Artist: MiCHi
Release Date: May 27, 2009
Label: Sony Music Entertainment
Personal Rating: 4/5

1. KiSS KiSS xxx
2. WoNDeRLaND?
3. Smells Like Teen Spirit
4. ChaNge the WoRLd (remix)
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Believe it or not, KiSS KiSS xxx may have thought to have been one of MiCHi’s most addicitng songs ever but there are still elements that have been carried on from PROMiSE. (Which was like three releases ago.) Plus there’s ChaNge the WoRLd that already soudns similar. I’m just thinking that MiCHi probably needs to try something different with her A-sides. (Preferably something MUCH different from PROMiSE.) At least her vocals are still a big plus.

This time, the B-side doesn’t really surpass the A-side. WoNDeRLaND? soudns pretty underwhelming but the new thing is that she speaks French for some parts of the song but then there’s that harmonica that somehow mixes well with the song. Let’s just say that this song was okay.

Just so you know, Smells Like Teen Spirit was MiCHi’s cover of Nirvana’s version. I guess this was an okay’s version of the cover but it’s sure interesting to hear a woman sing a hit song that was sung by a guy.

And like always, her remixes aren’t really all that great…

Personal Rating: 4/5

Artist: MiCHi
Release Date: February 18, 2009
Label: Sony Music Entertainment
Personal Rating: 4/5

1. ChaNge the WoRLd
2. One of a Kind
3. PROMiSE (Smart Sports ver.)
4. HEy GirL (XB remix)
————————————————————–
What’s with all of the complicated upper and lowercase titles? It makes it so darn hard to type out!

Looks like ChaNge the WoRLd took after PROMiSE. Not to mention that they really do sound like they’re from the same category but there’s more added to ChaNge the WoRLd. (Like more instruments and English verses.) But for some reason, I prefer PROMiSE since there’s a more powerful chorus and the song seems to stand out more.

One of a Kind is actually a pretty aggressive song with all of the lyrics completely in English and there’s like no resemblance with her older songs. (Except for the fact that sdhe still sounds like she’s pissed off at someone.) But I’ve gotta say, it didn’t really bowl me over despite the fact that it sounds like its own kind.

Personal Rating: 4/5

Artist: MiCHi
Release Date: June 27, 2008
Label: Sony Music Entertainment
Personal Rating: 4/5

1. Fuck You And Your Money
2. We Will Rock You
3. London Bridge
4. Spread Your Wings
5. Wannabe
6. ReaL
7. Madness, Vol. 2
8. Surrender
9. You Gotta Be
10. Spread Your Wings (Remix)
11. Madness, Vol. 2 (D.O.I. Remix)
————————————————————–
This was actually MiCHi’s debut release even though it’s pretty much an album. I’m still deciding whether I should change the way I review the albums, though.

Just to say before hand: We Will Rock You (by Queen), London Bridge (by Fergie), Wannabe (by Spice Girls), and You Gotta Be (by Des’ree) are all covers by various English pop artists. (The only main difference is the fact that MiCHi is singing the songs.)

Fuck You And Your Money (don’t mind the title), and Spread Your Wings were probably one of the most agressive that I’ve heard from MiCHi. (You know what, I just can’t type the title without feeling guilty.) F- you and your money had lyrics that actually sounded quite funny as she was describing her relationship struggle and anger. At least with Spread your Wings, the lyrics go more into the deeper side of emotions with a touch of an aggressive tone in her voice.

Madness, Vol. 2 was a song of it’s own, an interlude. The background instrumentals sounded pretty powerful and awesome making me replay the song over and over! (Even though it’s just an interlude, I thought that it was cool for a song without much vocals.) Personally, I thought that this was a one-of-a-kind interlude.

ReaL, and Surrender are the not-so agressive songs in the album; making ReaL a somewhat moderately upbeat while Surrender was pretty much like an R&B oriented song. ReaL has an interesting feel with the mood of the lyrics but the instrumentals pretty much overpowered her vocals a little bit. I’m not really an R&B listener but I thought that Surrender sounded okay.

Personal Rating: 4/5

Artist: MiCHi
Release Date: October 22, 2008
Label: Sony Music Japan
Personal Rating: 3/5

1. PROMiSE
2. HEy GirL
3. Sk8er Boi
4. Fuck You And Your Money (ED BANGER ALL STARS remix)
—————————————————————————-
Okay, I was bored so I decided to start featuring some more artists. (Even though I know that I can’t handle them, lol.)

PROMiSE soudns pretty cool with the awesome English vocals and the powerful voice throughout the song. I like how there’s a build up with the instrumentals which makes the vocals sound the more appealing to listen to. There are also some segments of the song that sounds pretty cool with all of the rapping.

What’s with the elephants in HEy GirL? Anyways, the first of the B-sides doesn’t really beat PROMiSE but it’s really interesting to hear how the tone of MiCHi’s vocals sound like she screaming at someone. (Well, it suits the way she looks like on the cover.)

I seriously don’t know where I’ve heard this song before but I’ll say that Sk8er Boi suits with MiCHi’s vocals.

No comment on the Fuck You And Your Money (ED BANGER ALL STARS remix) but I’ll just say that it’s just not worth the listen.

Personal Rating: 3/5

What a week, and weekend, it has been. The first heatwave of the year has struck us. Thankfully, here at the coast we were spared from most of the heat for the week, with temperatures ranging from 27-33C here in Sydney. However this weekend was much hotter, including today: 41C!!! It was a real scorcher, and the only way out was running to the waters. We went swimming twice (morning at the pool and afternoon at the beach) and Zoe spent the rest of the day playing in her nappies (see pic). Still, we should consider ourselves lucky as some inland places were even hotter, for example Alice Springs had temperatures of 46C for the last 3 days. Anyway, it seems the worst is behind us as the temperatures are supposed to fall tomorrow to a cold 23C. What a relief…

Zoe seemed to have minded the heat much less and was very happy playing in (and with) water the whole day. It was also finally an excuse for her to have some ice cream, which she enjoyed a lot, as you can see below. Otherwise, there is nothing really new here… we are just working hard and we can’t believe that Christmas is already around the corner. Zoe is changing again so fast and is copying now everything we are doing. She is also speaking much more, although she seems still to sort out the different languages. For example, she says most of the time “wagua” for water, which is a mix of “wasser” (German) and “agua” (Portuguese). We are also having the feeling that she understands now many things in the two languages. For example, if you ask her in any of the two languages where something is, she goes directly to pick it up. What a clever girl we have! An unbiased Father’s opinion, of course

ps. 41 C is VERY hot – even for Brazilian mamae!

Monday, just me on a lonely day. Why can I see the gloomy clouds when it’s a nice and sunny day? Why, in this lace, on this road? I don’t know the reason… But it should have a worthy meaning! I won’t cry, I won’t run away; I told myself that even within childish dreams, it shouldn’t be the way it is now. The future’s gonna collapse…

You told me “Everything will be ok.” Always so close, you gently reached out your hand. Without hearing anything, you just understood. I won’t forget. Always…

One day, one day, that cloudy day, I hugged you so strongly, and left. Your heart was breaking, that’s what it looked like for me… You said, why oh why, and made an awkward face. It’s a lonely face… You told me “When you’re alone, read this.” and waved goodbye. As soon as we parted, I opened your letter. On the way back the airport, in my car, I cried. Don’t forget, don’t start changing; I can still recall it all.

You told me “I love you.” On the last night, you gently stretched ot your hand. Without saying anything, you held me. I won’t forget YOU.

I don’t know what to say, so it’s just “thankyou”. You showed me the way to come back. I ouldn’t get this far alone. With you there, I stood on two feet. Baby, can you feel? With you there, I regained my strength. (Now let me prove it to you.) I want you to know! So I’ll sing it, from now, for forever, I’ll be there for you.

You told me “Everything will be ok.” Always so close, you gently reached out your hand. Without hearing anything, you just understood. I won’t forget. Always… You told me “I love you.” On the last night, you gently stretched ot your hand. Without saying anything, you held me. I won’t forget YOU.

Born in the UK city of Birmingham to a British father and Japanese mother, she moved to Kobe when she was 2 years old. However, the family moved back to the UK after the Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995. At the age of 18 she was on the verge of entering art college in Manchester, but decided instead to return to Japan to try her hand at a singing career. Within a year she was working with producer Matsuzawa Tomokazu and in June 2008 she released her first indie album. The album topped the iTunes chart and three tracks (including “Fxxk You and Your Money”) took the top three slots on the iTunes dance chart. Before the end of the year she had made her major label debut with the album “PROMiSE” on Sony Music. This year has seen her touring, taking part in summer festivals and making several TV commercial appearances.

November is in full swing and with that the days got longer and it is much warmer. Another sign of the coming summer is a free art exhibition, called “Sculptures by the sea”, which is running every year in November. The nice thing about this exhibtion is that the art installations are mainly by local artists and even better the exhibits are dotted along a very beautiful costaline path from Coogee to Bondi beach. Even more importantly, on our arrival in Australia, we went on the first day (with John) to this exhibition in 2007. So, we made it to our “tradition” to visit this exhibition every year… which is not a hard tradition to keep, I have to admit. Anyway, so below some pictures of this year’s exhibition to which we took Zoe. She enjoyed herself first a lot in the rucksack, before exploring some of the sculptures in person.

Ich seh schon, ich habe hier in letzter Zeit eher getwittert als gebloggt, also bin ich euch mal wieder ein paar Zeilen mehr schuldig:

ich war am 02.11. in Erfurt auf den Jupiter Jones Konzert. Die Location (Engelsburg) war an sich sehr schön, nur die Säule mitten auf der Bühne hat gestört, weil man nie die ganze Band sehen konnte. Das Konzert an sich war echt super. Die Vorband Cancer war gut gewählt. Musikalisch müssen sie vielleicht noch etwas üben, aber sie hatten definitiv Spaß an der Sache und haben gut Stimmung gemacht. Und Jupter Jones -  wahnsinn. Mehr gibts dazu nicht zu sagen.

Danach mussten Ralf, Ulli und ich nur noch auf den Zug warten – der erst so gegen 4.30 uhr fuhr. Jippie. Das war ne echt lange nacht und so gegen 7 Uhr waren wir dann auch endlich wieder in Schmalkalden. Aber für das Konzert hatte es sich echt gelohnt.

Den Tag drauf ist mein Kater gestorben. Grausamer Tag Seither bin ich schon ganz schön geknickt.

Wenigstens ging’s das Wochenende drauf zum Rise Against Konzert – mal wieder nach Erfurt (aber diesmal wenigstens mit dem Auto ). Das Konzert war gar nicht so schlecht – aber Rise Against habe ich das Jahr zu oft gesehen um mich davon noch richtig begeistern zu lassen

Das ist jetzt ziemlich genau eine Woche.

Letzten Montag waren Michi, Martin, Isa und ich bei unserer ersten Salsastunde. Wir hatten Spaß. War echt lustig und wir waren froh uns doch dafür entschieden zu haben.

Mittwoch war Fasching. Es war ganz nett – ich habe zwar schon bessere Partys in Schmalkalden erlebt, aber … es war nett

Donnerstag und Freitag hab ich ganz schön die Schultern hängen lassen. Dass mein Dicker tot ist, hat mich nochmal ganz schön mitgenommen.
Heute gehts noch – na mal sehen, ist ja auch erst Mittags.

So – jetzt muss ich mich entscheiden, was ich heute noch mit meinem Tag anfange. Also Lernen wäre nötig und Putzen wäre nötig … So wie ich mich kenne, zock ich aber eher eine Runde

UP TO YOU Tracklist:

1. MadNesS vol. 1
2. PROMiSE
3. ChaNge the WoRLd
4. Why oh Why
5. HEy GirL
6. KiSS KiSS xxx
7. RaiN
8. Oh Oh…
9. Something Missing
10. One of a Kind
11. WoNDeRLaND?
12. Shibuya de Punch
13. YOU
14. UP TO YOU

Some days or maybe even a week ago I received my copy of this great debut album and it came with a little extra. A piece of newspaper about Japanese baseball thanks to my middle man! I found that cool but not as cool as my CD+DVD album. And after writing about her last single before this album I wanted to make sure you also know what I think about the new songs.

Of course all four A-sides can be found on this album. The similar sounding PROMiSE and ChaNge the WoRLd very matching placed right after each other. The catchy KiSS KiSS xxx not long after those two and almost at the end of the album there’s the beautiful ballad YOU. I think it would have been better to put it at the very end but who cares?

But not only the A-sides are here for your pleasure but also the B-sides. The attitude-rich HEy GirL from the first single, One of  a Kind and the a bit weird WoNDeRLaND? which I still find has too much mixes of English and Japanese. But there are also the Kind-of-B-Side Why oh Why which is a new version of YOY from the YOU single. I don’t exactly know which one I prefer. YOY sounds really playful but Why oh Why has the richer sound. I think it depends. And so there’s one last song that we already know which is the title song UP TO YOU. It actually is a new and now part-Japanese-part-English version of the all-english Fuck You And Your Money from her indies album. It’s now more like the rest of the album, going into the dance-direction and not so much rock. I think it lacks the power of FYAYM and it just doesn’t fit the position as album-closer.

That means there are 9 songs that we (kind of) already knew before the album was released, leaving us with 5 new songs. But in reality it’s only 4 because MadNesS vol. 1 is the intro. The only Japanese word in it is her own name and it is kind of crazy with little different instrumental parts and the lyrics are also fun. “Switzerland~”. There even are some references to the songs from her indies album.
Track 7 is the next new song RaiN. It’s laid back and simply consists of an acoutic guitar and some other sound effects but you don’t drown in it. The chorus is exactly like what we know from MiChi and maybe you could describe it as a slower version of KiSS KiSS xxx.
Oh Oh… starts like it could be another song like RaiN and the whole song through you won’t get another impression. At least not if you only listen to the instrumentation. It’s MiChi’s vocals and the lyrics that make it different. We got this really soft drum beat and then again MiChi is full of attitude which is a really nice and not so often seen contrast. I already mentioned Fuck You And Your Money but even though the title implies it, the F-word never is heard in this song. In Oh Oh… it is.
With Something Missing we could almost be on her indies album again with the heavy vocoder and stuff. But that’s only for the verses since the choruses sound like her singles which isn’t a bad thing. It’s just her style and it’s still good. I would have loved more power but like this we get some feelings in the bridge.
The last one of the new songs is Shibuya de Punch and it might be the most creative song with the different vocal styles like the “normal” singing, the singing under the vocoder and her “asking”. The music also makes some changes from a really modern, fast song to a more laid back and simple styled one with some influences of traditional asian music, I think. With it’s long outro it lais the path for YOU after it.

Since I also got the DVD that came with the limited edition of the album I will shortly say something about it. The PVs are good and creative for a newcomer. Sure, PROMiSE and ChaNge the WoRLd are kind of similar but you can’t help that. I would have loved to see some Making of or a new PV for one of the album songs but at least there’s the CD+DVD version and you don’t have to purchase the PVs extra (Damn You, Chihiro!)

I can’t really say much negative about this album. We got a lot of songs we already know but some of them were new mixed or even with new lyrics and all in all are 5 new songs a good amount for an album. Which singer gives you an album of 14 tracks with only one Intro?! And all in all are the songs great anyways and if you don’t have the singles you don’t have the heard-too-often-effect. I only hope that MiChi tries out a bit more or finds her way back to the “extremer” music like on MiChi MadNesS.
I think my money was well spent.

P.S.: My favorite tracks are in italic.

Incredible but true it was today, two years ago, that we arrived blurry-eyed and jetlagged in Australia. We remember it like yesterday when John picked us up and took us directly for a walk at the sea, actually to an open-air exhibition called sculptures by the sea. Even more incredible is to think how much has happened in these last two years, especially with the arrival of our precious Zoe.

We are feeling really settled now here and are starting to get nicely integrated. No wonder that we will be applying for permanent residency as soon as we can. Australia has been really good to us by having great jobs and a great lifestyle. What can we ask for more?

MiChi y Saori@destiny son dos cantantes japonesas que, musicalmente hablando, no tienen absolutamente nada en comun. Mientras que MiChi canta un pop bastante melodico y que le resultaria agradable escuchar a cualquiera, Saori hace un electro pop completamente caotico que quizas no sea de gusto muy masivo, pero que no deja de ser adictivo.

A pesar de lo opuesta que son sus propuestas musicales, ambas son awesome y recomendables, por lo que se merecen un espacio en mi blog.

MiChi: entre Inglaterra y Japón

Empecemos con la mas “tradicional” de las dos: MiChi. Aunque es japonesa, vivó gran parte de su vida en Inglaterra y de seguro este hecho influyó en su musica, ya que a pesar de que canta en japo, su estilo es mas cercano al pop europeo que al J-pop, por lo que resulta facilmente recomendable a todo tipo de personas, incluso aunque no este acostumbradas a la musica asiatica.

Este es su PV de Pomise, que en mi opinión, esta buenisimo tanto en terminos musicales como visuales:

Y “ChaNge the WoRLd” que tambien es notable:

Pero la canción que me hizo apreciar realmente su musica fue “Something is Missing” y no tiene PV, pero merece que la incluya de todos modos:

Saori at destiny: el caos hecho electropop

Y ahora, es el turno de la idol nacida directamente de las calles de Akihabara, el corazón del frikismo japones. Su album debut se llama “JAPANES CHAOS” y el titulo la define de forma excelente. Su musica se acerca mas al techno y electro que al pop, con uso (y quizas para algunos, abuso) de sintetizadores y melodias un poco repetitivas, pero increiblemente adictivas.

Lamentablemente, el unico PV que tiene (Wow War Techno) es sencillamente asqueroso. Esta bien, el mundo esta en crisis economica y todo eso, pero una canción como esta merecia algo mas digno supongo… en fin, les presento el unico PV que se disfruta mas con los ojos cerrados:

Mejor, para que pasen el trauma, les dejo la live performance de Sayonara Revival (aunque es mejor la versión del album…)

Y porque probablemente jamas comercialicen su musica por este lado del mundo, pueden descargar los albums de Saori y MiChi desde aca:

Saori@destiny – Wow War Techno

Saori@destiny – JAPANESE CHAOS

MiChi – Up to You

Espero que al menos les den una oportunidad, los 3 son excelentes albums (aunque Wow War Techno sea en rigor un mini-album) que merecen ser escuchados completos una y otra vez en un loop infinito como dijo por twitter @Hiroki_bass de False Opereta.

DE LAS HOJAS DE PAPEL A LA PANTALLA

Hubo una época en el “cole” en el que aburridos tras acabar un trabajo en grupo, y ya que no había nada más que hacer, mis amigos y yo nos poníamos a jugar michi para matar el tiempo, o por lo menos hasta que todos los demás terminaran de desarrollar sus ejercicios de matemática y el profesor terminara, oficialmente, con la clase.

El juego tiene muchos nombres, en Perú se le llama “michi”, en Argentina “tatetí”,  en México “gato”, en Venezuela “la vieja” o “el juego de la vieja”, sin embargo, es muy difícil conseguir el juego en Internet con esos nombres, lo más probable es que lo encontremos como “Tres en línea” o “Tres en raya”.

El juego es muy sencillo y se realiza entre dos personas, aunque actualmente puede ser solo una contra la computadora, si bien es más divertido ver la tensión del adversario mientras se juega.  El objetivo es formar una línea vertical, horizontal o diagonal con tres marcas propias y consecutivas. Comúnmente se juegan con aspas (X) y círculos (O), pero se puede utilizar también cualquier marca o sello personal si así se quiere, mientras se logre formar los tres en línea necesarios para la victoria. El juego en línea conserva, no obstante las tradicionales aspas y círculos y está disponible en diversas Website de juegos online comúnmente en dos niveles: easy y hard y puedes jugarlo cuantas veces quieras contra el computador. Así que si tienes un tiempo de ocio y quieres recordar tus días de “cole”, o tus momentos de niñez, en los que los juegos de papel eran el mejor entretenimiento, busca “Tres en raya” y gánale a la máquina como adversario.

Es un artículo de http://juegosonlinegratisflash.wordpress.com/

Talvez eu nem goste deste jogo quando for lançado, mas a verdade é que eu gosto da publicidade que se faz em cima da personagem no Japão. É muito legal!

Bayonetta é uma bruxa do tipo “professorinha gostosa” em inglês fala com sotaque britânico, em japonês fala com autoridade, tem uma música tema dançante cantada pela Michi, diz  que gosta de tabús e tem propagandas muito maneiras e um marketing extremamente agressivo no Japão. Isso sem falar que a roupa da mulher é o próprio cabelo. Putz!

Eu vi uma entrevista no blog de Bayonetta onde Hideki Kamiya, o criador, diz que a atriz que ele gostaria que interpretasse a Bayonetta no cinema fosse a Elizabeth Hurley.  E você, qual é a sua Bayonetta?

A Bayonetta foi colocada na estação de trem japonesa cheia de adesivos!

Poucos dias depois ela já estava bem a vontade!

A SEGA criou a fundação Bayonetta que tem a função de transformar as garotas em bruxas fazendo Cosplay de Bayonetta no Halloween. O que você acha? http://www.bayonettahalloween.com/

Escute abaixo a música de Bayonetta chamada Something Missing interpretada pela cantora Michi.