Monday, January 26, 2009

I Have a New Addiction...

... and it's called flumpool!


flumpool is a four-man J-band: Ryuuta Yamamura (Voc & Gu), Kazuki Sakai (Gu), Genki Amakawa (Ba), and Seiji Ogura (Dru). They're pretty new to the J-music scene having been formed only in early 2007 and I think released their first single in early 2008. Their mini album "Unreal", released late last Dec, has gotta be one of the best J-album for the year 2008 IMHO!

They started humbly by singing at subway stations (i think when they were only 3-man band, ie sans the drummer, called "cube"). But they rise to fame pretty quickly. They have already has the highest selling debut act of 2008 in Japan; with only 2 digital singles & 1 mini-album to their name (which has almost sold 200k). Not surprising, really, since they have got real good music.

Another thing that attracted me to this band besides their good music is that their vocalist is real cute! *swoons*LOL...

flumpool Pictures, Images and Photos

I mean, hey, not many good J bands have got good-looking frontman. Among my fav bands, think only Larc~en~ciel (Hyde-sama!) and Uverworld have ikemen vocalists. if you wanna see ikemen, go listen to Johnny boys, but unfortch they can't really sing. So yea, it's definitely a plus for my viewing pleasure.

Anyways, back to their music. Their mini album has 10 songs, which includes 2 instrumentals, which kinda make it pseudo-singles. Out of the 8 songs, my fav are (in order of fav, 1 being best):
1. Hana ni Nare
2. 春風 (harukaze)
3. labo
4. Over the rain~Hikari no Hashi~

3 and 4 are kinda in a tie. And all 4 songs are pretty different from each other, which is nice.

Their song "Over the rain ~Hikari no Hashi~" was used as the closing song of the drama Bloody Monday (it's a must-watch show!), which I've only finished watching last week and it's where I've first heard of them. Didn't check the song out straight away cuz I don't really like melancholic songs and drama songs usually reminds me of the drama itself and despite BloMo being a good drama, it's not sth I wanna be reminded of often. But it's still a good slow song, tho sometimes somehow it makes me feel sad.

Hana ni Nare is without a doubt my fav! I like it the moment I hear the song. Dunno how to classify it, but it's kinda rock-ish? Love the string music arrangement in the beginning. It gives a perfect intro to the song. And Kazuki harmonize Ryuuta perfectly, maybe cuz they're like childhood friends.

Their latest song, Harukaze, is a lovely slow rock. The lyrics are really sweet too. It's a perfect song to listen to on a long bus/train ride, preferably with nice view outside, just like in the video (:

labo didn't become instant fav.It's like a mix of rock, jazz and punk, i think haha... But the more I listen to it, the more I like it although it's got pretty weird lyrics. Oh and I love the video. It's pretty cool and I love the way Ryuuta groove to the beat.



And saving the best for the last, I present you the cover for Unreal!!


I bet it will go straight to censorship if they ever bring this album to Singapore. Ryuuta said that it portrays their new entrance to the entertainment world or something like that. And the title Unreal is is also something like their surreal shot to fame and that fans are to decide if the pics are real or digitally modified. I say (and D too) that Ryuuta has got some nice, perky butts there hohoho...

flumpool Pictures, Images and Photos

It's pretty hard to get their pics. So be happy I've found these drool-worthy piccas!

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Snippets of the Week

Snippet 1

Krish and I were lamenting how the economic recession has affected everyone. Watched in Channelnewsasia that KP is having a salary cut of 7.5% (that's alot since usually pay increment in Spore is only like, what 10-20%?). Luckily it only affects the manager level and up. If they dare cut my already meager future salary, I think I'd rather bum around at home LOL...

Anyways, so there we were sighing on a beautiful blue-skied afternoon how we have to be mindful how we spend our money. Occasional trips to resto or nice cafe will have to be postponed and we have to be contented with meals in Koufu or Kopitiam. But then Krish said something pretty interesting. He said something like it is exactly the fact that people are tightening their belts that the recession is getting from bad to worse. Think about it, the lesser people spend, the lesser consumption there will be. Less consumption means less production and less income/profit for the producing industry. So companies have to cut somemore wage to cut cost. Which means, people will spend even lesser now that they have lower wage. And the cycle goes on.

Therefore, Krish suggested that we should contribute more to the economy. Spend more! More spending --> more consumption --> more production --> more income for companies --> (hopefully) salary increment for employees!

Brilliant isn't it? Never really thought about it.

Snippet 2

I think my interest in anything Japanese has somewhat become an addiction. I have to watch j-drama like once a day (cuz i'm still somewhat free, considering it's only the end of week 3 of school) and I had no idea who katy perry is or if britney has won can't-remember-how-many awards during MTV VMA last year. Instead, my mp3 is now filled with J songs. But still, I only fill it with my fav artists only. I dunno every crowing peeps in the J music scene, mind you. If I wake up early enough, I'd tune in to XFM 96.3, which ends its J segment at 9 am (unfortch, I hardly catch it since I wake up around 9 am haha...).

Oh and have I told you I'm taking Japanese mod? Heheh... It's an extra mod since I've already fulfilled my 39 credits requirement. The class is pretty fun, the teacher's really sweet. Very typical Japanese lady. But it's pretty slow-paced. I already know phrases and my vocab isn't too bad (according to Kit). But I know nuts about writing. So yea, I'm just hanging in there for the sake of the writing part.

Dawn and I got kinda excited being able to read the hiragana writings on the food packagings during our trip to Daiso. When I reached home I showed off my newly learned skill to mom. She was a little bit impressed only (mayb partly cuz jap is one of her least favourite language), and she just said, "Oh you know how to read huh? But do you understand what you're reading?"

Dang.. -_-

Anyways, when the usual gp of us (read: dawn, kit and I) were hanging out at koufu, Kit said that I should change my blog to j-drama, movie and music review blog cuz I seem to know the J entertainment world more than her despite the fact that she's stayed in the land of the rising sun itself for a year. Haha... Yea mayb she's right. I mean I do know what year many of the actors/actresses were born and some other little-known facts of some artists. But then again, just like my many other addictions, this addiction will sooner or later die, although it's definitely not anytime soon. So yea, from now on, I guess I will do some reviews when I feel like it. So ya, look forward to it ya! (:

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Global Warming Effect

I don't know about others, but I'm kinda loving this particular global warming effect on Singapore weather. The usual hot and humid Singapore with high cloud cover has become windy in the afternoon with pretty clear blue sky and cooling (sometimes even cold) with clear starry sky. Yep, starry sky! I have never seen so many stars on a Singapore sky in my 9 years' life here. Mom's pretty happy too with the weather too since the laundry dry faster.

Yes, I'm lovin this weather. I do hope it's not short-lived *crossfingers*