I'm going to Japan!!!!

Short post for tonight... need to do some research on cost of plane tickets / hotels etc, but I really, really, really wanted to post this happy happy post. :)  Itsuko emailed me today to let me know that we won the fan club lottery which means that we have secured our 3 tickets to Kalafina's "After Eden" Live!!!!!!

I am so excited.  I really wanted to go to the Magia Live this year but common sense prevailed and I didn't go in the end.  Then I thought of going to Kajiura Yuki's FictionJunction Live in June but again I wasn't sure how much leave I needed to reserve and since the live was on a Wednesday, I couldn't even try and buffer it with the weekennd so I abandoned that plan.  In the end, the only Live that I could fit into the schedule was the "After Eden" Live.  I had been saving both leave and money so am really excited that we have the tickets.

Yay... more good music... more good food... and more meetings with old friends... AWESOME. :)

K, gotta go.  Oyasumi. :)

Kalafina - After Eden - first press freebies / more Mahou Shoujo Madoka stuff

So CDJapan finally announced yesterday what the first press freebies for purchasing Kalafina's latest album would be. :)  CDJapan often offers fans freebies like posters and postcards etc with first press purchases of items from their website.

After getting burnt by playasia last year over the Magia single, I switched to CDJapan whenever I wanted to get any of Kalafina's singles or albums.  The vocal unit has become so popular that even when I pre-ordered like ultra early at playasia, I was still told that my deliver would be delayed so I quickly switched to ordering from CDJapan since I really was ticked that I had to wait a week for a cd I ordered almost immediately after the announcement of it's availability on playasia.  For many other things though, I still use playasia.  It usually has very reasonable prices, many times the music cds are cheaper too or they have the HK / Taiwan editions which are always cheaper than the Japanese versions and they have free shipping.  But with Kalafina / FJ / Kajiura, I think I'll still use CDJapan cuz I think I would go nuts if I couldn't get my grubby hands on them ASAP so that I can make flacs to put on my portable player. :)

So, I didn't get the first press freebie for the Magia single.  That was a postcard.  But it's okay, I'm not really hung up about the freebies... I like getting them cuz I'm a fan but if I don't, I won't slit my wrist.

This year though, my buying power has gone up by tons since last year when I was just finishing up school and beginning a new job.  So I might actually fall for the typical marketing gimmick and buy both the LE and the RE for the two different freebies even though I don't use mousepads.  I could easily give the RE away to friends who are fellow fans or sell the cd to a Singapore fan at cost without shipping etc so.... yeah, I'm tempted :D

Anyway, this time, it's not postcards, they are offering mousepads.  The LE will get Mousepad A and the RE will get Mousepad B.  I have no idea what they look like yet but I seriously doubt if it'll just be the word "Kalafina" stamped on it.  I'm presuming it'll be their picture or maybe even the LE / RE album art printed on it or some such thing.  Right now, it's anyone's guess.

Limited Edition     Regular Edition

If you want to see the larger pictures of the album art click me.

OH... oh ... oh.... as I was writing this post, something just popped up on my RSS feed from Sony.  Looks like Kalafina Cafe will be back.  Earlier this year, to promote the Magia Live Tour in Japan, Kalafina collaborated with PARCO to open Kalafina Cafe for a short period of time.  This time, they'll be doing the same.  There will be yet another Kalafina Cafe, this time to commemorate the release of the After Eden album.  Sadly for me, it'll be open from the 16th - 25th Sept and I won't be in Japan till Nov. :(

Also, Kalafina will also be feature in the October issue of Kera magazine.  I don't usually get this magazine, so I think I'll pass on it since I'm more interested in the Mahou Shoujo Madoka related books.

Also, cover art for vol 6 of the Mahou Shoujo Madoka blu-ray / dvd release is out too.  This is from the official website, the other online shops haven't updated yet, it's probably cuz they are still on holidays till the 16th.  Vol. 6 will contain Kajiura Yuki's OST 3 for the anime... so I am excited about that. :)

I like this cover... this might be my favourite cover yet for this blu-ray release.  And can you believe that I finally finished watching the last two eps in the train today.  I just didn't want this anime to end, I think.  :)  It's a pretty solid ending.  I like it loads.  So while I still think that overall, Mai-Hime is a stronger mahou shoujo anime, Madoka isn't that far behind either.  Hime beats Madoka because the characters are as central to the storyline as some of the rules they were bending.  Madoka, on the other hand, sometimes feels like the characters are there to forward the story, rather than that they are central to the story.  This is probably in part because they wanted to keep so many things secret in the beginning that it really took a while for you to really care for these characters the way you would care for Hime's mahou shoujos.

Also, loads of related Madoka merchandise being pumped into the market.  The two things that are top of my want list are:

Color Collection Witch Collection BOX 

  Mahou Shoujo Madoka PSP game



The limited production edition of the PSP game comes with a figure of Madoka in her school uniform.  This is really tempting but it's unlikely that I'll get it... kinda feeling that I shouldn't cuz I'll need to save on my upcoming trip to Japan.  The game looks cool though and I wanna play it... so in the end, I might just get the game alone.  It'll be much cheaper that way.  Or I'll just wait to see if I can get it 2nd hand or something.

There is something I'm likely to order soon.  And that is another book on Mahou Shoujo Madoka.  This one is called Mado-magi wo Katari Taosu published by Takarajimasha.  This is a discussion book on the anime and although I know that  I will have trouble reading it, I would still like to get it so that I can try and work my way through the text.  If there is one thing I learnt from my years helping out on translations on a TVB fan website, interest is the most important thing when you're trying to learn or do something and my interest in Mahou Shoujo Madoka can possibly have a spillover effect in helping me with my Japanese. :)

Arrrrgggh.... it's so late again... gotta go... not going to proof read... need to sleep.  Need to complete a shot by end of day later today so I will need to sleep ASAP.

 Oyasumi. :)

rice balls make me happy

I think it's time to admit that I've been working too much and sleeping too little lately.  Even for me, a self confessed workaholic, too much work is a bad thing, no matter how much I like my work and I like to be working.  In the last few days, I've had so little sleep, I think my temper was quite simply on edge yesterday as evident in my morning FB status update and the earlier post made yesterday.  It really doesn't help that I have this colleague in my room at work who complains and complains and complains every single day... it's not constructive at all and I'm a conflict adverse type of person... I find her constant complaining more stressful than trying to complete my shot on time.

Last night, happily, my niece stayed late and waited for me to get home so that we can make onigiri and that made my day so much better. :)

I'm a huge onigiri fan.  On the two previous occasions that I've had the opportunity to visit Japan, I'll have onigiri for breakfast almost everyday.  Recently, I learnt how to make onigiri.  It's really easy.  I learnt it during Japanese class one day and I decided to teach my 8 year old niece how to make them a couple of weeks ago.  She loved it and so we decided to do them again.   The above photo is a photo picture of the rice balls we made  for dinner. :)

Okay... they don't look like much but these rice balls made me very happy.  It's not so much because I like rice or that rice is to the Chinese what pasta is to Italians or etc etc... no, it's much more than that.  My family waited for me to return home so that we could make onigiri TOGETHER.  So while my dad went to buy us some protein from the coffeeshop downstairs, my mum, my niece and I made onigiri together.  And by the time he returned, it was all done and we sat down to have a very happy and satisfying dinner together.

This dinner was definitely the highlight of what has been several very tiring days. Freshly made rice balls, eaten with people you love... BEST THING IN THE WORLD. :)

Kalafina - After Eden (cd covers)

The album art for Kalafina's After Eden is finally out. :)

Limited Edition cover

Regular Edition cover

Looks nice, kind of fairytale like. Conceptually, still very Kalafina-like but nice nonetheless.  I rather like Keiko in these photos, she's quite photogenic and really knows how to work that nymph-like innocence to her advantage.  Wakana and Hikaru look pretty good in these photos too except that I really think that the "Magia" type glare that Hikaru has, especially in the RE cover, is a tad too intense and takes a teeny bit away from the fairy like feel of these covers.

That said, covers are usually the least important things to me when it comes to singers / musicians / composers.  I hope the music is good... that's all I really care about. :)

Can't wait to find out if we got tix to the concert and can't wait for the album's release. :)

Take That!!!

Actually, I've not been the best of moods these two days.  Kind of annoyed with all the anger all around me and social media's and the internet's role in promoting unrest and taking intolerance to another level.

I'm a moderate and extremism on either end of the spectrum is extremely distasteful to me.  Unless it's talking a lot and with great passion about the happy things in life and about things that you like etc etc. :D

Yeah, so I posted a slightly bad tempered two word post on Facebook this morning... and NO... it's not the most over used 2 words in the history of mankind. :)  I posted "hates hate".  Yes, I really dislike it that people seem to think that it's okay to hate that idiot in Norway for indiscriminatly killing so many people just cuz he was pissed with the way things are run, BUT yet at the same time, these unhappy people take every opportunity to generalize and write hateful stuff about the "FTs" in Singapore.  I really hate the use of those two letters now and how people use it the same way some racist person uses derogatory words.  This really bugs me, this increase of intolerance in Singapore and how people, even people I like, get carried away by it all and start bashing people every time the opportunity crops up.

If you ask me, I won't be surprise if someday we'll see someone like Anders Behring Breivik in Singapore.  While the Singapore "Breivik" may not be someone who hates muslims (amongst other things), he would be someone like him.  Someone who thrives on hate, someone who is so arrogant as to think of himself as the ONE who will bring about change, someone who's actually not had such a terrible life but who is unwilling and unable to see that they're the lucky ones.  Yeah, he'll be someone like Breivik, he'll hate the government no matter what they do and he'll blame the government, the foreigners and whoever does not agree with him for his own miserable existence.
 
It didn't help that while looking for news on Kalafina, cuz it usually makes me happy, I find some really annoying blogposts where people bash the separate members of Kalafina.  Wakana's and Hikaru's fans bash Keiko cuz supposedly Keiko's fans started it first.  And now, since Wakana's and Hikaru's fans have been ultra mean to Keiko, Keiko's fans will be meaner to both these singers to even things of.... blah blah blah.  Truth is, I don't know and don't care who started what first.  Since when has tit for tat been a good thing? :( [note to self: stick to youtube / tudou music videos, interviews etc - not much bitchness there]

Yeah... that didn't work... I was at work, doing a training shot, without much knowlege of what the hell I was trying to do, with too little sleep, too much junk food in my system and so much annoyance from idiot friends I feel like unfriend-ing several on FB and NOW... even my usual "kalafina-bring-me-sunshine" method was an epic fail. :(

Good thing there is still Mai Hime.... watching all those fight scenes makes me HAPPY.... hahahaha... I sound like a blood thirsty freak.  But this is a way healthier way to take out one's agression in my opinion.... watch fictional characters beat the crap out of each other... now what could be more emotionally healthier than that. :D

Here... I leave you with Natsuki vs Mikoto from Ep 1.  And may the rest of my day be a peaceful and happy one. :D

ps. And btw, I'm a tyrant... leave any messages in the comments section which I find annoying... I will delete.  This is my blogspot and there is no such thing as free speech here.

Kalafi-nerd :D

 (While not exactly the most representative FJ song, it is their latest and it is kind of catchy.  This is the title track for the Stone Cold single which is the theme song for the Sacred Seven anime)

Ever since I found out about Kalafina's latest Live in Nov, all I have been able to talk about is Kalafina, Kajiura, FictionJunction, Japan, attempting to get tix for the Live etc.  And everyday, I have been posting some Kalafina, Kajiura, FictionJunction related video in facebook often followed by some gushing comment on the music or bits of information which probably no one cares about except me. :)

This prompted one of my friends to call me a nerd, which prompted another friend to call me a "Kalafi-nerd".  I thought that was so witty and simply hilarious and so true.  I am a nerd and a geek and quite proud of it actually.  I wear my nerd / geek / otaku-ness everyday... whether it is in the choice of my shirt, the bag I'm carrying, or simply the music I listen to, which is currently 90% Kajiura.  Yeah, there is no doubt about it... i am a KALAFI-NERD. :D

Also, while my leave hasn't been official approved, I did talk to the head of the producers in the office and asked him if I might have trouble with my leave and if I can go ahead with my plans to attend the latest Kalfina Live.  He said that since I booked my leave so far ahead, "go for it."  Yeah... I am sooooo happy. :D

So, I told Itsuko that it's a GOOOOOOOOO and tonight she applied for 3 tickets in the fan club lottery to see if we can buy the tickets earlier instead of waiting for the sale to the public in September.  Yay... keeping my fingers crossed that when the results are announced on the 17th Aug, that we are successful in getting tickets to the Live. :)

Also, it seems like CDJapan is now offering the Kalafina Record artist book for sale.  Seems like it's only the regular edition for now.  So no special hardcover and no t-shirt.  But it is tons cheaper than the limited edition which to my knowledge is still only available for domestic shipping in Japan.  Whether cdjapan will eventually offer the limited edition is anyone's guess but luckily for me, I don't have to worry about that cuz Itsuko helped me pre-order the limited edition book already. :)

That said... I'm actually still quite interested in getting the regular edition.  I'm thinking that I may not want to open my limited edition and thumb through it so many times, so a regular edition (especially if it's paperback) would be very useful for me as I try and read it with the aid of dictionaries and my Japanese notes.  Also, I won't be able to get my limited edition version of the book when it's released in Sept, as I can only pick it up from Itsuko in Nov when I visit Japan.  I don't think I can wait that long... hahahahaha.... so yeah... very close to placing an order for the regular edition. :p

Also, there was an announce from Konami that the PSP game Senritsu no Stratos (戦律のストラタス) will also release a soundtrack album which will include FictionJunction's Eternal Blue, the theme song for this game.  So far I think no online site is offering this for pre-order yet but I'm likely to also pick up this album when it's released.

(the 1.30 min version of Eternal Blue)


Finally, I think Mahou Shoujo Madoka, FJ, Kalafina and Kajiura Yuki are conspiring to make me broke... a new Mahou Shoujo Madoka figure has been available for pre-order for a few days already.  It's Kaname Madoka figure from the Good Smile Company.  Good Smile makes some rather nice figure... I have one of Kuga Natsuki from Mai Hime and it's really nice.

Anyway... I need to sleep... it's pretty late... so I'll stop rambling now and  go to bed.... oyasum. :)

FictionJunction, Kalafina, Kajiura Yuki

Yay, yesterday I finally got my package from CDJapan.  It contained FictionJunction's latest single Stone Cold, another Kalafina t-shirt (from the temp Kalafina Cafe setup to promote the Magia tour), a limited edition of the Magia single, two posters, a copy of Otona Anime (featuring Mahou Shoujo Madoka again) and finally a t-shirt I bought as a gift for my mum. Yeah... a big shipment but totally worth it.  :)  I already have the Magia limited edition single but I had decided to get this for Danielle as a gift.  I really lucked out that the bonus gift was a poster of Kalafina in their Magia getup.  Cool. :)  The other poster is of FictionJunction and comes with the purchase of the Stone Cold single. Cool. :)




FJ's Stone Cold is a catchy, kind of j-popish song (at least to me it seems that way) with Kaori and Wakana as the main vocals.  Keiko and Yuriko Kaida provide backup.  I was slightly disappointed that we didn't hear more of Keiko and Yuriko because Stone Cold is kind of a long song, 6 plus minutes, and it was slightly reppetitive towards the end.  Would have been nice if Yuriko or Keiko or both got more prominent counter melodies to break it up a bit.  That said, it isn't a bad song at all.  Very catchy and different stylistically to recent Kajiura stuff which makes it quite enjoyable.

The B-side song on this single is Hitorigoto.  It opens and closes beautifully with Keiko's vocals.  Kaori and Wakana are used prominently in the middle of the song.  I only heard it once through before dashing off to work, so I'm not sure, but I think Yuriko only sings backup in this again.  There is a saxaphone solo in the middle of the song which is rather unsual for kajiura who seems to favour violins, guitars and wood winds... a gentler sound to the brash sax.  I'm not sure if I like it as I'm not a big fan of the sax.  I will need to listen to this song again to decide if I like it.  Unlike Stone Cold, we've only heard a short sample of Hitorigoto, while the full song and PV for Stone Cold has been available for some time... hence, I haven't yet had the opportunity to digest Hitorigoto.

Also, in super exciting news, Itsuko told me a few days ago that the Kalafina "After Eden" Special LIVE 2011 will be held on the 25th Nov at the Tokyo Dome City Hall (the former JCB Hall).  Yippee.  This was the announce I had been waiting for.  Basically, I have begun preparations to try and make it to this Live.  So here is hoping a few things will fall in place: 1. I can get tickets to the Live. 2. My and Danielle's leave will be approved. 3. That plane tickets and accomodation will not be a hassle. 4. That Japan be safe to visit. If all goes well, Danielle and I would be at the Kalafina Live on 25th Nov.  I am so excited about it.  I have been saving up all year for this one trip.  Been saving both my leave and money.  Please, please, please let it work out well. :) 

The other thing I am excited about is the commemorative book I wrote about in the previous post.  This will be titled Kalafina Record and comes in 2 versions.  A regular edition and a limited edition.  The limited edition will be hardcover and comes with a special slipcase and a t-shirt.  Unfortunately, they are currently not easy to pre-order at all, since they only ship domestically in Japan.  Of course one could use vpost or try cdjapan's special request service but that would add significantly to the cost. I really want this item and since I am not sure if cdjapan or any other online site aside from Sony Magazines Online will offer it, I asked Itsuko to pre-order it for me.  So although the book will be published in september, I will only get it in november when I vist japan.  But it's totally worth the wait given the huge amount I would be saving. :)

K... am tired of typing on my phone. :) till next time... take care everyone. :)