scene in front of everyone, and then running off to her bedroom to curl up into a ball and cry.

Wait up. Make a scene in front of everyone? Curl up into a ball and cry? Is that what a proud, intelligent woman would do?

See, having Kerra repeatedly say that Alette is strong and intelligent, doesn’t make Alette strong and intelligent. Her actions do. Your actions have to back your character.

But don’t limit them. If you were to re-write the scene a little, you could easily have the desired effect, but keeping your character true. If the King were to openly avoid her, then the proud princess might try and corner him alone, ask him his reasons. If he were to reply that he simply lost track of all the princesses and forgot Alette was one, even if he were to say it kindly, she might just go and cry in her bedroom later. Secretly, of course. And it would suit her character. Because she hates being ignored, and her pride couldn’t take it.

Of course, Alette might not be as strong or as intelligent as Kerra believes, but it’s your job as the writer to make the reader believe what Kerra believes. We’re seeing through the character’s eyes, and we have to see the image of Alette as Kerra sees it, even if it might not be correct.

So, then, that’s it for now. More Mao pictures, coming next ;)

SID Pictures: The Best of Mao's Blog 1

Mao is vocalist of the Japanese band SID, and to me, extremely attractive. Here, I'll show you why.

Hello and welcome, to where I'll be sharing some of Mao's personal pictures-- those he posts on his blog.I was originally going to post all of them, but my internet connection's not agreeing with me, and so I'll be posting only half.

The images have been scaled down, so I'd advise viewing the image for full Mao awesome-ness. They're in chronological order; the oldest ones are first. The first picture is from early October 2011, and the last mid-January.

Mao's Halloween costume; he went as Ayanami Rei

Well, those are all the blog pictures for now. I gotta say, arranging pictures in blogger is a bitch. Be sure to bookmark the blog, as the rest of the Mao Blog pictures will be coming next, and then the SID photoshoots for the music magazine What's In? And can I tell you, all the guys look amazing in all three issues ;)

I hope you enjoyed this fest of pretty men! Please stay tuned for more!

Thank you!

Album Review: Queens are Trumps (‘Kirifuda wa Queen’)- SCANDAL

I absolutely love these girls and the way they can do both awesome punk rock and upbeat, catchy songs. I absolutely had to share my thoughts on their newest album, ‘Queens are Trumps’.

Yes, these cute girls actually make good music, too!

Queens are Trumps

Title track. Damn I love this song. So classic rock. I think it might be my favourite off the album. It doesn’t really sound too original, but it’s a good song. I actually love how Haruna sounds here; the song really fits her voice. And, yeah, I try to sing along. It’s the curse of all SCANDAL songs, really.

Taiyou Scandalous

Second single off the album. Bright, sunny like the name (‘taiyou’ means sun), and it’s a fun song. It reached #2 on the Oricon charts, and it’s not hard to see why (really. Scroll down for the video, and you’ll get it). It’s really catchy, even though it’s not really my favourite type of song.

Pin Heel Surfer

Third single off the album. Another upbeat song, but more rock than Taiyou Scandalous. I’m not a particular fan of the chorus, but I like how Haruna does the higher notes in two lines of it. I actually completely brushed over it when I first heard it, but I’m now really addicted to it.

Oh, and I just watched the PV. No way. Rina sings the last part?

Rock ‘n’ Roll

If you can’t get it by the name, this is a rock song. It sounds more girly than Queens are Trumps, but I like it. But I am eternally annoyed at how I can’t be certain that the first two lines are sung by Haruna. It really could be Mami, but I just. Can’t. Fucking. Tell.

Bitter Chocolate

Not my favourite track off the album. It really isn’t anything special. There’s a lot of Tomomi in this song, but as she doesn’t have my favourite voice, I’m not really into this song. You can feel some emotion in this song, though, even if it’s not slow.

Kill the Virgin

The Rina song! Alright, I’ll try to not be too biased over here, which’ll be hard, as Rina’s my favourite SCANDAL girl, and I really like her.

Alright, the beginning of the song sounds like it’d be cheery and fluffy, but it isn’t really. It has a sweet tune, but it just sounds rather deep and wondering. Rina’s sweet voice really fits.

Being a relatively new SCANDAL fan, this is the first time I’d heard Rina’s voice (and recognized it!), and I was really excited. I’m not disappointed.

Koe

The Mami song. Whole song is sung by Mami, whose voice I quite like. It sometimes sounds like she’s not singing but just saying the words, but I think it really adds to the quality of the song. It’s not slow or fluffy, but has that rock edge I’d expect of Mami.

Rising Star

The beginning made me expect some high-school-sounding song, but I was quite pleasantly surprised by this song. It is a little what I classify as high-school-rock, but not cheesily or annoyingly so. In fact, it has this… Japanese-y edge to the chorus?

Bright

The emotional, deep song. Not my favourite, as it sounds pretty generic, and as though I’ve heard it many times before. The chorus is strangely catchy, though, and I love shaking to it a little. Still, not the greatest.

Welcome Home

Song is quite bright, one that I might associate with an anime. To be honest, it sounds a bit like I’ve heard it quite a few times before. Doesn’t make it a bad song, but it isn’t really extraordinary, and easy to skip over. I do like how Tomomi sounds here, though.

HARUKAZE

First single off the album, and I really like this song. Is calm, but not slow, and really nice to try and sing along to. I think Haruna’s voice fits this song wonderfully, and I’m really attached to this song and the wonderful melody it has.

Right Here

Another rather high-school-sounding song. Except it’s not as good as Rising Star, as this is pretty generic. All in all, not the best ending to the album, especially one that started off so good.

Favourite song(s): Queens are Trumps, HARUKAZE

Least favourite song(s): Right Here, Bitter Chocolate

Overall rating: ●●●●○

Hope you enjoyed this review, and maybe made you interested in buying the CD or album on iTunes? You won’t regret it, really. The rating might seem a little harsh, but that’s only because the album I listened to before this one was SID’s M&W, which was awesome and which I’ll be reviewing next.

Thanks for reading!