My band~! ^^

Hello, everyone~! Haven’t been on for a while now, have I? ^.~

Well, anyway, for today, I’m putting up a link to my band’s blog (I’m keyboardist and second vocalist in that band, as well as co-songwriter with the lead vocalist.) We are called – for now – [inertia's final velocity]. Please check us our on fBand as well under the name, “Inertia’s Final Veloddcity”!

http://ifvblog.wordpress.com

Sorry again for the shameless advertising!! >.< *shot*

The Life of a High School Director

Okay, let’s face it. I’m not exactly having the most enjoying my first time as a director for a radioplay. For one thing, most of the people who are involved don’t live where I do (US, UK, Australia, you name it.) except for Cataphrak, who’s one of the voice actors. At the same time, I’m still trying to find time to audition for other radioplays. (I already got casted as an understudy for one of the characters in “Twilight of the Twins” by rebelcheese on the VAA (www.voiceactingalliance.com/board))

The script is nowhere even close to being completed because all of the other writers have other stuff to do… At least be ready to do this when you sign up for it…

But, I shouldn’t complain, considering that my life is no different from them in terms of school as well as finding time to actually work on this. I just want to get this all over with before my anxiety attacks become heart attacks… x.x

All Good Things Must Come To An End…

Did you ever hear the saying, “All good things must come to an end?” Well, whoever the hell thought of that was right. Nothing good lasts forever.

Last week, winter vacation ended and school started again like normal. (We even had homework.. x.x)  And in a matter of six months, my friends will be graduating, leaving me to be with others my age in the following September as a Junior in high school. Also, 15 will be over by then.

I always dreamed of having the life when I turned 16. The glamor of it all… Well, now, I’m fucking scared! 16! I mean, after that, I only have two years of teen years left before I have to become… *gulp* an adult. Which means, going to a university that I am only mediocre about because my parents want me to go there (University of British Columbia, although I highly doubt I’ll be able to get in. -.-) and I’ll probably be pulling all-nighters to finish my latest film project and/or essay.

Is it just me, or is time passing by too quickly? It must be just me, because I know people who complain about how long English or Math classes are.

What if time flies by so fast that I end up not having enough time? Will I have time to make memories that will last me through my bad days? Will I have time for myself in the future? Will I have time to think things out before I make life-altering decisions?

I guess only time can tell…

My Theory on Why Subs are More Popular Than Dubs

Okay, let’s face it, people. The whole reason for the recent financial downfall of anime DVD sales is because we’re all watching free fansubs online or downloading them off torrents. But, the question is, why do we do this?

Well, I was thinking about it in the shower (where I always tend to do my thinking because nobody can disturb me there… ) and I remembered that I was watching some gameplay videos of the new Tales of Symphonia game that came out in North America. If I remember correctly, Johnny Young Bocsh voices as the protagonist, Emile, right? Well, the first thing I was thinking was: “Hello, mister director? Have you even CONSIDERED trying to bring the best out of this guy?” I mean, if you listen closely, he’s a pretty good voice actor! (If the director actually does character work with him first! >.<) Don’t believe me? Watch the video below and tell me what you think.

 

Let’s face it: if you can’t figure out what the text means, how the hell are you going to make others understand it when you act it out? I mean, his performance as Lelouch in “Code Geass” wasn’t exactly the best. His voice for Emile when the character is in battle-mode is actually very good. He knows how to do it. He just couldn’t pull off the wussy voice, though… x.x

There are others, too. The voice actors for Death Note aren’t very impressive, if you ask me. Same with various Tales games like the voice of Estelle in Vesperia. (If you ask me, directors are trying too hard to make the English voices match the Japanese voices, which is a real pain in the ass if you’re the watcher. Seriously, what are these guys thinking?) And, well, Colette could’ve been better. (More playful when she messes up on her spell-casting or when she starts acting like a klutz.. x.x) Lloyd was probably one of the okay ones, considering that the voice actor had experiance as Robin on Teen Titans. (Yes, we all get it, now enough with the image macro jokes! >.<) Kratos and Zelos were very impressive. Chances are, they already had experiance, even if it isn’t publicly announced. (Although, Tales of Symphonia is well-known for having an all-star cast.) Genis wasn’t bad, either, and neither was Dirk.

But, this is my theory: I think we watch fansubs because it’s authentic, and they tend to have better voice actors. The Western dubbers just try to hard to immitate a style that is not familiar with us. (And let’s face it, only hard-core Asians are able to pull off the cute  and innocent voices…) Maybe if we actually stuck to our own styles and made the dub our own, then we’d probably enjoy it more. When that happens, DVD sales will go up, and the chance of having pirated episodes would lower.

So, let’s enjoy these subs while we can, people!

This is @vALoN, signing out~! ^.~

The Problem with Laughter…

The cast and crew of the three short plays that our high school was performing for three days had a matinee for some of the long block classes in the afternoon (I got to miss English 10H… ^v^;;) with the Acting 12 classes’ monologues.

During the serious plays (“Constantinople Smith” and a monologue by an Acting 12 student from the ending scene of “West Side Story”), a whole bunch of people began laughing. (I don’t see what’s so funny about Constantinople Smith yelling at a voice in his head telling him to fulfill a sexual desire with a prostitute and a girl playing as Maria after her boyfriend gets shot by a gang member, especially since she picks up a gun and starts pointing it at the other gang members (in this case, it’s the audience))

After the show, I was angered to see that the girl who did the monologue for “West Side Story” had ended up crying because she was humiliated by half of the student body. We all tried our best to reassure her, but it took a while.

After that, it reminded me of something that a comedy author from Nova Scotia (or somewhere in Eastern Canada) told a group of us at our middle school’s Literacy Day: “People laugh because they have to release nervous energy from their bodies. So, they laugh.”

Then I began thinking: Did these people laugh because they thought it was funny, or if it was because they were so immature that they couldn’t handle such a large subject? They broke down and began laughing in public. That made another twenty people nervous, so they all laughed too.

Seriously, though, this is high school! Only Kindergarteners laugh at this kind of stuff! There’s shit that I know that is funnier than a sad scene! God, such babies…

You people call someone who cries at everything a baby? Then what about the ones that laugh at everything that is different, huh? If you ask me, they’re the real babies…

Slurpees to Iced Caps…

I started thinking today…

My parents don’t know this, but I used to drink Iced Caps when during my 2-month struggle at the beginning of my new school year in high school. I stopped when I got a stomachache and got diarrhea during an Improv Memorial Night that me and Paul attended. (Went to the washroom about five to six times that day, once every five minutes or so… -.-).

Anyway, when my dad and I were driving home from picking up two sandwiches and two large Iced Caps from Tim Horton’s (which I declined a small taste from my dad, remembering the five to six trips I took after I had one that one night…), we passed the local 7Eleven. I remembered getting Slurpees there when my sister and I were kids.

Then that’s when I started thinking. How is it that when people are younger, they want to eat the artificially flavoured, multi-tablespoons of iced sugar, but when we turn fourteen or so, we start buying Iced Caps and Timmy’s or the smoothie Bubble Tea from the Bubble Tea House just a few blocks away from school during their off-blocks or lunch periods? After school, too?

Maybe it’s because we no longer long for a sugar rush, but an adrenaline rush from massive amounts of caffine from a large Iced Cappicino… (I think I spelled that right, not so sure… -.-)

-@vALoN

“Cry”

Just a song I wrote a while back… I think I edited a few lines.

 ”Cry” – Mackenzie Yoon

How many tears does my pillow hold
If you count the ones I’ve cried alone?
Each one a pocketful of pain
Screaming with tears and rants

So I vent out
And I cry aloud
Every single drop of water
From my
Cup of Hidden Emotions
But I dare not show my red-eyed face
To the crowd

How many words have I spewed aloud
Within the confines of my heart?
Awaiting the day that I can scream out
Every shadow from my mind

So I vent out
And I cry aloud
Every single drop of water
From my
Cup of Hidden Emotions
But I dare not show my red-eyed face
To the crowd

So I’ll let the rain fall down on me
Wash away
Every sign of pain on my face

Thunder rolling
My lungs are screaming
Everything that I need to say

So I vent out
And I cry aloud
Every single drop of water
From my
Cup of Hidden Emotions
But I dare not show my red-eyed face
To the crowd

So I laugh out loud
And I smile broadly
Shielding the wounds of my
Tear-striken face
But when no one
Is watching or listening
I break down and show my true face…

The Power of Music…

Today, after listening to various themes from the Tales of series by Namco (video games. I’m not a video game geek, though… -.-), I realized just how powerful music is. Especially well written music (and in this case, Soulja Boy is an absolute OUT!). Japanese songwriters know how to write great songs, whether some of the westerners want to admit it or not. Then again, the pieces of crap that we’re listening to today makes us seldom recognize the few good writing we have out there that are written by indie and accoustic artists. While some mainstream artists sing songs with meaning, most of them just seem to be about sex, money, and boys (or girls, depending on their POV). Ever so rarely will a song with meaning and emotion will come along on the radio’s mainstream.

An example of a very well-written Japanese song would be “KARMA” by Bump of Chicken, which appeared as the opening theme for Tales of the Abyss. The lyrics explain about how sometimes our reflections seem to reflect someone elses, and how we often find ourselves questioning ourselves to understand each other and ourselves, because we almost seem the same sometimes. Their clever use of metaphors makes us understand the certain emotions that these two characters feel, and the catchy rock tune keeps our attention.

With this said, I sigh. When is decent music ever going to go on the airwaves anytime soon?

-@vALoN