Hatsune Miku Project Diva: miku miku miku miku

(tags game, PlayStation Portable, music, Hatsune Miku)

Oh jeez, I wrote this two weeks back:

I've been playing Hatsune Miku Project Diva (初音ミク プロジェクトディーヴァ) for the PSP on and off, mostly on the bus and train. It's a great little music game with an easy/casual difficulty, reminding me of Pop-N-Tunes/DDR/DJ Max Portable rhythm games but only for my right thumb. I sure wish they used the D-pad too, because the rest of my fingers feel underutilized.

Basically you bask in the glory of Hatsune Miku doujin scene with pre-contributed graphics and music. Sega added a 3d model with some motion-captured dancing and PV frolicking. Very moé-kawaii. There's a lot to unlock, such as costumes (named Modules), and room items, which is for the dollhouse-like mode called Miku's Room. The background loading pictures unlock with time, also the songs need to be unlocked but seem to be a combination of time and level clears. The game gives you hints on how to unlock items, also these hints are unlocked with time, probably.

There are two songs in the middle I have not yet unlocked though. I am wondering what I need to do.

The actual gameplay is pretty rewarding, with simplistic rhythm patterns that match with Miku's voice. The game only asks you to press one button at a time, but the detection is pretty strict. Most music has easy to understand rhythm so even neophytes like me can get high combos, OMG 220+ achieved. The unlockables are easy to uncover, like clear a level 5 times and get a Great score. The placement of the buttons on the screen lead your eyes around, so it's not static like a DDR falling note/rising arrow display. However on Hard difficulty, where they ask you to use all four face buttons (circle, x, square, triangle), sometimes its hard to anticipate which button to press. Only then does the game ask you to start memorizing. One can probably get through Normal difficulty with a couple of plays on reflex alone.

As this is my first time to listen to some Miku music outside of accidental Youtube wandering, I am surprised at the quality of the arrangements. They are so Jpop catchy. I already bought the OST for this game, and I'm now interested in getting other official CDs.

I do have some gripes. Sometimes the screen is so active that there is framerate slowdown. The timing doesn't seem to be affected but its annoying to jump from 30? FPS down to 18? (I don't know the actual numbers). I also mentioned that this seems to be a right thumb only game. My thumb gets tired. I use my cellphone with my left thumb, so give me a break. It would be nice if they could use the D-pad. Perhaps it's a licensing issue. When you press a button during gameplay, the sound is a generic tambourine that is mapped to all keys. Each key should be a different sound like snare drum, etc.

(Back to the present)

I've made much more progress and I'm on the last legs of unlocking the costumes. Unforunately I needed a clue on how to unlock items with "yarikomi?" (「やりこみ？」) written on it. More on that later. One of the good sites for info is the 初音ミク -Project DIVA- まとめwiki. There was a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, called the 初音ミクProject-DIVA-チェックシート.xls for checking off progress. I'm currently using that, but imported into Google Docs. Thanks!

She's in my sights: Shoko-tan

(tags music, anime, 石田耀子, 中川翔子)

Today I just felt like ripping a hole in my wallet. :-) I went to Osaka Nipponbashi, as is my habit when I want to create the most damage. At one of the southern Sofmaps in the area, I saw an anime display with a familiar tune playing. It reminded me of Yoko Ishida's rendition of "Sora-iro Days" (「空色デイズ」 on Hyper Yocomix 3), which was pretty good, so I was curious as to the original singer. It was none other than Shoko-tan (Shoko Nakagawa 中川翔子), huh. Oh yeah, this is the opening song for Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (天元突破グレンラガン), a 2007-04 anime that I did not watch but I think was pretty popular.

I was surprised, because I seem to like her voice as well (having not hearing her voice long enough to remember it). Except Yoko Ishida has much better higher range and cuter voice. Oh well, I bought the full album Big☆Bang, for cheep (? 1200 yen), so I can check the rest of her. Too bad there's no DVD (but I don't need that because this is the Youtube generation).

I don't know why, but she's becoming more and more attractive to me. It's her face, I think, the eyes and princess hair looks pretty good. The rest of her body is like above average, enough to get into the sexy swimsuit magazine Sabra, which is a plus. She did recently get a photo-opin the gaming magazine Weekly Famitsu (which was more elegant), and it revealed some down-to-earth tidbits, like how she was going to cut up her copy of Famitsu to save the clippings. She definately seems to have anime-dork and game-geek cred, while at the same time appearing as the face for some Pokemon related activities, and mainstream commercials. She even appears as the "image character" for a leading Windows anti-virus software. I guess I like her nice and wholesome image.

I've been obsessed with getting her first single with DVD. It has the famous cat-head-eating music video (Cat Life). But why bother, I can always see it (again) on the Internet...(searching) woops, maybe not. Um, there is this cosplay/gravure video. Whoa... NOCARRIER

One expensive CD single: Mirror's Edge PC

(tags Mirror's Edge, game, Windows, music)

I failed to get the "Still Alive - Remixes" CD back in November. As for the PC version, since I was hyping it up to my PhysEngine-hugging pal, he actually broke down and purchased it (after throwing the controller when playing the Xbox 360 demo version). I think he's just starved to get some game that works with his fairly new graphics/physics card. Ha ha.

I also took a look at it in the shop, and was taken away by the words "特典 ミュージックCD" (Bonus Music CD). Of course.

The CD single must be the same thing that I wanted, and is now being sold for 4000 yen domestically or cheaper overseas. Aah. I'm still alive.

Goo Goo Dolls

(tags music)

I'm still tripping out on the '90s, at least the music. I picked up the Goo Goo Dolls's 2002 release, after listening to their two mainstream '90s CDs for forever. It's more of the same, which is good. I feel like I'm going deaf with all that electric guitar, though.

And yes, Round Here. We always stand up straight.

Geometry Wars music

(tags free, music, game, Xbox 360, shmup, Geometry Wars)

Yes I saw on Xbox 360 Fanboy that there was a Geometry Wars related free download, so I grabbed the Geometry Wars 2 music remix, called "46860 Choices". It starts off slow, and the remix doesn't really sound too different.

Oh yeah, I recently played some GeoWars2, but unfortunately I can't beat my own Deadline score. I did get close at 22 million, so the fight is still in me.

Mirror's Edge CD single

(tags game, music, Mirror's Edge)

I should have purchased the Mirror's Edge single remix in my last Amazon batch order. Now it's not available any more. Is it hawt?

Hit me with your best demo: Guitar Hero III

(tags game, Xbox 360, music, Guitar Hero)

I played the "localized" version of Guitar Hero III at two seperate stores last weekend. It was my first time to try out the game and the controller, so I don't know the keys. The only beginning song that I wanted to play was Pat Benatar's "Hit Me With Your Best Shot", and I did that in Slowest playback mode. The volume was set higher than ambient so I felt a little self conscious.

I would like to buy it but I don't like or know most of the songs.

Yet another great "localization" by Microsoft. This game has no Japanese what so ever. Or maybe they set the locale to English on the demo station. Naw that doesn't make any sense.

Waiting for my wheel to come... around... again

(tags game, Dual Screen, music)

I just wanna say that I bought Space Invaders Extreme for the DS last week, but I won't open it until I find the paddle controller. Of course, both were available before, and I let them slip out of my grasp then.

Some gaming: Burnout Paradise and DJ Max Portable 2

(tags game, Xbox 360, Burnout, Playstation Portable, music, Dual Screen)

This is a summary of the last week or two of my gaming hobbies.

I felt like I finished up with Stranglehold, since I mopped up most of the easy and intermediate difficulty Xbox Achievement Points. "Hard" and "Hard-boiled" difficulty remain untouchable, as well as the 50 point killing spree Achievement. So I will toss the game back on the rack for now. Still I wish that other FPS games had the cover and time-slow system that Stranglehold uses.

I went back to Burnout Paradise. I finally completed all the events yesterday, earning my "Elite License". Of course I only seem to be in it now for the easy Achievement points. Now I all I have to do is get 100% completion, which means setting record scores on all the roads in both Showtime and Time Trial modes. Showtime was fun but now its just tedious work. I surpassed 10 million (dollars worth of damage) on one run, just to see how far I could go. Usually you need about 700,000. I wish though I finished Showtime first. And I wished that I drove around the city in Time Trial mode instead of plain mode. That would have made my clear faster ... maybe.

Today I went to the grand re-opening of the Gamers Nanba, now called Ani-Bro Gamers. It was only recent news to me that Animate (or the parent company of Animate) and Broccoli (owner of Gamers) became the same company. I will write more about today, later, if ever. Anyway, my bud asked me if there were any interesting PSP games recently and I named Echochrome. I also dug through my stash and DJ Max Portable 2 came up. I intend to lend it to him if he's interested, but I played it for a day waiting for the opening of Ani-Bro Gamers. I got a max combo (no miss) on my favorite stage Seoleim again. That felt good. Then I remembered that I am playing it on 4p ("easy mode" four buttons) with easy difficulty. Increasing the buttons is just insane, so I tried normal difficulty. I get cut off with "You need more practice!" a heck of a lot more. Stop interrupting the song I am attempting!!?!? How am I supposed to practice! Normal has some interesting new songs (to me). I wish the developers of this game made a casual mode for the music neophyte.

Finally, since I was in Nipponbashi, I checked out some stuff. On the gaming front, I was going to buy the PlayStation Simple 2000 Series The Taxi 2 since it was only 840 yen used, but I thought about Vice City and how I need to Taxi that one. Also I was going to get some DS games, like Super Mario 64 DS, since the price dropped at one store to 2480 yen and I figure I like easy collection-ing type games. However, thoughts of the imminent completion of Burnout Paradise and the Bioshock I haven't opened, stopped me again.

You'd think my willpower is strengthening, but I bought Valve's The Orange Box for Xbox 360 (Asia version) at A-Too. It was only 2480 yen. I suppose I was seeing easy Achievement points again. Portal! I do have Half-Life 2 on my PC (link to me playing with the physics engine back in 2005), but I got it free with my video card, so no problems there. Plus this soft has HL2: Episode 1 and 2, which I doubt my Project Sugar PC can handle. Well it couldn't handle HL2 or Portal deftly, either. I really like how my Xbox 360 is making me ignore PC games and the PC gaming upgrade treadmill. Thank you Xbox.

Jason Mraz meets Caramelldansen

(tags music, anime, purchase)

Okay, not quite but what if?!

Today I got the 600 yen single of that Caramelldansen song, repurposed for Japanese market as ウッーウッーウマウマ(゜∀゜) I haven't yet overloaded on this animeme, but I just might. If I send the postcard with the barcode on it, I can get a DVD. It's probably just a Youtube copy. According to the CD booklet history page, this uma uma + caramelldansen thing was born around Summer 2006 after someone thought to increase the speed of the song by 1.2 on the videos. (「BGMとしてCaramelldansenを1.2倍の速度で再生した動画が出現、これが「ウッーウッーウマウマ(゜∀゜)」がうまれた瞬間である」)

I didn't know about the new Jason Mraz album CD "We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things.", so it was oh damn gotta buy it (Tower Records!) when I saw it. He's going to be touring Japan during the summer. The closest stop is Osaka. The sticker showed a promotion to get free tickets. I thought I would get 6 tries because it showed "X 6" (times 6). Turns out the promotion is named "X6". Aww, just give me more tries.

I haven't yet ripped the Kotoko single for Kamen no Maid Gai or that "@Lantis Non Stop Dance Remix" vol.2 only because Gracenote CDDB doesn't have the track info. I hate typing it up myself.

Kyoko Endo in Osaka, rare?

(tags live, music, artist, Japanese, anime)

80時代のシンガーソングライター遠藤響子（旧芸名：遠藤京子）は、2003からライブ活動を復旧していた。ファンハウス時代のファンとして、私は行きたかったが、そのライブは東京と名古屋中心だった気がする。

それで、突然のメールで「こんにちは。遠藤響子です。」という、大阪ライブの知らせを受けた。今までのメールは「pure modeです。」だったから、これはアーティストが直接にファンを招いていると思っていた。嬉しかった。でも、水曜日夜のライブは神戸から行きづらいだよね。今回はパスしかないな。メールを返事すべきですかね？「応援したいが、ごめんなさい。」

ところで、遠藤響子は2008年6月に、岩男潤子、Les.R、東 真紀、emikoと一緒に「From Voice Vol. 5」というコンサートに参加する予定。参加者にちょっと驚いた。岩男潤子は有名なアニメ「カードキャプターさくら」の声優/歌手で知っていた。またemikoはアニメ「うた∽かた」の音楽関係で知っていた。しかし、遠藤響子のアニメに対して縁がないと思っていた。なぜだ。

I remember the silence more: Halo 3 OST

(tags game, music, Halo, telephone card)

I wanted the Halo 3 original soundtrack, and now I got it with no effort at all:

The CD is the same as the one released in the States I think, since it has the same plastic seal on the top of the CD case and labelling in English. But it was wrapped in the traditional "obi" (帯、たすき, not pictured) that defines the CD experience in Japan. Also Halo 3 and Bungie stickers. *dies*. Not. :-)

I bought the Halo 3 CD at Sofmap, but opted to get Yuu Mao's Someday (below in picture, also my "2006 best music artist (vocal)") at Gamers. I need the Gamers exchange points. For example, the Dijiko and True Tears character telephone card shown in the middle is one of those cards only exclusively obtainable starting today. In other words, I almost missed out. I hating missing out on free stuff at Gamers, because they are so expensive, and plus I have too many points.

Anyways, this telephone card is probably because of Valentine's Day. I heard that elementary boys here will run away from gals who give out chocolate, because of a new tradition. When White Day (March 15?) comes around, the guys have to give back a gift three times as expensive! I am thinking "engagement ring" crisis.

Screech, screech: recent seiyuu cd buys

(tags seiyuu, anime, music, CD, failure, manga)

I've always had a stack of CDs I haven't ripped, and I can't figure out how to motivate myself to get through them all. Mostly they consist of anime/manga drama CDs and character song CDs. But if it's purely music, rippin' is totally effortless.

I watched (田村ゆかり) Yukari Tamura's recent live concert DVD at a shop. It is really annoying to see her look down at her feet every few seconds. Anyway, I happened to find a song I liked from her. I couldn't figure out the name of the song though. So (therefore?) I got her "best album" Sincerly Dears, but still a sucker for completeness so it's the DVD + CD version. This is not a recent release, however. After listening to the CD, the only song I liked was "douwa meikyuu" (「童話迷宮」, lit. fairy tale maze), the song from the anime Akazukin (おとぎ銃士 赤ずきん), which I already had. I like her deeper "grown woman" voice than her "Nanoha" voice, when singing. Another example is "kagayaki no kisetsu" (「輝きの季節」, lit. bright season) and "fukashoku-na ai" (「不可触な愛」, lit. untouchable love). Perhaps I need to give the new songs a chance, because my other 5 star songs from her are "Nanoha" like.

The blind-sided release this time around was (高橋美佳子) Mikako Takahashi's Sweet CD, pictured middle. I like for her parts in Honey and Clover and probably other animes I can't remember. And I thought she was totally hot in one of those H&C interviews. Unfortunately, apart from the up tempo rhythm and the zettai ryoiki front cover, I don't like this CD. :-/ It must be her wavering, quick to clip voice. According to Wikipedia, this is her self produced album, taking about three years to create. On a related note, ever since her character in Hayate no Gotoku was associated with a hamster, I've had a hard time seperating her voice from that image. :-)

I wasn't expecting more than a couple of good songs from (堀江由衣) Yui Horie's latest CD release (pictured right), but at the last count I've five-starred 6 out of 14 songs, with the rest at four stars. It must be the upbeat rhythm and the way she hits those high notes, which sounds so pure. "zutto" (「ずっと」, lit. always) and "lovely everyday" (「ラブリエビリデイ」) stick in my mind. Instead of buying it at Gamers (for a poster and point card exchange) I bought it at Animate (the one pictured below) because B5 paper holder takes up less space (above pictured bottom right).

I also recently bought (茅原美里) Minori Chihara's Message 01 DVD + CD. I couldn't stomach finishing this DVD. She sounds like an dumbass! :-/ Some of her answers to an interview are truly WTF. The above picture is her shop tour at the major Animates. Okay, I'm going to fast forward to the part where she's street singing in Akihabara, according to houkoholic. Oh yeah, it starts at 37:05, all 20 seconds of it, and at 38:42, for a little more than a minute . She sounded so good with her solo rendition of "hare hare yukai" (「ハレ晴レユカイ」, lit. sunny sunny happiness), but the other songs I have of her just don't deserve more than 4 stars.

edit: added Chihara picture

Makin' drama: Kimi ga Nozomu Eien "Next Season" OVA DVD 1 and assorted buying

(tags DVD region 2, anime, music)

Today was the release day for many anime, games and movies. I luckily remembered that it's also the release day for Kimi ga Nozumu Eien OVA. Excitement builds, woo (muted). There was a bunch of stuff that caught my eye but not my wallet: Macross DYRL "HD Remaster" on DVD (a pretty hefty package with all that paper, I got the note from destroy tokyo), Kodomo no Jikan DVD 1 with special "randoseru" case, Kimi Kiss DVD 1. All of these are Bandai releases. Huh. There was even a re-release of the Kimi ga Nozumu Eien TV series on DVD (廉価版). No I don't need to spend 20000 yen on something I already have.

Transformers the Movie (live action) was also on display. I kept standing around and watching it. I'll have to rent it sometime.

Also I saw Patapon for the PSP but I'll let it slide even though casual music gaming is my type of thing. It helps that it got the 35/40 Famitsu scoring (ugh I have invoked the Godwin's law of game reviews).

Nice illustrated paper cover, Kiminozo. I ripped both the Kotoko and Mikuni Shimokawa CDs on my PC while watching Kiminozo on my Xbox 360. I learned that this is a 3 DVD OVA, so I'm in it for 20000+ yen. Okay, 7000 yen for 29 minutes of anime, this better be high visual quality. It is in some parts, and other well, not so much. :(

Mizuki voiced by Chiaki Takahashi (たかはし智秋) only has one line of dialogue, but it's good. And Haruka voiced by Minami Kuribayashi (栗林みな実) is as cute as ever.

The story basically has no tension until the last part, where I was left with WTF, okay?!? :-/ Well, gotta make some drama. Now I can't wait until the next one, which according to the DVD itself is 2008-02-22.

30 minutes of entertainment went fast, so I put in the promotion video DVDs for Kaori Utatsuki (歌月カオリ). Hm, she's seems very uptight in front of the camera. And I don't believe she knows how to handle that guitar in her hands. I wonder how old she is, but she must be in her late 20s early 30s. Wikip is not helpful here.

Oh yeah, and the new Kotoko single is a miss. Plus the Mikuni Reprise CD doesn't have my favorite song which is the ending song to the 2004 TV anime Grenadier called "Kanashimi ni makenaide" (悲しみに負けないで PV and anime clip). Still its not a complete loss because Mikuni's previous CDs were heavily DRMd (thus I have been avoided purchasing them) but this release isn't. I was only lucky to have ripped the DRMd "Kanashimi ni makenaide / Kohaku" CD single because of my old Plextor drive.

Hooray for cuteness: Gamers character goods 2007/11 and Goshuushou-sama Ninomiya-kun

(tags illustrator, character goods, music, anime)

A week ago on 2007-11-21 I picked up the Gamers point exchange telephone card. This time it's cute Petit Charat, but with green eyes. She normally has brown eyes, right? What is with this iris color change thing anyway? I did not anticipate the other point exchange item, which is the "light novel" yellow book cover made of really flimsy canvas-like material. Still, Dijiko FTW!

The telephone card was unadvertised that month, which worried me. Was the period where there were no telephone card item during the 2007 Summer a real break or did I miss something? I am uneasy. But I'm fine, really. :-(

Today I picked up the opening and ending theme of the 2007-10 anime Goshuushou-sama Ninomiya-kun (ご愁傷さま二ノ宮くん). I am a sucker for the cutesy moe voices by Mai Kadowaki and Miyuki Sawashiro (門脇舞以 & 沢城みゆき). A cheerleader's "hooray hooray" turns into "furefure" in Japanese, heh.

Also purchased but not pictured was the limited edition of Nana Mizuki (水樹奈々) latest CD+DVD release, Great Activity. I'm a week late on this recent release, but it still came with a goodie, a slightly large picture of the seiyuu-diva herself. I heard one ballad from the CD at Animate (I think it's "Last Scene" 「ラストシーン」) and it was enthralling so... Normally I'm not into her but I don't doubt her talent.

BTW, it shocked me to learn some time ago that she wanted to be a enka singer. Luckily for us of the moe pursuasion she puts her full concentration on being the imouto-voice seiyuu, haha.

fear the digital contents: iTunes/iPod misbehaving

(tags music, iTunes, ipod)

I was about to rip Apple a new one, because the games I bought for my iPod more than a year ago didn't sync. I think it had something to do with a firmware update that I've been prolonging. But later on this week it fixed itself. It probably had to do with me manually authorizing this computer.

Moving Ballads: Midori Karashima and Carrie Underwood

(tags music, Midori Karashima, Japan, USA, country)

This week I swung by the Tower Records Kobe to pick up my anticipated Bouquet Garni (ブーケガルニ) CD by Midori Karashima (辛島美登里). Unfortuately it wasn't prominently displayed in the eye-catch racks. :-/ And yeah, I already like the new track (no. 4) "dakishimite" 「抱きしみて」. And the lovely revised version of "anata no ai ni naritatai" 「あなたの愛になりたい」, is an update of the song from her 1997 album. It totally reminds me of my spelunkering and puttering around Tokyo at the time. Geez, 1997.

While I'm talking about her, I may as well mention that I found the YouTube video of her song for the Yawara! television anime, called "Egao o Sagashite" 「笑顔を探して」. I never watched Yawara! though, even though I got the CD single. 8cm CD! Geez, 1990.

I drifted over to the other half of the store which was foreign music section. I checked out some favorites, but Carrie Underwood's (newest?) CD stood out. I passed on Trisha Yearwood, sorry! I'm now entranced by her rendition of "I Told You So". I first heard this song through Randy Travis, which has to be my favorite from him. Geez, 1988.

Midori Karashima new album "Bouquet Garni" out 11/21

(tags music, artist, Midori Karashima)

I'm in the music artist Midori Karashima Greenfields fan club and I was excited to see that she's coming out with a new album "Bouquet Garni" (ボーケガルニ) next month. It's suprising that a bouquet garni is something you add during food preparation to make something taste better, but you ultimately take it out. Is this really a good name for an album?

I went to one of her live events but I couldn't see much. She dedicated a song to a newly married couple, but it was amusing to hear directly from her that she doesn't have many happy songs. She proclaims in the article above doesn't have many heartbreak songs since her breakaway hit "Silent Eve". I'd like to hear more upbeat stuff from her, really I do.

Winamp, my old friend

(tags music, player, Windows)

I can't recall the first time I used Winamp but I have some memories of discovering the joy of MP3s with it. After MusicMatch and iTunes though, I rarely installed it. Recently I found out it could read my iPod docked to my work computer without iTunes, so I gave it a go again. Wow its good, fast and stable. The playlist and song info is really detailed too. This feature is due to a software module called pmp_ipod, which is built-in. It is a fork of the optional ml_ipod, and for my use pmp_ipod is better, but compare it for yourself.

Too bad I can't rate songs or have it count my usage. Plus the internationalization on the main window part is still deficient. :-(

Perhaps this type of utility will be gone for the newer iPods, since "Apple kills Linux compatibility with new iPods" (thanks Download Squad).

Cold shower on iPod lust: iPod Classic 160GB and iPod touch

(tags music, hardware, iPod)

Its been almost a year since I got my second iPod (5.5gen, 80GB). Today Apple announced the new iPod line up and it's hard not to ignore.

The iPod Classic (Engadget) has two improvements for me, the 160GB size and the Cover Flow. Not much, eh, since my library is only 52 GB.

The iPod Touch (Engadget) seems pretty cool. I would use the WiFi and Internet browser. 16GB is a disappointment however. The screen is only 89 mm but has a higher resolution than the PSP (480x320@160dpi vs 480x273). This is the one I want to buy, but unfortunately, I saw at Sofmap that it will be 48000 yens. Ouchie.

The overriding reason for me to pass on this refresh is that I still haven't my money's worth out of my current one. 43000 + 8000 yen over about 350 days, thats about 140 yen per day for the privilege to own and use an iPod. Besides I'm not using it to the fullest with about 15 GB free on it and no recent video conversions. The battery still works.

See you in a year iPod Touch!

edit: changed title

No more Mraz

(tags music, artist, failure)

I am in danger of overdosing on the melodic Mraz, so I am going to de-sync the regular albums from my iPod. That will teach me to place a song 28 times or more in just under a week.

Overdosing on Mraz

(tags music, artist, English)

As I said I recently got that Jason Mraz Mr. A-Z CD. I've already played this album many many times, so many times that I wonder if I will get sick of it.

Today I had some time to check out more Mraz videos ("YouTube surfing"). I found more live concerts, some of them in San Diego, my hometown. I caught up with some of the songs I haven't heard yet. Also there was different type of clip that I did enjoyed: the Investigative Report - Invisible Mic News "Golden Record" video where he "unboxes" his Golden Record he received for selling 500,000 records.

I really like his image, positive and optimistic. Well also melancholy and crazy. I also wish he was more popular.

I only have three of his CDs, all mainstream releases. I found that he had some other albums available, through shops like iTunes Store. I do have an aversion to buying DRM digital music, so I didn't go overboard.

Maybe in another couple of months I'll get his other older releases, but not now. Moderation, yes, moderation.

Teary eyes: Mr. A-Z and Lovely Complex

(tags music, English, anime, season 2007/04)

Two things today made me melancholy. Jason Mraz's Mr. A-Z album which I just ripped today, but I seemed to have played countless times. Especially "Please Don't Tell Her". "That I'm crazy like the rest of us.../and I'm crazier when I'm next to her." Aaah. Japanese release has printed English lyrics with Japanese translation. w00t.

And I started watching the anime version of Lovely Complex (ラブコン), with the trajectory of manga to movie to video game (PS2). I watched episodes 1 to 9 non-stop and I loved every minute of this romance comedy with Osaka manzai. It feels like the first arc is over though, so I wonder how it will turn out in the second half. I feel guilty though, since I have the PS2 game since last year but I haven't played it.

Unfortunately for me, I didn't grab episode 12 of Lovely Complex. I'm hating myself.

Read a book, read a book, read a m######f####g book

(tags video, rap, music, education)

Whenever I listen to American rap (which very rare), I lose control of my mouth and I start to say "n###g#r" and other very vulgar phrases because it just sounds so cool. So it was with trepidation that I watched this video: Read A Book by BET (Black Entertainment Television channel). It is too funny, because I can't tell if it's trying to be educational, entertainment, edutainment or parody. The message in simple terms:

• Read a book, not a sports page or a magazine
• Buy land, not fancy toys.
• Drink water when thirsty.
• Raise your kids.
• Brush your teeth.
• Wear deoderant.

But the presentation is typical foul-mouthed rap. And the animation is truly funny, with gyrating hips, guns with books for bullets, spinning (car) rims.

So if we're supposed to read books, what should we read? There was another video that used the same song that showed all kinds of books called "Read A Book - Get Crunk about Reading". The list of the books:

• Up From Slavery: An Autobiography by Booker T. Washington
• Breaking The Chains of Psychological Slavery by Na'im AkBar Ph.D
• The Mis-Education of the Negro by Carter Godwin Woodson
• The Spook Who Sat by The Door by Sam Greenlee
• The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales told by Virginia Hamilton
• I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
• A Day Late and a Dollar Short by Terry McMillan
• The Coldest Winter Ever by Sister Souljah
• Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
• Breaking The Curse of Willie Lynch: The Science of Slave Psychology by Alvin Morrow
• Countering the Conspiracy To Destroy Black Boys Vol III by Jawanza Kunjufu
• World's Great Men of Color Volume II by J.A. Rogers
• The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois
• The Color Purple by Alice Walker
• The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told by Alex Haley
• Sun Zi's The Art of War translated by Dr. Han Hiong Tan
• Nervous by Zane
• Addicted by Zane
• Afterburn by Zane
• Know Thy Self by Na'im Akbar
• The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
• The African Origin of Christianity
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
• Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki
• Think & Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
• The African Origin of Civilization by Cheikh Anta Diop
• Back To Our Roots: Food For The Gods by Chef Dawui R. Ujamaa C.W.C.
• The African Origins: African Origins of African Civilization, Religion, Yoga Mysticism and Ethics Philosophy by Dr. Muata Ashby

I don't understand why The DaVinci Code is in there, but maybe its the stick it to the man theme.

Max combo achieved!

(tags game, music, PlayStation Portable, rhythm)

I finally achieved a Max Combo (No Break) on "Seoleim", that "Level 5" Cute Pop song in DJ Max Portable 2.

Well, this is on Beginner (lax button recognition) and 4 buttons (instead of 5, 6 or 8). But still it feels good to get it done right. And I swear DJ Max is for experts and musicians, not game dilletantes. I got it accomplished at a Nipponbashi McDonalds. They have nice track lighting and seats so I can chill.

The reward for the No Break is a background of the animation accompaning the song. I am going to post it, but it's time for bed.

update: added lower res

Sound miracle: DJ Max 2 Portable collector's edition

(tags game, music, PlayStation Portable, rhythm, import)

This is my new obsession:

No, not the girl in the A1 poster, but the PSP game DJ Max Portable 2. (디제이맥스 포터블2). This is a music game that has you tapping the buttons in time with the music.

As far I'm concerned, this is the system selling game for the PSP. No other game I've played has made me feel as good for buying the PSP. Then again, I'm pretty much a newcomer to music games. Even though I have two Dance Dance Revolution pads and games for the PS1, I never got a chance to use them, and now they're at my sister's place collecting dust. I was enthusiastic in the same way for the more casual Rhythm Tengoku on the GBA. But the PSP has more space for music and variety (47 songs!) and plus it has the fantastic screen to back up the visuals.

I saw the demo video playing on the upscan widescreen and also the PSP upscan unit at Game Hollywood, so I decided to first evaluate the regular version on Saturday. They were running a really cute video, moe anime style with a fun beat (turns out it was for the song "Seoleim", pictured above). After a relaxing bath, I started the game. I slowly but surely came to the conclusion that I would get totally hooked (ハマっちゃいました！), so on Sunday of my Akihabara trip, I decided to get it with the 3 disc soundtrack. But the only way to get it is to get the limited edition for new:

I chose the DJ Max 2 Portable black "Orpheus" Limited Edition (Japan release but not Japan-only). It came with the poster shown above. I chose it over the Silver Limited Edition because there's a portrait inside the same poster gal. Ha ha. The Silver's portrait is the twin girls, which is ok but not as fabulous. Also the Japan-only "Champagne Gold" wasn't anywhere and I wasn't aware of it. The goodies look like this. It was only 2_5000 yen, ha. (Korean Limited Edition was around 1_0000 yen for the same thing, and at GDEX it is about 2_0000 yen, ouch)

But before I got the black case, I saw the predecessor game, DJ Max Portable "Prestige" Limited Edition at one of the Liberty stores. This one comes with a 2 disc soundtrack CD set as well. It wasn't there on Saturday. I decided to get that too, but there was some other guy looking at it for what seemed to be a long time. It was a nerve-wracking minute or two. When he gently put the box back on the premium shelf and shuffled away, I quickly grabbed it up. Only 1_7800 yen at mint used price. It also seems to be that you can play the tracks from the first game on the second game. I'll have to check this out later.

Well, how does it play? Here's a sample user video from the GDC. More to the point, how do I play? Of course, I'm doing "Easy Mode" and "4 buttons for the beginner". I am not even close, although I did get some perfect "max combo" at the level 1 and 2 after practicing non-stop these last few days. I really like the music, well at least most of it, and the videos have high quality anime feel. Like I said, I'm spending most of my time on "Soleim" (a level 5 song) and I'm not going to rest until I perfect that one (because I want to and because it unlocks a downloadable background). Just prepping this blog I finally got under a 5 Break after spending most of yesterday and today at under 15 Break (shown above).

I have to say though at the beginning, I wished there were more beginner songs. But after spending more time with it, I started to warm up to playing fast, or at least faster than what my Sudoku-induced atrophied fingers are used to. So bring on the level 5s and 6s LOL (FYI level 5 is still beginner) Plus I love the feeling from learning something. Also I seem to be able to read that falling bar thing without hesitation now.

Ahh, I need to play this more until my thumbs bleed. Two or three buttons per thumb? Surely you jest.

Atheist on the Highway: Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune music for free

(tags music, free, game, race)

According to the elitist snobs at Insert Credit, there was (and still is) a freely available music collection for the arcade game Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune (湾岸ミッドナイト MAXIMUMTUNE), composed by Yozo Koshiro (古代祐三). You can download this free 14 track trance-themed soundtrack.