M00zik for Snowflake Day

[petronia]

Went to see RotK; have no real urge to review it, so will post Christmas music for the flist instead. XD (Well. I'm certainly not disappointed. Or perhaps I am a little, as RotK is my favorite, but 97% of my misgivings boil down to the fact that the movie was not six hours long and did not happen exactly the way it does in my head - I'm one of those people who've been mentally filming the Battle of the Peleannor Fields one meticulous imaginary crane shot after another since they were nine, and scoring it too, you'd better believe it - which are the same quibbles I've had from the first, and hardly reasonable ones at that. The fact that Middle-Earth looks like it does in my head is enough of a gift for me, with these movies.)

Anyhow, music:

Pet Shop Boys - Birthday Boy

Not jpop. When I got the album over the summer I made a note to post this song in time for Christmas, because I really am that sadistic. Or masochistic, because my taste in holiday music honestly runs to the depressing and/or socially conscientious. My favorite Christmas song when I was a kid was "Merry Christmas (War Is Over)"; I had no idea what it was called or who wrote it, just that it was the only one that bothered to ask questions.

This song asks questions. One of TNeil's more sobering lyrics, not to say somber. (And there's guitar, daishokku; you'll notice when it comes in. 'Tis Johnny Marr guest-starring. *g*)

Hamasaki Ayumi - Powder Snow (Acoustic Orchestra Version)

An early Ayu number, meaning that her vocal ability isn't all that; which is a pity, because it's one of the most beautiful tracks she's ever recorded. Especially with the piano arpeggio accompaniment. One of the few pieces of music that manage to capture the sensation of watching snow fall.

(If I ever manage to get that PMK giftfic done... well, I will, and no mistake.)

B'z - Itsuka no Merry Christmas

I remember reading somewhere that the Japanese voted this one their #1 favorite Christmas song, which... says something about the Japanese. ^^; Horribly depressing, almost bathetically so - would be country music if it were American - though it's quite pleasant and catchy if you can't understand the lyrics.

Download it. Gackt and Morning Musume love it. Speaking of whom...

Gackt - 12gatsu no Love Song

The subtext to this one, really, is that it was written for Christmas '01, NYC. (No joke, but my memories of 9/11 are indelibly linked with Gackt - it was the week after the Another World single, and I had "Fragrance" on the 'amp.) Otherwise, soaringest of sappy violin-drenched love songs, exactly as advertised. Here's the instrumental, by the way, and here's the English version (warning: HILARITY).

DEEN - Eien wo azukete kure

I have a serious fondness for DEEN, actually, but goodness knows when I'll get around to posting more. You'll note that Christmas jpop is always about the same thing: wandering around with the festive shopping crowds and gazing wistfully at department store window displays and fir trees all a-sparkle with lights, wishing one's love life weren't such a ruin. Because you're far away; because you don't know I love you; because we broke up; because you got run over by a truck last Christmas and now this year you will not be there to open presents with me under the tree. The following song (the 90's jpop idoru Christmas classic) is along these general lines:

Speed - White Love

And so is this one (remember this one, minna?):

Sasaki Yuko - Pure Snow

And so is this one. (I have a very good English version of it, even - will post when I find the dratted thing.)

Yamashita Tatsuro - Christmas Eve

There is good reason for the pathos, by the way. It's because the Japanese understand that the greatest hurdle of Christmastime is its status as commercial endeavour, and listening to miserabilism while you do Christmas shopping is far more likely to keep you sane, as opposed to perky songs about Santa Claus.

Nevertheless, there are some perky Japanese songs about Santa Claus out there, and this is one of them. Be reminded of RuroKen, and dance over the slushy snowbanks. XD

Judy and Mary - Christmas

And Puffy being all Spector-ette as usual (it's one of their songs I like the best):

Puffy - Dec.

And at the very last, one of the more wistful of move's trademark melodies:

Move - Silent White?

***

...Bonus tracks! XD

Tennis no Oujisama - Tezuka Kunimitsu - White Message
Tennis no Oujisama - Tezuka Kunimitsu - Soushi ~UMUKUTU~

That is to say, the Tezuka-buchou TeniPuri Christmas single I gacked off beckymarie at some point and have been listening to ever since (isn't Atobe supposed to have one of these too? XD;; Kikitainkedo), because... because it's really good. Actually. Makes no sense but really good. It helps that "Soushi" is classically miserabilist Christmas jpop, though he's only drifting with festive shopping crowds for a bit of it and the rest he's out on a beach staring into the middle distance or something. <33

Comments

[ayatsujik.livejournal.com]

Yes, Atobe has his own two, and would you like? XD

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Hai! XD

[ayatsujik.livejournal.com]

Damn. If I like more of B'z the way I love that song, I'm going to to need their albums.

(is it all THAT depressing, though? o_o I thought it was fairly uplifting in some parts.) Still. Thanks much for pimping these pretty things; my Xmas amplist's more or less set now. XD Will u/l Keigo-botchama's songs for you when I get back tomorrow.

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Yeah, all the uplifting parts are in past tense. XD ("And waiting by me in the station / someone else's steps far away / loaded down with packages / looking so happy.") Will make a note to put up more B'z for you, if you like.

[ayatsujik.livejournal.com]

Ee! yes! ^__^ Sankyu!

[ayatsujik.livejournal.com]

Atobe's Xmas singles up in the temp folder of my site. Oh the arcane crack of ancient Greece. I didn't know "arche" was in Anaximander's theory of apeiron (I didn't freaking know WHO Anaximander was OR his cosmological theory until seeing that song title, can you tell? XD)

And if you have any idea what that Greek word on his January single is (http://tennipri.neic.jp/rhythm.html), mad props and gratitude.

I want wankyscholar!AtoTezuuuu. *;_;'s you*

*five mad minutes of research*

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Energeia. (http://www.swif.uniba.it/lei/foldop/foldoc.cgi?energeia) (Christ, Atobe. I don't know whether to be impressed or... who comes up with this schtuff, do you reckon?)

Re: *five mad minutes of research*

[ayatsujik.livejournal.com]

Thank you, and EXACTLY. I'm almost afraid to ask.

(It's not like they wouldn't have the resources to employ jobless shivering Greek scholars, though...)

On a random note, I <3 Suwabe's voice. Okiayu is fine and the songs are pretty, but he's *boring*. XD; With regards to his voice range and...texture, I suppose I'd call it. Pimp you the first set of AtoTezu linked singles later.

Re: *five mad minutes of research*

[petronia.livejournal.com]

(I'm just really not used to the producers breaking out the wanky!crack before I get around to it. I mean, pairing hints are all very well, but they can't possibly be intentionally making it easier for people to write pretentious referential fanfic, because the Japanese don't do that. ...Do they?)

See, I've always found Okiayu's voice kind of off as well, in terms of the sort of songs they tend to make seiyuu perform. Then I realised he's really an enka singer. XD Luckily, someone on the production end of TeniPuri seems also to have realised this, as Tezuka sings several songs that I rationalise he only knows because they're his mum's favorites, or something. Then again, I like enka.

Okay. Like, is it just me, or does Taka get the best songs? (And oh, to be a real DJ with real DJ equipment. I would sample the hell out of Inui reciting ingredients over the most pimptastic music this side of a blaxploitation OST.)

Re: *five mad minutes of research*

[ayatsujik.livejournal.com]

*>_>s at images of Japanese schoolgirls rushing to the Western Classics library sections after listening to Atobe's singles.*

I personally think it's just great production on the PoT team's part. The stray frisson of OMG THEY'RE READING DOUJIN etc., aside, (which they probably *do* anyway) I dig how fanbook details for Atobe at least are *so* corroborated. XD

And enka, ah. That explains it. XD Pimp me songs kudasai! And you think Taka has the best songs? I prefer Ryoma's songs, myself, but you're right, Taka does get teh good rockin' vibes. Kaida, Minagawa and Suwabe still pwnz me, though.

Re: *five mad minutes of research*

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Everything I Know I Learnt From Prince Of Tennis? XD Quite. No, from a ficcer's POV I do wub them for making it so easy. And, y'know, they please all pairing fans mighty fine. XD;;;

(am being called to Xmas cake, BRB)

and then the music babble

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Alack, the nature of enka is such that what I've heard comes mostly off scratchy tapes, and there aren't any mp3s to be found online. ^^; But I'll rip what I can.

Fanbook detail gets corroborated in the songs a lot, though; Fuji sings about his analog music collection, Ryouma... sings about his cat, and so forth. I suspect a lot of my characterisation of Atobe (for one) actually seeped through from repeat-plays of his singles. ^^;

Re: and then the music babble

[ayatsujik.livejournal.com]

Point. Which song was it where Fuji sings about his analog m00zak? (the sheer volume of chara songs defies proper categorisation) He does sing about photography on his album, that I remember. And yes, the songs help shaped my chara impressions too! Although the lyrics to a couple of Fuji's songs rather depressed me - if they were supposed to show his Sensitive Side, my Fuji flat-out refuses to drip sentimentality over the place. >.>

Props to you and Charmian for that thread I was following some time back on her LJ, actually. The one where both of you were discussing why Atobe didn't like Tezuka initially. I may not ever write Atobe because my writing style is fighting his voice like an incompatible R(H) blood type, but it did bring up some things I hadn't thought of previously.

(and I keep forgetting to tell you: Momo and Ryoma have a duet about a flying bike. It's...cute OMGtheirloveisso誠 crack.)

Re: and then the music babble

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Oh, gawd, the thread that eventually degenerated into me bitching about HPfic and not being able to stop myself. XD Ai yai yai. I did want to pin down some of my nebulous ideas on what the A vs. T match signified, because none of the fic that's out there really... does it for me. Not in a they're-badly-written sense, but a you're-not-reading-things-the-same-way-I-do sense. Taken as a collectivity there seems to be a sentiment in said stories that Tezuka made Atobe "see the light" somehow; taught him something about ethics or honour or generally being a mensch. And that wasn't what I understood from that scene in the manga. The Seigaku reg'rs, now, may have learnt something about honour from Tezuka, but what I saw was that Atobe's opinion of Tezuka changed, not so much that any illumination was shed on his own behaviour. ^^; It comes down, in fact, to the Dangerous Liaisons metaphor I used in the Fuji story: Atobe wasn't so much deliberately trying to hurt Tezuka as maneuvre him into a no-win situation, expecting him to give up and to be able to lord it over him afterward - and Tezuka literally chose to self-destruct rather than concede a loss. Upon which Atobe was like, holy shit, props to you for being an insane fuck under that two-foot-thick layer of repressive holier-than-thou buchou-hood, you are now someone I find interesting as opposed to annoying. XD;; And pays him the tribute of not cutting him a millimeter of slack.

So if it's anything that Tezuka shows Atobe, it's that there's a step beyond the Perfect Game. That if you think all your bases are covered and you're giving it everything you have... you're probably not, because you're still thinking. *g* At some point it becomes not a question of talent or strategy, both of which Atobe has in spades and relies on, but of heart. And insanity.

(I... guess "my" TezuAto would mostly consist of Atobe prodding at Tezuka in a half-fascinated half-ijiwaru manner until he snaps... XD;;)

Flying bike! _O_ "Go home, E.R., go home!"

Re: and then the music babble

[ayatsujik.livejournal.com]

Re TezuAto: YES, thank you. J'adore on your take of them, pretty much - is good that someone else is doing the brainwork, because I'm a recent convert still fumbling between TezuFuji and a confused lump of WTF Atobe-kun? XD;

Do post separately; it would be great to challenge the current fanon trends. Basically what I can recall of the fanon TezuAto I've seen is a) sex or b) the NOW ATOBE SEES TEH LIGHT; it's basically fans not having really *thought* about the pairing or not seeing what you pointed out above. Plus Atobe's POV is a pain in the ass to write - ok, I just suxx. XD

And really: should Atobe and Tezuka get together *any* way, even as just good friends, it's a pretty safe bet that Tezuka'll buy up even *more* stock in aspirin companies. XD So go ahead with your fic kudasai.

more on the TezuAto business

[petronia.livejournal.com]

(I should seriously copy this into a standalone entry instead of leaving it to puzzle people in the comment thread of the Christmas jpop entry. ^^; Oh, well, too late...)

What interests me about it is what it says about Atobe's character, that he should dislike someone for a perceived lack of passion. It's fair enough, by the by, given that all the reader gets to see up to this point is Tezuka's icily perfect exterior. Sure, you grok that he's determined, but you don't grok that he's ever been at a loss in his entire life. The laps and Tezuka Zone have the same metaphoric value: Tezuka picks his spot and makes other people run. XD He beats Ryouma without breaking a sweat. Someone like that, it's hard not to harbour the secret desire to take him down a notch. The Seigaku regulars would follow Tezuka to the gates of hell, but even they're half-hoping for the day Buchou gets roped into drinking Inui's juice. ^^;

So Atobe, really, has to play Tezuka in person to catch a glimpse at the fire that half his own team probably doesn't think exists. I mean, Ooishi knows, obviously. Fuji knows - that comment he makes right before he tears Mizuki a new one. (Is Tezuka's blood up? Well, he's very sorry, but Fuji will be the one to hammer the nail into St-R's coffin. Which at that point was like Inui's line re how Kaidou's in a good mood today - "How can you tell!?") Ryuzaki-sensei likely knows, and that's it. Everyone else is just like, well, buchou is buchou, and the day buchou loses his calm frogs will rain down from the sky.

Re: and then the music babble

[ayatsujik.livejournal.com]

Also, do you follow tenipuri_yaoi? tiamatv writes a pretty good Atobe voice, methinks. Beware her Seigaku fic, though. All I say is, if you read her stuff you'll understand what I mean by my writing style failing to gr0k the fruity dorkness that is the ore-sama and his frosted cocktails. But her AtoJi is among the best currently available.

Re: and then the music babble

[petronia.livejournal.com]

I was reading that! (And annoying Kristina by telling her about the Yoshitsune bit XD) Yeah, I thought the AtoJi was rather good. It's the italics.

I haven't read most of her Seigaku schtuff, though, apart from the InuKai which I also thought rather decent, wot. (It's funny how that tends to be the best-written pairing, when all's said and done... I mean I think she was pushing the WAFF a tad with the kitten, but Kaidou disturbed me greatly in canon with the Karupin bit, so whattheheck.)

Re: and then the music babble

[ayatsujik.livejournal.com]

Arara. I thought Kaidoh/Karupin was ky00t beyond words. It was, oh, THAT'S your soft spot, issit? XD Aww the big bad snake likes the kitty-chu! ...etc.

Monnie's one of the better writers in the fandom at present already. It's just that her GP fics make the brain sag under cartloads of flowery prose.

It's funny how that tends to be the best-written pairing, when all's said and done

And *then* there's the one where they're talking lurve over R&J. No? Ok, ok, you said 'tends'. XD