Wednesday, June 15, 2005

   I'm alive...barely.
It's been over a month since I last posted, but things have gotten quite hectic for me, and now that the days have slowed down somewhat, I've got a lot more time on my hands to do what I really want to do.

Oh, by the way, I just graduated from college about 4 days ago, haha. Before the actual graduation ceremony, we had to do a group photo, and that definitely was not a good idea. All of us were in our black robes in the sweltering sun, and the idiotic photographer had no idea how to place all of us, so it took forever just to take three photos. By the time that was over, I wanted to pass out from all heat. The ceremony itself was long and boring, and I found myself staring out into the ocean for most of it. When it was time to cross the stage, I was one of the first people to go, and so afterwards, it got boring again because there were a TON of people who had to cross, and I just sat there for the most part staring off into space. Then the weather went from extremely hot to extremely cold. Horrible. The best part was afterwards when we got free refreshments! I had some cake, and that made me happy. Then my all of my family and friends had dinner, and they were all saying how proud they were of me, especially since I'm the first in the family to graduate from a UC (and in four years). Anyway, it was fun times, and now I need a steady job. Joy.

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Another thing that has happened in the month that has passed since my last update was that I spent the Memorial Weekend at FanimeCon. I spent most of my time doing some work at the Tofu Records booth...asking people to sign surveys and giving out free L'Arc~en~Ciel posters. It was cool. When it got slow, I was able to watch as many L'Arc~en~Ciel clips as I wanted! What else...I actually didn't watch any kind of anime that whole weekend, which is surprising since I was at an anime convention afterall.

I also got to meet the band, ZZ. For those of you who watch anime, they've done a song for One Piece called, "A to Z," and they've also done a song for Samurai Gun called, "Samurai Crew." However, their music is really interesting. They take a whole bunch of musical influences and fuse them together to come up with really unique music. Anyway, when they perform live, they're AMAZING. I couldn't believe their energy, and Sotaro-san (the vocalist) has a really strong, powerful voice. And he's hot.

I also was able to attend the D'espairsRay show in San Jose, and comparing the two musical shows, I enjoyed ZZ's performance a lot more. For one thing, the audience response was a lot more crazy. The audience for the D'espairsRay show was really kinda...blah. Also, ZZ was just massively entertaining not only to listen to, but to watch as well. D'espairsRay...well, their music was cool, but it's just not my kind of style. Their performance style is also kinda weird. Zero (bass), Karyu (guitar), and Hizumi (vocal) just stood there for the most part while playing their instruments and only during certain parts did they get really into it and start headbanging. I know that's probably part of their whole image and stuff, but I'd rather watch people who look more alive than dead.

ZZ is fun and energetic, and their music just seems to reach across and grab me. I got none of that from D'espairsRay. Also, I must say that I'm just not into the whole gothic VK kinda deal. The audiences are especially elitist...the air was thick with elitism at the show. I don't know how many times people looked at ME funny just because I wasn't wearing any kind of black nor had funky ass VK make-up on. I got stared at by people cosplaying as gothic lolitas. How ironic.

I seriously would rather go to a show for a slightly more mainstream band than a band from the VK genre. I can't take a lot of their fans, most of whom think they're just too damn cool for liking the most obscure bands. Whatever. For me, if the music isn't good, the band is no good, no matter what the hell they look like. You can show me the prettiest boys dressed in all black and wearing a lot of make-up but if they sound like crap, THEY ARE CRAP. Musically, D'espairsRay is pretty cool, but they're not the greatest thing I've ever heard. Image-wise, they sort of scare the shit out of me.

Anyway, FanimeCon was pretty cool, even though I didn't engage that much with the con activities. The only thing that I found worthwhile were karaoke, the Asian Film Rooms, ZZ Q&A panels/autograph sessions, and the dealer's room...that's about it. Meeting a lot of L'Arc~en~Ciel fans at the Tofu Records Booth was a lot of fun, too.

Anyway, I hope everyone is doing well. I don't know how many of you will actually read this since I've been gone for so long. Oh wells. Here's a pic of ZZ from their 2nd Q&A:

L to R: staff person, Erichi-san, Sotaro-san (puwahah he thought I was Japanese because I spoke a little bit of it), Matsuura-san, Kyama-san, and Kohsuke-san.
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