China Rose

I don’t know anymore.

Sometimes I wonder why I even bother. Whenever I get onto the one Ventrilo server that used to be my one escape from everything shitty, I get so irritated and annoyed with people that it just becomes aggravating to talk. And before you say anything, no it’s not PMS.

I love all my friends, I really do, but sometimes I just want to smack people over the head with a boulder. I guess the things I’m most annoyed by is the way a few friends constantly change their attitude about some things. Something supposedly is a pet peeve, and yet it’s okay if certain people do it, etc. Someone gives advice on something, and yet goes to do what he/she said not to do because the situation is “different”. I would call it hypocrisy, but I guess it’s more “selective indifference” or something like that, since people would be mad if I call it hypocrisy so lightly.

I don’t know what to do. I get really fed up sometimes because I can’t even have a conversation with someone without others screaming over me and/or the other person anymore. And when I move to another channel to actually, I don’t know, get heard and talk to that person without needing to compete with people who aren’t even talking about the same thing, people come down and “raid” and just make it hard to talk again. If they don’t do that, they get upset that we’re ignoring the rest of the people when, you know, we don’t have much to say with each other to begin with, since they just ignore people either way.

One of my closest guy friends on that Vent server had said that he felt like we’re isolating ourselves from the rest of the group, and that because we do that, whenever we are in the channel and try to “enforce” the rules (that, you know, we get yelled at for not enforcing/following ourselves), people ignore us and do it more because they see us as so “strict” and “uptight”, all because we “isolate” ourselves. I didn’t “isolate” myself until recently. No one ever listened to me when I tried to say “stop it” or whatever, especially the other guys. Instead, they do it more. I started to hide out and only talk to a few people because of that. Instead of getting mad and abusing powers, I figured it’d be the more logical thing to do. Talking it out has never helped because people just forget and go back to doing it (especially since everyone on that vent is “very laid back”, as he put it), and I’d rather not get into any more fights with friends as I already do.

I have so many problems that I wish I could discuss with them, but I can’t. I’ll be treated as a child and/or “inexperienced”. How do I know this? Because they’ve done that to me before. Every time I try to bring something like that up, I get told “you don’t know anything” or something like that. I may still be a teenager, but I think I can see much clearer than those who are blind to their own situations. I may have a naïve view on life, but I can assure you that I’m not stupid to the world either. I’d rant about those here, but a lot of them are pretty “if you don’t the full story, you won’t get it” type of things and hard to explain.

I don’t know. I’m just aggravated. There are only a few people to whom I act talk on that vent without getting frustrated all the time. The others…if they’re not belching and acting like b-tards (sorry, they really have turned out that way now), then I can deal for the most part.

I probably annoy half of them with my constant bitching while playing games though, so…whatever. I just like hiding out now ’cause it keeps me calm. Maybe I’m being hypocritical myself. I hated it when the “couples” would ignore the rest of the vent all the time. It’s not like I don’t talk to other people when they come down and talk - I enjoy it for the most part, since when they come to us in the private channels, they’re calm and, I don’t know, actually fun without being excessively annoying and stupid.

On another note, my brother said to me the other day that I looked like a “fourteen-year-old. A prepubescent fourteen-year-old even” and asked if anyone thought I wasn’t in college when I was on campus (as in, a visitor or whatnot). Is it my fault that my Chinese genes make me look so young? :( He looks like he just got into college himself, so he shouldn’t be talking!

AmerikaJinMusume’s a Singer?

Well, I was linked to an International Wota blog entry that talks about the YouTube “dancing sensation” AmerikaJinMusume now becoming a singer in addition to being a model in Japan. AmerikaJinMusume’s blog entry about the song, titled “Mayonaka no Sayonara”, explains that Harada Ken from Avex composed the song and she wrote the lyrics. You can listen to a preview of the song at her Myspace, where she goes by the name “Umi”, which means “sea” (for the ’sea’ in Chelsea).

Now, before anyone bashes me and/or supports me, I’d like to make a clear stance on the whole subject, especially given the immense hate that was floating around when she appeared on Haromoni and danced for the Morning Musume girls. For those of you who do not know the Haromoni story, you can read a translation for it on Just Another H!P Blog. The Youtube video does not work anymore. For those of you who do not know AmerikaJinMusume/Chelsea, she is an American girl who posted videos of her dancing to Hello!Project songs on Youtube. She quit school to become a model in Japan, and occasionally moves back and forth between Japan and the United States (so it seems).

I don’t hate her. I enjoy watching her dances, and I thought it was amazing that she was able to appear on Haromoni and dance for Morning Musume. I do believe that there are other people who deserved that chance more (and are more famous than her), but it’s still cool that she was able to do that. We could debate that opinion for as long as you’d like, it’s still not going to change the fact that she appeared on Haromoni. End of story.

Now her ambitions have sprung forth into the music industry. Listening to her song on Myspace, however, made me wonder if this is the right choice. Sure, she has a nice voice, but at the same time, it screamed generic to me. What do I mean by “generic”? For me, it’s basically a voice that does not stick out in the crowd of singers that already exist. It’s not something that will make my head turn and go “I recognize that singer!” just by hearing her voice. The melody for the song is pretty (Harada Ken did compose it, after all), and her voice does fit it to an extent, but it just feels like I’ve heard that voice in so many pop songs that it just does not stick out for me.

Now, I know I’m not the best singer, but I do have a good ear when it comes to music. I may not have the musical knowledge that music majors would have, but I can tell whether or not I enjoy something and what exactly about it I’m enjoying (most of the time). I’m sure I’d enjoy the song, but it’ll fall into the category of “just another pop song” for me. The singing does not stand out, and the only thing catching my attention is the melody at the moment.

In Sekai no Melody, for example, you can hear a variety of voices. Some people have deep alto voices, others have high soprano voices. We have a whole range of voices and voice types. Some don’t stand out, but there are some that, no matter what, you can definitely tell to whom that voice belongs. Examples off the top of my head would be Sorachu, Kimitsu, Andromaeda, and Katie. I can pick out Sorachu in almost every song that she sings in. Even though she blends well with other people, she doesn’t fade into the background at the same time. She has strong vocals for solo lines at the same time. She can adapt to just about any genre. To me, the great difference between Sorachu and AmerikaJinMusume is the fact that Sorachu has a strong voice that stands out, while AmerikaJinMusume has a voice that just blend in with the rest of the crowd of singers.

AmerikaJinMusume’s not bad, but she just does not give that POW feeling that Utada Hikaru or Hamasaki Ayumi gives. Even Nishino Kana, whom I recently discovered, gives a more distinct feeling. She’s not the best singer that I’ve heard, but her “glowly days” song was just so catchy and her voice stands out to me. To me, AmerikaJinMusume’s not someone I’d support or hate either way, because her voice just too “common” to really give a good evaluation. Sure, she is a good singer in terms of abilities and whatnot, but as a singer, you need more than just techniques under your belt. You need that voice that stands out from the crowd.

Well, I guess you could at least applaud her for trying to aim for something more, even if it’s something that’ll probably not work out in the end. I feel like people are just making too much of a fuss over someone who is becoming just another common pop singer, and trying to force people to choose sides in the matter. It’s either you like her or you hate her, and I don’t get why people must make it be that way.

And I must add this as a sidenote: Just because I don’t find her singing “ZOMGFUCKING AWESOME”, that doesn’t mean I hate her. It’s just she’s not someone who wows me. There’s no reason to associate not being wowed with hate. I don’t get why everyone has to do that immediately whenever someone goes, “oh she’s not that great.” Okay? Okay.

Soroumi and SnM Blogcrew

First off, I would like to present to you Soroumi’s rendition of “BINGO!”, originally by AKB48. Soroumi consists of the two So-so’s (Solaire/Sammy and Sorachu), Rosie, and Umi. It is pronounced as “Soh-Roh-Mee”. Here is a link to the Youtube video kindly created by Sorachu (the video is the original PV to our voices). Granted, we don’t sound as full as the original because we’re only 4 people compared to the 20+ in that AKB48 song, but still, it’s pretty kickass how well we sound together. Colourcoding can be found on the Youtube page (in the description box). Enjoy!

Now onto other news. Because we were bored one fine evening, the “elitist clique” (+ 2) of SnM decided to start calling each other semi-biblically-related names. Why? Because we can. The obvious is Miri as GO(S)D (the “s” coming from a fun misspelling), and slowly spiraling down. It was somewhat random, to be honest. Though, Sorachu became the Virgin Mary because, well, she’s the most innocent out of all of us.

And so, as this running joke ensued, we decided last night to create a “Holier-than-Thou” Blogcrew for the fun of it. Why? Again, because we can. [PS. Just added Kaechan today.]

This is taken from Miri’s Livejournal:

Disclaimer: We are -not- elitist, we do -not- believe we are truly holier than you or any of your descendants*. This is all in good fun and is not meant to be taken in a heretical way. Thank you.

THE GOOD.
Go(s)d — Miri
Jesus — Yasu
Holy Spirit — Kaechan

THE BAD.
Satan — Umi
Antichrist — Rosie

THE WTF.
Moses — Solarin
Virgin Mary — Sorachu

* may not apply to everyone

At some point I’ll move this to a more appropriate area (such as the footer, which I still have not completely worked on due to…being a completely lazy ass in terms of working on this site, to be honest).

Side note to Miri: Did “Holier” come from Rozen Maiden (unconsciously)? I noticed that today as I was typing this up and staring at volumes 01-04 on my desk. Granted, it’s missing an “L”, but still!