Elin's Journal

I can't believe I forgot to mention me and Will's new favorite singer, Yelle! She's French, she's cute, and we can't get enough of her record.



AWESOME. Also, what makes it better? It's a dis song, against a misogynistic French "hardcore" rapper. She's also awesome because she worked with hilarious French parody rapper Fatal Bazooka, who we are also currently much enamored with.

Of course, I might be biased, since I have always had a soft spot for obnoxious French music. Witness:

"Visage" by Visage (clever, weren't they?)



This song takes me back to being ten years old, since my dad just loved Visage. He had all their albums. (Probably still does...)

I kind of miss the glamour of the 1980's, when you were supposed to cake on the makeup and pretend you lived in a Roxy Music video, dating supermodels and jet-setting around. It was a little pretentious and ostentatious, but at least it was classy! Ostentation now is just about how much bling and designer logos you can pile onto something or how expensive your incredibly tiny slut clothes are. Not nearly as cool.

Of course, I also love and miss the kitschy over-the-top candy colored 80's as well. I still would like to dress like the girls in Fuzzbox or Strawberry Switchblade, please and thank you.

This is the song that has been stuck in my head for the last two days.



Cocteau Twins, "Bluebeard".

Now it can get stuck in all of YOUR heads! :D I kind of don't mind this song being in my head, because I like it. Dig those crazy 1993-94 fashions, though. That was what we had for "alternative" back then, black pilgrim dresses and horrible makeup colors. This was also when one would stay up late to catch 120 Minutes on MTV, because that'd be the only time one could see a Cocteau Twins video but one might also end up seeing stuff like Whale. I was 22 in 1993, and just starting to go to conventions and to work in comics. Weird, huh?

(Yes, I know, I am only posting memes and videos anymore. I have no time. It's awful.)

When listening to any version of the song "Planet Earth" immediately following the line "Like some New Romantic looking for the TV sound...", what do you find yourself saying?

A) "You'll see I'm right some other time"
B) "Switch it off!"
C) Nothing, why on earth would I listen to Duran Duran?!

After a visit from DR, my iTunes works and now comes the Herculean task of deciding what goes in the iPod and what is not worthy. So far, the "base" consists of Bowie, Blondie, Duran Duran, T.Rex, Adam Ant, The Smiths/Morrissey, Roxy Music and the Fratellis. I am so predictable.

In other news, they finally fixed the broken faucet in our bathroom. Hooray!

EDIT: And the iPod refuses to sync and the computer sees it as a broken USB device, despite doing every single trouble-shooting suggestion. Lovely. Tests with willworks old iPod work fine, so it's the actual device itself. Now to go and do the "give me a new one and take this back" dance at the Apple store.

Sometimes, you find an AMV that is really good, and reminds you how cool the idea of fan-made AMVs can be:



Osamu Tezuka's Metropolis combined with ELO's "Twilight" and "Yours Truly, 2095". So few people realize that those two songs segue right into each other on the album; they only know "Twilight" from the Daicon Animation or the opening to Densha Otoko. I really like the Time album, because it is so science-fiction-y, and tells a whole story of a guy who gets lost in the future. I know, nerdy. But I am a giant nerd.

Anyway, whoever edited this AMV did a fantastic job. It doesn't hurt that they used Metropolis footage either- I really loved that movie, and am still baffled why it's so unpopular among anime fans.

I give you Mental as Anything performing "Spirit Got Lost".

In Japan anyway, where they have already developed Hatsune Miku, a synthesized idol. Using Vocoloid 2 software from Yamaha, she can sing any song you choose. Near as I can figure out, she must be the perfect idol singer- she'll never age, never grow up, never cause any scandals, and she has the cutesy vocal stylings so popular in Japan. Her adorable mascot character design probably isn't hurting her any either! Yamaha will be releasing two more "virtual idols" using this software.

Considering how popular video game characters have been in both Japan and America (since you can basically attach any personality or quirks you want to, as they are essentially cyphers), I suspect the personality-free Hatsune-san will be incredibly popular. There's already an all-Hatsune-Miku doujin event in Japan.

Videos of our future computer pop star overlord under the cut.
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So, so weird. Yet so fascinating!

In other things, work continues, lots of it. Also, money is tight right now due to checks not coming in when they are supposed to, so once again I will flog my auctions.

Ebay Auctions are Here!
FurBid Auctions are Here!

My new favorite band, thanks to suarez, the awesome and totally cute, Ore Ska Band!



Who wouldn't love cute Japanese girls in matching ties playing brass on the train for skanking Japanese grandpas?! Only Communists, that's who!

They're like the Trombone Girls if they really existed. There's a nerd comic reference for ya!

And oh yeah, new eBay auctions are up, yo. Lots of manga this time.

It's no secret that I am a fan of David Sylvian's early work with his band Japan. It makes sense, since I love Duran Duran, and without Japan, Nick Rhodes would never have been inspired enough to create his own band (though, sometimes, it's a little scary how well he channels Sylvian in interviews...). I've found that I pretty much love every band that the guys in Duran Duran cite as influences- Roxy Music, T.Rex, Bowie, Chic, Japan, Magazine, etc. In trying to get over my sinus headache of doom today, I was surfing YouTube, where I came across a video from Masami Tsuchiya's Japanese band, Ippu-Do. Tsuchiya was the guitarist in Japan, temporarily anyway. Videos under the cut!
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It's fun to find out how things are connected in music. The internet just makes it so much easier to do now...

"Resist Her" by the Comateens, an obscure post-punk band from NYC. I own their album ("Deal With It") on vinyl, which was given to me by my Pop when he got tired of it. As a teenager, I listened to it a lot, and never knew anyone who had ever heard of them besides me. (As was the case with virtually dozens of bands I listened to a lot in my teen years- my Pop's musical tastes were diverse, cutting edge and nothing if not obscure.)



On a whim, I typed their name into YouTube. All the videos seem to be posted by them, since there are references to their MySpace page in the information! Too cool.

Now, if I could just find anything on The Orchids, I would be set. The only reference I can find to them online is an eBay auction for their self-titled album. I love that album completely (again, another record given to me by my Pop, which I treasure), but the band is painfully obscure.