†Paradox Garden† -- testing stage

JRR Petition

2009-05-04T21:35:00.001-07:00

Page 011

2008-10-28T05:04:00.000-07:00

I had a random thought yesterday about elitism in jrock.

What if (some) people's elitism is only a disguise for annooyance at stupidity?

Take Versailles for example. There are a lot of Kamijo, Hizaki, Teru, and Jasmine You fans that were excited for Versailles even before the band debuted. Why? Because they knew what kind of image and music they would produce since they were fans for so long of their previous bands and projects. After they debuted, all of a sudden there are a new wave of fans, many of which doubted Versailles' ability soley on their glamorous image (which is justifiable), going "OMGVERSAILLESISSOAWESOMETHEYREMYNEWFAVORITEBAND <3333"

Now, the older fans (older in fandom, not in age) get kind of peeved and exhibit elitist behavior. 'VERSAILLESISMINEYOUSUCKGTFO". Couldn't it be that they're just ticked that you weren't 'smart' enough to notice their awesomeness before?

The same could apply to a Japanese brand.

Sweet lolita wasn't always as popular as it is now. Back in the day gothic lolita was where it was at. At that time Baby, the Stars Shine Bright sold mostly gothic lolita clothes! But ever since the sweet lolita 'boom' happened, people who would dress gothic lolita, classic lolita, gothic punk, what have you, went "OMGTHISISSOCUTEITSMYNEWFAVORITESTYLENOW". The lolitas who had been wearing sweet lolita for years were most likely going "Ew gtfo my sweets" when they were just miffed that you hadn't noticed the greatness that is sweet lolita ages ago. Thank Angelic Pretty for this.

On a random but slightly related note, I predict a boom in classic lolita now! The Gothic & Lolita Bible is doing more features using classic lolita instead of sweet lolita now. This should be really interested.

Page 010

2008-08-13T18:42:00.000-07:00

I haven't had much to talk about here until now. This is something that has been kind of bothering me recently.

The issue of wearing lolita (or expensive brands in general) to concerts.

Many people seem to have a problem with it because those wearing it complain about the 'rowdy-ness' of others who are ruining their clothes. They don't understand why people wear it to a concert where they know everyone will get all sweaty and squished together.

Why do people wear these nice clothes in the first place to concerts? They have different reasons. Some want to show off their money and/or style or think it's cool just because Japanese fans do it. Why do the Japanese fans do it? Because they can. They can because concert audiences are a bit different there.

Most concerts that aren't all standing are done by ticket number, meaning everyone has their own seat/standing area. For concerts that are all standing, everyone pretty much stands in their own space bubble. NO ONE tries to push to the front. NO ONE rushes to the stage. Sure, the concerts for the heavier bands can get pretty crazy, but still everyone respects other people's spaces. Naturally there are exceptions, but they are typically far and few between.

Due to this fact, people can dress up to the nines and can come back out still looking awesome and be intact. Of course they get a little sweaty and their hair might look a bit disheveled if they were head banging, but no tears or smeared makeup in sight.

If you don't believe me, I have seen it first hand. I have EXPERIENCED it first hand. I went to a Moi dix Mois concert and many people in the pit area were dressed up in EGA/EGL and a couple were even cosplaying. None of them moved out of their general area and everyone came out without a scratch.

So if you're going to a concert in a Western country all dressed up, unless it has assigned seating, expect to get rough and covered in sweat other than your own. Feel free to dress up, but don't complain if you're bow gets caught somewhere or your rocking horse shoes get stepped all over.

P.S. Something that was just pointed out to me...this complaining about dressing up situation isn't really an issue here in L.A.. Lots of people dress up and no one has a problem with it. Interesting how things vary within regions.

Page 009

2008-07-13T20:20:00.000-07:00

Those of you who live in a state that has an In n' Out: next time you go there or drive by, take a second to notice how many shiny luxury cars are in the drive thru.

Page 008

2008-07-07T11:58:00.000-07:00

Most Obnoxious Tourist

I found this article to be very, very interesting. I was under the impression that people from the United States were the most obnoxious tourists, and it seems the writer felt the same way until they did the research.

This reminds me of a story that I heard from a sociology professor. He was in France(?) with his wife who was a professional volleyball player and they were living there for a little while and one of their acquaintances said that they could always tell who was an American tourist by their shoes. Apparently, many Americans wear tennis shoes when they go shopping as if they are going to the gym or something, as opposed to the local French and other Europeans who dress nicely when they go shopping.

I find that extremely amusing because it's true. When I go to a mall or somewhere, I often see people in sneakers and sweats and whatnot.
Perhaps that says something about them.

In any case, it looks like Americans are in the middle of the spectrum when it comes to tourist behavior. Not too bad I guess. And of course there's no surprise that Japanese top as #1.

Page 007

2008-06-14T00:19:00.001-07:00

You do not wear a large hat at a concert, no matter how stylish it is or how important it is to your cosplay. Doing so makes you look like an idiot and a jackass.

Page 006

2008-05-21T19:04:00.000-07:00

Since when were songs like 'BOOM-HAH BOOM-HAH-HAH' and 'Aho no Matsuri' songs you mosh and thrash and swarm around to?

FYI, funky cool music is meant to be danced to and enjoyed. A live performance is supposed to be something you go to see and have fun at. It is not where you climb and elbow over people just to grab at the performer(s).

Page 005

2008-05-10T08:39:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted a blog here in a little while, but I'm alive! (though I doubt anyone actually reads and follows this haha)

Anyhow, I haven't had much to talk about. I've expressed some of my recent personal and emotional happenings on my LiveJournal.

Actually, I just thought of something that I could mention.

Recently I have noticed a good number of incidents where there was an announcement about by/about an artist but was either taken completely out of context or completely misunderstood. This has been a problem for a long time and continues to be one even now.

News flash: Babelfish/Google Translate/etc is not always your best friend.

One recent one that comes to mind is that someone was under the assumption that Kaya was going to re-release his GLITTER album. This really frustrated me because whoever read Kaya's blog post about it apparently could read a few katakana and saw "GLITTER" in there and went 'hay gaiz kaya's gunna release GLITTER with new vocals!!!1!!zomg' Hahaha....no. He's actually releasing an indies best album with the same name as the GLITTER album. If you actually read the blog post you would have caught that.

Another recent one is one that some people might know about. Someone was going on about how Gackt and Hyde were going to be in a new sci-fi movie together. That made everyone go "...huh?" Especially because they said that they had heard it from some mysterious!Myspace friend and there had been no mention of it anywhere.

These recurring problems not only feed misinformation to others, but this is one of the major ways rumors start. Not to mention how people go about starting rumors as jokes.

That's another thing. Because jrock is such a word-of-mouth oriented community, people will believe anything they hear. This is another problem that has been happening for a long time and still continues to happen. Fans need to be weary of what they hear and check official sources. Though I think the fact that they actually need to do something like that is rather sad, but that's another blog post.

Page 004

2008-04-22T14:17:00.000-07:00

Can someone explain to me why people add Japanese name suffixes to their own name?

People in Japan don't do it, so why do non-Japanese people do it? I can't think of an English equivalent of '-chan' since that's the most commonly used name suffix by people who add it to their own names, but using '-san,' it's like calling yourself Mr. Frodo. (sorry for the bad joke, I came across Lord of the Rings the other day while channel surfing).

And when it comes to name suffixes, people decide what to call you depending on what kind of relationship you have with them, unless you explicitly tell them to just call you by your name, meaning your name itself, not with any added suffix. It's like calling your professor Professor Vera who's cool enough to let anyone call her by their first name and tells their students to do so.

It's nuances in Japanese culture and language like this that I wish were explained on websites that teach basic Japanese that are producing these misled people, commonly known as weeaboos.

Page 003

2008-04-15T18:03:00.000-07:00

As they say, there's no business like show business.

No truer words were ever spoken about the entertainment industry.

I wanted to comment on what happened concerning the recent incident involving one of the JRR staff members (not the X Japan one...)...funny how I have to specify which incident I'm referring to as there seem to be several when it comes to them and JRR/EINSOF in general...as well as their blog post about it all.

To put it bluntly and to echo their words, it sucks that people refuse to let go of the past when they have changed a lot and they have to keep shaking off those cobwebs. It's 2008 already. People grow and change.

Traditionally, to be in the industry means to alienate the fans. Who has been running the industry until now and still continue to do so on a major level? Business people who have little to no interest in said industry. They walk around in their suits carrying their suitcases, sitting in VIP rooms and attending press conferences with no emotion.

There is a Japanese word for those that are press and media-related people: kankeisha. They are notorious for not showing any emotion to anything. Why? Because most of them don't care. They're just doing their job. It's become pretty much part of the etiquette.

But as it's been said, Jrock Revolution doesn't want to alienate the fans. Jrock Revolution is run by people who were publicly open fans!

Let me pull the key words out of that last sentence: were publicly open

The industry calls for professionalism. It's very difficult to get to know the fans on a personal level without crossing lines no matter how much you trust them. I know I personally hold back all the time from being as open and friendly and silly as I would be because I've become a public figure (however to a much much much smaller extent compared to a lot of other JRR staff) and I have to be careful of what I say. Holding back is not easy for everyone, however, whether it be due to the fact that they're blabber mouths (which is extremely unprofessional even for us) or simply because they're used to being totally honest and open about everything. If we're not careful, people will take advantage of it to slander and propagandize. Why would they do it? I wish I had an answer. To try to make a name for themselves? Because they have nothing better to do? Jealousy? Who knows?

In any case, I hope said JRR staffer can find the balance they're looking for. I just felt like adding on to what they said even though it was pretty much a lot of the same things.

Page 002

2008-04-07T11:53:00.000-07:00

Putting on lace/corset/fish net/etc gloves/arm warmers do not make your t-shirt and jeans outfit look cool.

Sticking a random pink/yellow/etc clip in your hair does not make you oshare.

Piercings don't look good on everyone.

Page 001

2008-04-06T19:24:00.000-07:00

So this is totally experimental. I felt like starting a blog because I've been thinking about starting one for a long time. I might use this mostly as a rant space but it's a blog so if I feel like being creative then I will be.

Ever since X Japan announced their New York show, I'm seeing more and more of the "IN YOUR FACE WEST COAST" "ZOMG A SHOW THAT'S NOT IN L.A.!" "HAHAHA PAYBACK TO CALI"
...and all that.

Since when did California get everything? Did we get L'arc~en~Ciel? No. Did we get Phantasmagoria? No. Did we get RENTRER EN SOI? No. Did we get 12012? No. Did we get Aural Vampire? No. Did we get SID? No. Did we get HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR? No. Did we get PENICILLIN:nano? No. And if Clash Against Commercialism hadn't gotten canceled, California would have missed RENTER EN SOI (YET AGAIN), 12012 (AGAIN), the studs, and boogieman.

Granted we got a lot of other bands, but if anyone should be complaining about somewhere getting everything, it's Europe, namely France and Germany.

They got:

the GazettE (who we never got)
Kagerou (who broke up before we got them)
Dir en grey (before anywhere else)
Moi dix Mois (who we never got)
Eve of Destiny (who disappeared before we got them)
a PSC tour (which we haven't got)
a possible Kagrra, tour coming this summer
Versailles (before anywhere else)
Plastic Tree (who we never got)
KISAKI project (who broke up before we got to them)
Ra:IN (who we never got)
MUCC (before anywhere else)
BALZAC (who we never got)
Onmyouza (who we never got)
deadman (who broke up before we got them)
Calmando Qual (who we never got)
Hagakure (before anywhere else)
ayabie (who we never got)
12012 (before anywhere else)
Merry (before anywhere else)
the studs (before where else)
bis (who broke up before we got them)
RENTRER EN SOI (before anywhere else)
rice (who we never got)
Dio (who we never got)
L'arc~en~Ciel (who's going to Paris this May!)

Need I say more?

Test

2008-04-06T17:56:00.000-07:00

I just started this blog...test 1 2 3...