Music review: Barenaked Ladies - I Live With It Every Day

Artist: Barenaked Ladies Members: Steven Page (vocals), Ed Robertson (guitar), Tyler Stewart (drums), Jim Creegan (bass) Album: Born On A Pirate Ship Release date: 3/19/96 Video link: On YouTube

Lyrics: On August first, nineteen-eight-one I cycled to Scott's house with a BB gun We were almost twelve, but we looked thirteen He had baby-blue eyes that I shot him between Nature provides for us a safety net Whatever we do, we can never forget

Chorus: I live with it every day Even though we moved away Our yesterdays are on a loop; A marathon of heartbreaking moments I live with it every day For every step I have to pay The only thing that they can't take The guild that spirals in my wake

The day they found me asleep on the floor Engine running, closed garage door Was the day the For Sale sign arrived on the lawn Two weeks later, and we were gone Everyone falls through time and the funnel it makes But I'm staying here inside my biggest mistake

Chorus

The love I put away Like games that children play The hearts you choose to break Like cars dumped in the lake The laugh lines on your face The life I won't embrace The cold house I won't leave The guests I won't receive

Chorus About the song: What can I say about this song? BNL has been pigeonholed as a 'funny guy' group due to songs like One Week, Pinch Me and Another Postcard. Meanwhile a lot of their albums contain deep songs about drunk driving, war, domestic abuse and other serious topics. The lyrics to this song are pretty straight-forward. A couple of kids are playing around with a gun and one of them is fatally shot. The surviving kid has to live with the guilt of killing his best friend.

I Live With It Every Day is a good example of why I love this group. I'd also like to note that in the video I linked above, Kevin was recovering from battling leukemia. This concert was aired on PayPerView and I was lucky enough to be able to watch it. I'm glad Kevin has fully recovered and I look forward to many years listening to the band's music.

Music review: Gackt - Mirror

Artist: Gackt Album: Mars Release date: 4/26/00 Video link: On YouTube

English translation by Mina-P: You're never around during the crucial times You're not sure what's important to you Someone's sick of you

You only chase after novelties "Where did those good old days go!!" You have no right to lament things like that

Reflected in your eyes, my face doesn't return anything From the beginning you must have known...

Rush down underneath these heavens By yourself... I wonder if your arms can catch my fostered body

"I'll save the things I believe in" you say The angels are good at excuses with their nonsense, but god's also good at lying

Reflected in my eyes, your tears are all phony In the end I knew you must be smiling...

Embrace each other underneath these heavens The two of us... Your voice shouts, like it's reaching out to my broken heart... And then Hold me tighter

In order to get something, you have to lose something and someone will be hurt

Fall in love underneath these heavens Just a little bit... Because your voice lit a fire in my shyness

Because if these great emotions don't reach out Courageously... Your finger will strike the last blow to my shattered heart About the song: I love this song. It's extremely upbeat and it tells people to GO for what you want. Stop whining about things that happened in the past, look forward and find what it is that you want in life. It's a little annoying when Gackt performs this song because he always stops in the middle to yell with the audience. He runs and jumps around for the beginning of the song so I guess he gets tired and that is the closest he gets to a break. At least he looks like he's having fun performing it. I recommend this song to everyone. It's great to listen to when you're feeling a little down about life or even when you're happy and just want to listen to an awesome song.

JDorama review: Akihabara@DEEP

Title: akihabara@DEEP Broadcast date: 6/19/06 Number of episodes: 11 Genre: Action and Adventure Cast: Kazama Shunsuke, Ikuta Toma, Himura Yuuki, Hoshino Gen, Matsushima Hatsune, Kosaka Yuka, Honjou Manami, Kitamura Kazuki Plot: A group of otaku come together to form a troubleshooting company. They try their best to solve the problems of the people in Akihabara. What is good: Kitamura Kazuki is an awesome villian What is bad: Maybe it's because the concept of Japanese otaku is so foreign but they seemed to overreact to just about everything. Letter rating: A+ Overall: I went into this series expecting something along the lines of Densha Otoko. However, I think this is so much better because it doesn't revolve around the life of one person. You have six people, each with some sort of oddity. Each of them turned to a website, Yui's Lifeguard, in order to help them live their daily lives. It's through this website that they come together and become friends. It was really awesome to watch these people grow into something more than just otaku. They really become close friends.

On the other side, you have Nakagomi Takashi (Kitamura Kazuki) as the bad guy. Kitamura played the bad guy in the latest Densha Otoko special. I think he may be getting a little too close to his otaku side! While Nakagomi is a creepy character, Kitamura plays him perfectly. He really was my favorite character here.

I would recommend this series to anyone interested in the otaku culture. You may not understand a lot of things if you don't have at least a tiny grasp of what otaku means to the Japanese people. "Otaku" in America is very different from "otaku" in Japan. If you can make that distinction, I think you would really enjoy the series.

Game review: Little Shop of Treasures

Little Shop of Treasures is a hidden object game from GameHouse. The object of the game is to raise money to open your own shop by helping other business owners with their customers. Each day you will help a different type of business and at the end of the week, you get to upgrade something on your own store. I love this game. The list of objects to be found is at the bottom of the screen next to a picture of the customer wanting to buy said object. There are five objects listed at once until you finish the list. When you find one of the currently listed objects, another customer pops into that space with something else for you to find.

My favorite part of the game is the help function. If you can't find something, the text will turn into a picture when you click on help. This makes it a great game for kids. It will help them learn to recognize words yet it doesn't give them the answer as soon as they get stuck. I found that the pictures were extremely helpful in a tough situation. To renew the number of 'helps' you have, you simply need to find the two question marks within each picture.

The down side of the game is that you don't get to customize your store when it comes time to upgrade. After each level, a specified part of the store is automatically upgraded. You don't get to choose which part or what colors that part will be. It would have been nice to get to have a little more say in what the shop would ultimately look like. Despite that, I think this may be my favorite hidden object game I've played so far.

TV review: The Suite Life of Zack and Cody

The Suite Life of Zack and Cody is another of The Disney Channel's live-action 'tween' series. However, unlike Hannah Montana, this show is terrible. The main characters are Zack (played by Dylan Sprouse) and Cody (played by Cole Sprouse), twin brothers living at the Tipton Hotel with their single lounge-singer mother (played by Kim Rhodes). Rounding out the cast are Brenda Song as London Tipton, Ashley Tisdale as Maddie Fitzpatrick, Phill Lewis as Mr. Moseby and Adrian R'Mante as Esteban.

While I'd normally be cheering for a show with a strong single mother raising twin boys on her own, the mother is anything but strong. She is frequently shown as incompetent as the boys run rampant in the hotel. There are few times that the boys are punished for their behavior. As characters, the boys are annoying in themselves. Zack is the typical geeky yet somewhat effeminate one that always ends up cleaning up after Cody, the typical lazy yet somewhat macho one. In everything they do, Zack goes for the gold despite having to make up for Cody's lack of enthusiasm over anything that requires more energy than changing the channel on the TV.

The supporting characters aren't even interesting. London is the insipid daughter of the hotel. She throws money at whatever she wants but doesn't actually know anything. Literally. Somehow this stupidity is supposed to be funny. It's not. On the other side we have Maddie. She is the brilliant candy stand salesgirl. It almost seems like her entire reason for being on the show is to off-set London's stupidity because whenever London gets herself into a mess, there is Maddie to help her out of it. Meanwhile, Mr. Moseby is trying to keep the hotel running.

I think that The Suite Life may have had some potential at some point. However, they ruined themselves by making half of the characters so unintelligent that it is painful to watch them. Then they put Zack in a stereotypical homosexual role. (C'mon, how many straight men know the songs of Gilbert and Sullivan?) The one redeeming episode I have seen is "Lip Synchin' In The Rain" where the characters' high school is doing High School Musical for the school musical. All of the jokes about Maddie not looking like Sharpay, despite both roles being performed by Ashley Tisdale, are quite funny. However, once again, Maddie has to bail out London. In my opinion, you should just skip this show altogether. Maybe one day The Disney Channel will learn that this isn't a good show for kids to be watching.

Music review: L'arc~en~Ciel - Flower

Artist: L'arc~en~Ciel Members: Hyde (vocals, guitar), Tetsu (background vocals, bass), Ken (guitar), Yukihiro (drums) Album: True Release date: 12/12/96 Video link: On Veoh

English translation: Yes, you'd noticed that in the afternoon sun I was still sleeping The scenario that won't go as I plan Just causes me confusion

Because I can't meet you today I'll just stay in bed and close my eyes Until the morning after the next I'll be fascinated by the you I see in my dreams

Always shaken up by your smiling face I want to blossom strongly, like the sun Because my heart hurts, hurts so bad it's about to break If it's an unreachable dream, at least let me wither!

I can't smile any longer Even in my dreams, you tell me the same thing Beyond my window I wonder what the real you is doing now

In that far away day called yesterday Holding an empty bird cage As I walked on I was probably searching for you

Even though I'm tempted by the vivid wind I'm still chasing you in a daze The sky, even now a blue that looks ready to rain down Embraces me as I gaze up at it

Carrying countless seeds to that hill I'll lay down a bed of beautiful flowers Hurry and find me, find me 'cause I'll be right here I'll wait to be awakened by you

Always shaken up by your smiling face I want to blossom strongly, like the sun Because my heart hurts, hurts so bad it's about to break If it's an unreachable dream, at least let me wither! About the song: Flower is a sweet little song about waiting for the one you love to return to you. I like the harmonica solos peppered throughout the song. While L'arc is usually a rock band, they manage to kick out these almost-ballads with touching lyrics and a catchy tune. Whenever I make a mix album for myself, this song is almost always on it.

Jdorama review: Kimi wa Petto

Title: Kimi wa Petto Also known as: You're My Pet Broadcast date: 4/9/03 - 6/18/03 Number of episodes: 10 Genre: Romantic Comedy Cast: Koyuki, Matsumoto Jun, Tanabe Seiichi Plot: Journalist Iwaya Sumire (Koyuki) has had a terrible day - her longtime boyfriend broke up with her and she got a demotion at work. On the way home, she finds an injured boy (Matsumoto Jun) in a cardboard box. After nursing him back to health, the boy claims that he will do anything in order to stay with her. So Iwaya takes him in as a pet and names him Momo, after the dog she owned when she was a child. What is good: MatsuJun is pretty cute as Momo. What is bad: The "ideal" man that all the girls want (Tanabe Seiichi) is a huge dork, whereas everyone calls him "cool." Letter rating: B Overall: Kimi wa Petto is a very cute show. However, there isn't a whole lot of depth to it. While you like the characters, there isn't anything to make you really feel for them. Iwaya seems to be stuck in this sadness, even when she's supposed to be happy. Takeshi shines when he takes on the Momo personality but is fairly dull as himself. This is something that you'd watch when you have nothing else to watch and you don't want to turn on your brain.

Music review: Gackt - Dybbuk

Artist: Gackt Album: Crescent Release date: 12/3/03 Video link: On Veoh (video also has White Eyes on it)

English translation by Mina-P: A silver dream, the sweetly spun sound of the rain Who's that standing behind you? Once more, close your eyes so we can meet

My burned out heart is bound in chains My torn wounds are embraced by the sun The light and shadows piercing my body, watching...

"Still, you can't change... so, close your eyes"

I can't wait until you find your way here Don't stop, the rain will tell you when it's over Don't cry, until the wishes you've drawn out have been granted

"Still, I can't let go... so, hold me tight"

"That wish won't be granted... so, raise your hands"

Burned by the sun break my body Pain and separation kill time Yearning for the sun entrust my body Embraced by loneliness kill me About the song: I didn't like this song until I watched Gackt perform it as the opening song for his Diabolos concert. Something about that performance left a powerful impression on me. The song is fierce, yet it has a soft side as well. A dybbuk is a piece of Jewish folklore. It is basically a soul that can't fulfill its duty while alive. It will attach itself to a living body in an attempt to accomplish its goal. Once the goal has been completed, it will leave the body and move on. These are not considered good souls and are often known as tricksters. Taking that knowledge and applying it to the song, we come up with a person that died but their soul could not move on. The soul probably could not let go of the person they loved while mortal. So now they beg for release yet they are stuck until their love has been fulfilled. This is a marvelous song that shows how much thought Gackt puts into his music, his lyrics and his performances. (Seriously, how many of you knew what a dybbuk was before I told you? ;) )

Video game review: Snowy Lunch Rush

I know I stated earlier that hidden object games are my big weakness. I also have a fondness for time simulation games like Diner Dash. This time around I tried Snowy Lunch Rush. The Big Fish Games description of the game reads: "Do you have an appetite for fun? Then join Snowy the Bear as he sets out to run the best restaurant in town! Using nothing but your drive to be rich and famous, send Snowy scampering all over his shabby restaurant to seat customers, take orders, serve food, collect money and clear tables. Combos and other special feats can help you earn enough cash to keep the restaurant open, make repairs and upgrade to swankier locations."

This is such a weird game. It has all the typical Diner Dash-type pieces. Customers come into your restaurant, you seat them (preferably according to their color) then you wait on them. To try to keep it interesting, there are a few additions. Now there is a drive-through for you to keep an eye on and important people can make phone reservations for a table. However, it's rather difficult to get over the fact that it is a couple of bears running the restaurant. Snowy is a white bear that handles all of the customer interaction while Browny does the cooking. If the customers were also animals, it might not be so difficult but they are a variety of humans. Still, the game is enjoyable. I would like it better if you had some choice in the upgrades for the restaurant but it doesn't really detract from the game too much.

JConcert review: Gackt - Jougen no Tsuki

Artist: Gackt Tour: Jougen no Tsuki Year: 2003 Location: Yokohama Arena GacktJOB members: ChaChamaru, You, Ren, Ryuichi Song list: Noah (plays in the background during the introduction) Speed Master Lu:na Fragrance Rain Solitude -Regret- Kimi ga Matteiru kara Doomsday Tsuki no Uta Mirror Another World Soleil wa.su.re.na.i.ka.ra Kimi ga Oikaketa Yume memories Birdcage Orange no Taiyou

Tell me about the concert: As a few of you may know, Gackt is an amazing performer. If you muted the sound while watching this, you could still be very entertained by what you see. The DVD starts out with an introduction about the Moon Saga - a collection of projects that included CDs, concerts (with their DVDs) and a movie. From there, you slam into Speed Master, a high energy, fast paced, erotic song. As a warning, if you have epilepsy, you probably shouldn't watch a Gackt concert. Speed Master starts off with the lights flashing and twirling, making it somewhat difficult to distinguish the individual members of GacktJOB.

Immediately, Gackt slams into Lu:na. Most of his dancers come out wearing black clothes with white masks. Two of the dancers match Gackt’s white outfit, though they have a black hood and a white mask on. While Gackt holds his microphone, all of the dancers hold swords. The dance that follows is a mixture of sword fighting, martial arts and gymnastics.

Fragrance slows things down a little. Smoke surrounds Gackt’s feet as his dancers move around him. It’s a good break from the frantic opening songs.

In my opinion, the performance of Rain is really what makes this particular concert amazing. About halfway through the song, water falls from above and surrounds the stage. I don’t mean that there is one gush of water and that’s it. Rain falls steadily around the stage for a good ten minutes without any apparent splashing onto the stage. I still have no idea how he managed to pull this off without getting a speck of water on the stage. (The video for this can be found here.)

After a short guitar duet between ChaCha and You, a video of flashing lightning and moving clouds is shown. Gackt appears back on stage wearing his black baggy costume and performs a piano piece titled Solitude – Regret-.

Following the instrumental is the one-two punch of Kimi ga Matteiru Kara and Doomsday. Both are powerful songs but Gackt’s performance of Doomsday is exceptional. For those that don’t know, the song is about obsession ending in madness. Gackt uses his entire body to look quite insane as the song bounces back and forth between softness and almost yelling. At the end of the song, a blast of fire shoots upward from the stage as Gackt screams. It is definitely an appropriate ending to the song.

There is a short blackout before we find ourselves looking at a child. Anyone who has seen the movie ‘Moon Child’ would recognize the boy as the child version of Gackt’s character, Sho. The boy and Gackt, who has changed costumes again, stand a couple of feet apart from each other. As Gackt sings, he moves toward the boy. Once they are standing together, the boy begins to lip-synch showing that they are, indeed, the same person in child and adult form. Chalk this up to another beautiful performance for this concert.

Usually this is where Gackt moves into the ‘fun’ side of the concert. We are still treated to the high-energy, GAKUTO-screaming, jumping off the stage fun of Mirror and it is followed up by another high-energy song, Another World. However, this concert leaves out the U+K cat costume dance. Instead, the cats come out to Soleil. It’s not a bad song and I’m sure many people have tried to wash the men in tutus from their brains but it’s not U+K.

Wa.su.re.na.i.ka.ra and Kimi ga Oikaketa Yume round out the last of the fast songs. Gackt finishes the concert with the slower songs, memories and Birdcage. Finally, the cast from ‘Moon Child,’ minus Hyde, come out and perform a small skit. Wang Leehom performs the duet of no Taiyou with Gackt as clips from the movie are shown. Toward the end of the song, the rest of the cast leave the stage and Hyde’s voice comes over the speakers. Gackt finishes off the duet with the recording of Hyde while standing next to an empty spotlight. He motions toward the spotlight and the concert ends.

What are your feelings? This isn’t the best Gackt concert by far but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth watching. If you enjoy watching plays or highly theatrical performances, chances are you will like this concert. Of course, you can watch it just for the Gackt factor too. It’s hard to not like a Gackt concert.