work cube musical jukebox

songs i've been listening to a lot for the past few days. Been repeatedly pumping music from this interesting J-pop review site; to keep me awake while trying to digest the complex WPS process flow at work. I should invest in some sort of portable music player to keep in handy.

Boa eien live ~ i have yet to get sick of listening to it... =p

& an english cover of the same title ~ not bad at all for an amateur

Mihimaru GT's very cool remake of I should be so lucky

Kylie Minogue’s original i should be so lucky; very nostalgic & catchy 80s beat

I always dig her live performances. I've seen quite a few of her concert DVDs from Concert Tour 2000, Countdown Live 2000-2001 to misunderstood Arena Tour 2006 through Countdown Live 2006-2007 , & they've never failed to amaze me. With each new one, she just keeps raising the bar & this one's no exception! Overall, its great right from the very beginning; her vocal performance & of the her band & backup dancers were nothing short of amazing & the complementing elaborate Moulin Rouge costume, set & theme were breathtaking. Most of the songs performed are from her 8th album 'Secret', some past i.e the usual & familiar Evolution, UNITE!, Boys & Girls that has been featured in her many concerts before ~ never mind that as those songs are usually arranged & performed differently from concert to concert. In my opinion, the favorite show-stopper from this concert would be Secret ~ powerful & poignant vocal breakout from her in the last chorus verse, capped with introduction of the flying dancers into the scene.... but then again so was kiss o' kill... just as equally moving & powerful... so was part of me with the beautiful prelogue stage visuals & kimono theme & costumes... can't decide... i just like all the songs performed! One interesting to note is that the behind-the-scenes documentary that covers all from rehearsals to final day of tour in a road-movie extravaganza is chopped up into little parts & integrated into the concert after every song or two, instead of the usual DVD#1 - concert & DVD#2 - behind-the-scenes documentary format. The pace is just nice if you're watching it part-by-part, like me... the downside: when watching from beginning to end (113 + 102 minutes), those little documentary parts tend to break up the momentum of the show. Stage stops of her Asian tour encompassed Yokohama, Nagoya & Osaka in Japan, to Taiwan, Shanghai & Hong Kong. I bet, half of the fans that flocked to the sold out stage stops outside Japan had barely-there proficiency of Japanese language.. just like me! Ha, i guess the sound of music is indeed a universal language... =)
*i dream of attending her concert someday; i hope she's not retiring anytime soon... =p *

~(m)u~ live: Arena Tour 2006 DVD

Received the delivery fairly early, much earlier than the 2 weeks waiting period; but after having to collect it personally from PosLaju & getting taxed by the Kastam. 20% import duty + 10% sales tax. Damn. Dunno why my previous purchase went by untaxed. It was an import too afterall. When asked for the taxable item list, the nice fella in blues handed me a brick-thick M'sian bible of taxes. Who'd be so darned free to cough up a compilation of such magnitude, i wonder? It's just so mind boggling. or maybe i'm just being plain ignorant.
The online retail price was only USD25.75 which translates to about less than Rm90. The only copy i managed to source at Kenyalang costed Rm118. I guess the differentials come in when u factor in the taxes which, i forgot to. Still got it for cheaper than market price, thanks to that fella in blues, letting me name whatever the price was; partly coz there were no pricelist attached with the package. So i get to ring out any reasonable sounding number. Just tell them it cost a mere USD10. But, sadly i was too honest to call for anything less than USD20. So i actually paid Rm20.20 in taxes.

Back to the DVD ~ this one's got all the songs from her least-liked albums to date ~(miss)understood~. Perhaps coz it's an experimental album covering multitudes of genres & sounded very un-ayumi; which, sort of alienated some fans, yet won as much accolades from many as well. It's pretty much like a love-it of hate-it affair.
Personally, i really miss the rocking days from her Rainbow era; though i'd just be as eager to sample her new masterpieces. There aren't many bold enough to always take up the challenge of trying out something new; most just like to play safe & stick to what sells best. Got to give her credit for that ~ she's always reinventing herself, & have always pulled it out with a good measure of success, again & again. I guess that's why she's got so much staying power ~ been almost a decade now.
Have always loved her concerts; i'd pay tons of $$ to watch her perform live. Maybe someday, one day...

1^st Online Shopping Experience

Made my first ever online purchase sometime ago. The package was delivered to my door step a couple of days ago, after 14-long-awaited days from the initial order date during which, I’ve lost some sleep worrying whether my prized purchase had got lost along the way, sent to the wrong address, got swapped, etc. ~ $$ down the drain? Thankfully it arrived in one piece ~ in immaculate condition. Having heard of countless of online purchase horror stories – getting conned into buying counterfeit products, to receiving defective products/damaged packaging or actual product that is inferior as to what was described in the initial pre-order specification; I decided to stick with the bigger & more reputable online retail sites ~ Yesasia.com Global in this case to source for a foreign audio CD release, dating back to 2005. It may not be the cheapest bargain on the net, but the offered prices are relatively comparable (just don’t compare the local bargains at Kenyalang Park).

Most of the Japan music releases of the current years come in different versions; the Japan version for the domestic Japanese market (which, costs an arm & a leg) & the Overseas version for the general foreign audience. Opted for the premium Japan version, priced at whooping USD25.49 (x 3.402 exchange rate) over the USD17.99 Overseas version (is also no way cheap by local standards), because it qualifies for the free shipping that the latter does not. Standard shipping (6 – 14 days) would have costs USD4.99. With a few bucks difference, going for the premium is a no brainer.

Some cite that the Overseas version is inferior in terms of quality compared to the more expensive Japan version; though the only difference is usually in the printings, booklets ~ some extra stuff, & rarely in some cases extra song tracks, for audio CD. One thing to note is that when it comes to DVDs, there are fundamental differences: Japan uses DVD2 encoding format, whereas the rest of the SEA uses DVD3. So you definitely don’t want to buy a Japan version DVD release which will not be compatible with our DVD player, though both regions are sharing the same NTSC TV broadcast standard. Overseas version are usually manufactured, marketed & distributed by licensed regional recording companies to provide a more competent localized pricing. So it is definitely cheaper, but is quality compromised? Maybe, or maybe not.

An authentic Japan version ~ ￥2667 tag is quite unnerving…

Time to sit back & enjoy the tunes of my latest musical fad collection. I just dig contemporary classical music =)

Channel-Ai Community Blog - for those of you into J-pop as much as i am (but can't speak or understand very little japanese to save yourselves) could defintely relate to & appreciate this. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading the in-depth reviews & articles of my profound interest here. =)

I’ve been an ardent fan of J-pop music scene for years. It’s funny how one can be obsessed with music from another language medium so distant & foreign. Perhaps it’s the unique pop-culture & style of music that appeals to me. Having picked up some very basic Japanese over the years has helped a little. As a matter of fact I can recognize more Japanese characters than I do Chinese characters.

Ayu’s 3^rd compilation album

Light & upbeat

Dark & broken

2 of the more recent CDs I’ve bought; bought White, got hooked & went back to get Black a couple of days later. It comes in a 1CD+2DVDs format costing a mere RM45 which, is a pretty good value-for-money; impressive compilation of hits (though I have like half of them already) + PV + Countdown Live ’06 – ’07 – I find it too irresistible to not buy & ended up buying both.

Ayu still remains one of my favorite artiste – a talented singer, songwriter, composer, a brilliant live performer in her own right; a sense of her own creation. Known for her ever-changing style like the seasons, her distinctive voice & singing, her music is still pretty much steeped in rock & grunge influence with evolving vocal & lyrical maturity with each new release. 9 years of music – from 80-ish sounding debut album days, a relatively unknown kawaii face writing songs just to save herself, to the cult supernova she is today, trading cherished freedom for the right to tell her story through songs – I still enjoy her songs very much the same.

What’s in a song? Songs that cheers you thru rough patches in life, songs that expresses thoughts, emotions & feelings that are closest to you, songs that captures the essence of defining moments in life; music sometimes transcends language barriers – the intensity of the emotions & feeling poured into a song, it does not take very much to understand what she is singing.

Some of records I have amassed over the years at the height of her popularity from 1999 – 2003: *some only; she's got like 8 full length studio albums, several non-studio ones, 1 mini-album, 40 singles & countless of countdown live & concerts - & still going

Debut album: A Song for XX - Jan '99

2nd album: LOVEppears - Nov '99

3rd album: Duty - Sept '00

4th album - Jan '02

5th album - Dec '02

Remix album - Feb '00

1st compilation album - Mar '01

19th single - Dec '00

20th single - Jan '01

21st single - Mar '01

22nd single - May '01

23rd single - Jul '01

24th single - Sep '01

25th single - Mar '02

26th single - Apr '02

Concerts



9 of music & on - she still rocks big time! Small in stature, but big in heart, presence & voice...

Online Videos by Veoh.com

Your face is
more beautiful when you're sad.
I couldn't say even one word,
When I noticed, you had brimmed over with tears.
That must have hurt much more
than I thought. I'm tired.
I'm sorry that I didn't notice.

The spring wind rolls by, it draws a far off dream.
The break in the summer clouds disappeared.
The autumn sky is painful, the winter sea is cold
The more I fall into a trance the more time passes.

Many events
have slipped by.
And you, here, now,
I'm proud of you, always.
People are not memories
that you can put into words.
They live holding onto their feelings.

Sometimes you take only the roundabout way and get tired.
But the place I finally get to
is just by your side, and my heart is healed.
I want to be that kind of support someday.

You ~ by Ayumi Hamasaki: 2nd single from her debut album back in early 1999; remain one of my all time favourites...