Finally Utada Hikaru In The Flesh 2010

lol almost exact same pose as Nana on my blog banner, just facing the other way xD

So after nearly four years of waiting, footage from Hikki's In The Flesh -tour back in 2010 has -finally- been released! I honestly had stopped believing this day would ever actually come, but life is full of surprises. Now that it is here, I have sort of mixed feelings. Or more like I don't know how to feel. Makes me wish this had been available a lot sooner, but better late than never.

The Magic of Japanese Music

(from left: Mizuki Nana, Kalafina, Utada Hikaru) 

Long time no see! Somehow I have been lacking the enthusiasm to write for quite a while now, probably due to my insanely busy schedule here. I finally felt like writing something today though, due to the topic popping up very often these past couple of weeks in very different situations (sorry, this isn't a post about my Japan adventures, I'll get around to those..... eventually), namely the magic of Japanese music.

30 Day Song Challenge: Day 01 + List Updates

Okay so, I just had to update some of the Top 10 lists I've done before, as them not being up to date really bugged me and gnawed my insides. The lists that got updated and the new additions are as follows:

• Mr. Bunny! added to Top 10 Mizuki Nana Choreographs
• Darker than BLACK: Shikkoku no Hana added to Top 10 Manga
• SCARLET KNIGHT and Hime Murasaki added to Top 10 Mizuki Nana songs

 Take a Shot, Love Hina, ミュステリオン and BRAVE PHOENIX / Don't be long were dropped.


And now to the song challenge!

Day 1 - Favorite Song
Goodbye Happiness by Utada Hikaru

This song hasn't been with me for very long, as it was only released last November - but even so I've already sold my soul to it. Already the preview clip I listened to before the actual release date told me that this would be one of the most beautiful songs that I'll ever hear in my life. It creates a very balanced mix of happiness and sadness, and at the end of the day those two things are what life is about. The melody is very soulful and man, Hikki's singing brings across all the emotion so well that it really amazes me every time I listen to it. And this song, like quite many of Hikki's songs to be honest, really makes me think about my life and what is truly important. I know that this is probably at least the 4th time I'm talking about this song in my blog, but what can I do - it is so amazing. Hikki will always be my #1.

The Anniversary of the Best Day of My Life

So a couple of hours ago it had been exactly a year since a very happy girl wobbled out of the O2 Academy in London drunk from the captivating presence of one Utada Hikaru. It was a magical night the girl would  cherish in her heart and never forget.

Yes, that girl was me.

Top 10 Utada Hikaru songs - Happy Birthday Hikki!

So, since I talked about this with Chris last week and since it is also Hikki's birthday, here is a Hikki list finally. ;) Also I have to say, that I will exceptionally make two lists this week, as on Friday is another special day ^__^ ho ho hoo. I have to say this was a very difficult list to make, as I really love all of Hikki's songs and they all mean so much to me. So, chances are that if I did this list every week it would slightly change each time depending on what was "in" with me at the time. Anyways, I felt that I should pay tribute to the lovely Hikki's birthday somehow, as she was the one who helped me get over the biggest slump of my life the beginning of last year, which I probably would not have recovered from if it had not been for her. So a very big thank you to Hikki and without further ado, it's list time!

Why have I decided on a career with computers?!

So now that I've gotten the assignments out of the way and recovered from the stress to some extent, I can finally rant about all the extra trouble I was put through thanks to the lovely thing called computer. It all began with the issue of Blu-ray region codes that I discussed [here] before. That was only the tip of the ice berg though...

I tried to get a move on with the coding side of my 3D Modelling assignment, but after compiling the codes Unreal Editor kept crashing every time I tried to open it. Not good. I did the usual trick to solving this problem, but still nothing. I nearly gave up when I noticed a curious fact - the code program did not seem to actually compile at all. After pressing compile nothing happened. I had no idea why it happened so I uninstalled and installed the program again and then installed some patch for it and still nada. The whole time I had this gut feeling that it had something to do with me having Windows 7. Good thing I got some help from a friend and was able to solve the problem by giving admin rights to the .exe file, as indeed, it was a Windows 7 caused problem. Someone could have warned me about this before hand. >:(

Elvis knows talent when he sees it!

I think my dog Elvis likes Nana too or then he can somehow smell through the computer screen that she has a chihuahua too. :o A few days ago before starting to write code in the morning, I decided to watch a couple of songs from Nana Mizuki Live Games x Academy -Blue- to get me in a good mood. The moment I put the Blu-ray in my laptop, Elvis, who had been peacefully sleeping on my little sofa, had sat up completely erect and stared at me intently. I took him on my lap and he slumped down instantly with his head on top of my right arm, facing the screen of my laptop. The two songs I picked also had dance routines, and every time Nana would change the pitch of her voice or do an interesting move Elvis would raise his head and stare. Once I took the Blu-ray out he left. Haha he is definitely MY dog! He seems to like Hikki as well as we watched her concert together during the summer holidays. It is indeed nice to know that the man of my life approves of the women in my life! ;)

Rock on my little Elvis!

Top 10 Songs That Make Me Happy

So yeah, that pic pretty much sums up this week's list topic. I was going to do a completely different topic, but considering the emoness that has been caused by overwhelming assignments (mainly talking about Java here) this topic seemed more appropriate. I was actually even going to write something else than a list today as well, but hell it's been a week from the last one and I won't break my vow to do one each week again! So now to what I am actually going to do. This list is of the songs that make me feel happy (even if it is only for the duration of the song) no matter how I am feeling otherwise. I also have to say that I had to make an additional rule, namely that I am not allowed to add more than three songs from Hikki and Nana each, since otherwise the list would be just full of their songs and I am not supposed to be making a Hikki+Nana list this week. Perhaps another week. ;)

Top 10 Obsessions

So of course right after I say that I'll do a top 10 list each week, things come up that make me a couple of weeks late. Thank you Heathrow and Christmas. :P But yes, now I am back on track! Hopefully..

So yeah, I decided I'd do a suggested list every other week and in between do one of my own. So, this week's list has been suggested by Chris, and the topic is obsessions. Basically things that make me go like this: 

Hiiiiiigh tension!

And like this:

Hauuu, omochikaeriiiii~!

So yeah, behold - the list!

RJ transforming into....

Well I didn't really get as much done today as I had hoped - in fact I didn't get anything done whoopie doo daa dei. But! At least I did get to go into English Teacher -mode.

This week I've been helping my friend with some fansubbing. Usually I just go through the lines alone, but today I did it together with him and that is what triggered my English Teacher -mode. That basically means that whenever I suggest a correction I have to go into a lengthy explanation of why, whether it is because of a certain grammar rule or because of even such a small thing as intonation. Ah, such enthusiasm.... I swear I looked like this when I was going on and on about the finesses of the English language:

Utada Hikaru Single Collection Vol.2

This morning I was about to make toast in a half-asleep state of mind, when suddenly I felt like a toast myself - jumping out of my skin when someone knocked on the front door. My new Hikki album had arrived.

Single Collection Vol.2 is mainly just a collection of her singles (gasp, I bet you couldn't have guessed that yourself) with some added new material. Words aren't really capable of describing how amazing this album is, Hikki always seems to be topping herself with whatever she decides to do and has never brought me even slight disappointment. I'll look at some songs in detail here.