An appropriate song

I wouldn't go so far as to say distance doesn't matter at all, but it's becoming more and more true each year that passes, isn't it?

With the internet, it's a relatively simple matter to stay connected to friends and family back home or to strangers around the globe. On that note, here's a song by a vlogger I've taken note of in recent months, worldismarble. Having been working on my own "international experience" vlog, I've checked out some others, and I'm quite impressed by the musical dabblings of this vlogger who up until recently was studying abroad in London. Anyway, here's her latest music video, guest starring her sister: Simple Promises. I really dig the harmony.

Edit: Here's another of her songs that is quite catchy and well-done.

P.S. As some of you may know, it is not easy to write songs. Gah.

Magic Words

There's this Japanese song I was introduced to back when I was studying a few years ago at Waseda in Tokyo, called "Mahou no kotoba," by a band name Spitz. That's "Magic Words" in English.

In one of my classes, the teacher played it for us in class and gave us the lyrics on a sheet of paper. I meant to translate it, but my skills were no match for colloquial Japanese. I'm kind of encouraged today, though - I think I've come a long way since then.

A long time ago I had seen some translation of the lyrics on YouTube, but that was too long ago for me to remember. I figured this would be good practice, so today I decided to do my best to translate the Japanese into English on my own. So using just my dictionary I did my best, and then altered a couple lines slightly after consulting with one of the teachers sitting next to me...the consultation was minimal, though appreciated.

Anyway, first, here's the song, if you're interested: Video

Here is my translation:

Afure sou na kimochi muri yari kakushite 

It’s impossible to stop these overflowing feelings

Kyou mo mata tooku bakkari mite ita

 Today I was only looking far off again
Kimi to katari atta kudara nai are kore

 The trivial things that I used to talk to you about
Dakishimete dou ni ka ikiteru kedo 
Somehow I’m continuing on, but…
Mahou no kotoba futari dake ni wa wakaru

 Magic words, that only the two of us know
Yumemiru toka sonna hima mo nai kono goro 

Now those times are like a dream I can no longer see
Omoidashite okashikute ureshikute

 But I’m glad to think of them
Mata aeru yo yakusoku shi nakute mo 
We can meet again; no need for promises
Taoreru you ni nete naki nagara mezamete 
I wake up from my tearful sleep
Hitogomi no naka de boso boso utau

 Swallowed up in the middle of a crowd, I sing
Kimi wa nani shiteru? Egao ga mitaizo

 What are you doing? I want to see your smile
Furi kabutte wagamama sora ni nageta                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                
I rose up and threw my selfishness to the sky
Mahou no kotoba kuchi ni sureba mijikaku

 Magic words, said only briefly
Dakedo kouka wa sugoi mono ga aru tte koto de

But with amazing effects

Daremo shira nai barete mo iro ase nai

 No one knows, if it comes out it doesn’t fade
Sono ato no SUTOORII wake aeru hi made 
After that story until the day we will share again
Hana wa utsukushiku toge mo utsukushiku

Flowers are beautiful, thorns should also be beautiful 
Nekko mo utsukushii hazu sa 
Roots should also be beautiful, too
Mahou no kotoba futari dake ni wa wakaru 

Magic words, that only the two of us know
Yumemiru toka sonna hima mo nai kono goro

 Now those times are like a dream I can no longer see
Omoidashite okashikute ureshikute 

But I’m glad to think of them
Mata aeru yo yakusoku shi nakute mo 

We can meet again; no need for promises
Aeru yo aeru yo
We can meet again, we can meet again…

Here is a much cleaner English translation that I found online:

I forced myself to hide these feelings that overflow 

And once again today I did nothing but look off into the distance 

All those trivial things I talked about with you 

I clutch them tightly and try to live somehow 

Magic words only we can understand 

Lately I don't have time for dreaming and such 

When I remember, it's funny and makes me happy 

We'll see each other again, even without a promise 

I sleep as if I've collapsed and awaken crying 

I whisper a song in the crowd 

What are you doing? I want to see your smile 

I raised my hands and threw my selfishness into the sky 

Magic words, so short when I say them 

But the effect is really amazing 

No one ones and if they find out, it won't fade 

Until the day we can share the rest of the story 

Flowers are beautiful, even the thorns are beautiful 

The roots must be beautiful, too 

Magic words only we can understand 

Lately I don't have time for dreaming and such 

When I remember, it's funny and makes me happy 

We'll see each other again, even without a promise 

We'll see each other, we'll see each other

I apologize for the formatting sloppiness - Blogger is good like that. Anyway, my translation was off in some places and not as nicely worded as the second one, but I'm pretty satisfied that I was able to come close. I need victories like that when fluency is such a daunting challenge...

Wow

That's great - almost as catchy as the original(...?).

Game Music

I just stumbled upon this. I'm sure there will be some of you who disagree with me on this point, but the Donkey Kong Country soundtrack is probably the most memorable that came out of the 16-bit generation. Still affects me today like it did back when I was a kid, and it's probably just some Japanese dude with a keyboard. Don't make them like they used to.

New Metallica...

I was excited about the new Metallica album. Really, I was. And it was on sale. So I picked it up. It is what I would call another disappointment. Don't get me wrong, it sucks no where near as 'much as St. Anger, but it is definitely not what critics seem to be making it out to be. The single "The Day That Never Comes" isn't bad, and there are glimpses in other songs that are promising, they just never seem to bring it all together. Most of the songs just seem like a bunch of riffs they thought were cool in jam session thrown together. A little editing would have helped out a lot. I'm not against long songs, but the songs length needs to be necessary. Length for lengths sake just doesn't work. Definitely give it a listen before picking it up.

Note: Haven't posted in a while do to the amount of work I have been pretending to do. Will be posting again with more frequency.

Cat Hair

I like cats. Don't get me wrong. I've had two very friendly cats. But I hate cat hair. I've just moved into my new place of residence and the landlady has a few cats. One cat, which shall be referred to from here on out as "Cat" (clever I know), has decided to take up residence in my room. Cat is nice, but already I have a sweatshirt covered in hair and I've been here a day. There soon may be a cat holocaust.

I've also discovered (re-discovered?) that most of the music I see on TV sucks. Bad. Take a video that they seem to be playing by some band called the Veronicas or something. Two creepy looking twins dancing around in some kind of club designed by hot topic singing. The song wouldn't be that bad if the lyrics weren't so horrendous. Who buys this garbage? What happened to the days of great music videos? Like....Flock of Seagulls. Ok maybe videos have never been good. "Well why do you keep watching, Gobbler?" you might ask. Because I am a masochist. And I am full of hate. Both of which are served well by watching crap on TV.

Here is the video in case you are interested

Music Recommendations

I buy lots of CD's. I know its probably a better Idea to just go online to itunes or whatever and just download them digitally, but I like hunting around looking for good CD's. Makes me feel like I've accomplished something (even though all I have really accomplished is wasting my money). So here are some brief reviews of CD's I've bought over the last few months.

1. Electric Wizard "Witchcult Today"


I had been wanted to see what Electric Wizard was like for a while, so when I saw this in the music store I figured I'd give it a try. Think Black Sabbath slowed down and tuned down a few steps and you get the Picture. Lyrics are what you would expect on an album named "Witchcult Today" (meaning ridiculous) but they fit with the mood the instruments create. Album starts out strong but by the end it becomes a little monotonous. Its called stoner music, so maybe it would sound better stoned. Too bad I will never find out.



2. Mogwai "Mr. Beast"

This was my first Mogwai CD, and I must say that its pretty good. A bit hard to describe. Most of the tracks are instrumental and range from full out hard-rock (Glasgow Mega-Snake) to atmospheric piano driven songs (my personal favorite "Friend of the Night"). There are few tracks here and there with vocals and most of these are pretty good. A bit like radiohead, albeit louder and less vocal driven (I'm not sure if the Radiohead comparison works here, but its the closest well-known band I can think of). The only song thats doesn't work for me is "I chose Horses" which consists of background music and the Vocalist from the Japanese Band "envy" talking. I'm not a fan of spoken word in music in such large doses and it just strikes me as boring. That track aside I highly I high recommend this one.


3. Cult of Luna "Eternal Kingdom"

Cult of Luna is one of my favorite bands. I have many fond memories of listening to Cult of Luna and their brand of atmospheric/post-rock/post-hardcore/experimental/*insert random genre* music while walking around town drunk thinking the world is going to end. You of course do not need to be paranoid nor drunk to enjoy Cult of Luna. Their latest "Eternal Kingdom" did not dissapoint. I drove all around town looking for this CD. Didn't find it either until I went out of town to visit a friend and found it at a CD store there. "Eternal Kingdom" is much darker and heavier than their previous (though still quite good) "Somewhere along the Highway." There is an evil owl-man creature on the front with glowing eyes; what would you expect? Gone are the clean vocals and banjo's. Just anguished screams, detuned guitars, electronic walls of sound, thundering bass and.....trumpets. The trumpets work though, trust me. Not a bad song on the album, even the several instrumental interlude tracks are worth listening to. Not sure how I feel about the ending to the song "Ghost Trail." Its one of my favorites on the album, but the ending just seems like it goes on for a bit to long and doesn't quite fit, but it is growing on me. Maybe they wanted it to just come out of nowhere. The title track is also good and worth looking up if you have time.


You can listen to most of these bands on youtube or itunes if any of my ramblings peaked your interest. I will try to put up some album reviews often. Though putting the stupid pictures in the post is kind of a pain. Anyway take a listen to some of the bands and let me know what you think. I'm also open to recommendations :)