音時雨 ~Regentropfen~

♡ Bob and I

✯ Frozen Transparency

About 3/5 of time was on transfer, but it did worth to visit.
Ice Magic Festival @ Lake Louise.
Yes, I came to here because of the winter lake, and the ice sculptures! Because I haven't seen them for real, I was excited.
Still that path toward Lake Louise, everything was the same but in pure white -- yes, it's still winter. Actually, I more like to see mountain in winter but not in summer. xD

Because it's more like a fairyland? because I prefer winter much more to summer.

Lake Louise looks totally different from what it looks like in summer.

A review of one old photo of Lake Louise in summer.
In summer, you still could see the snow mountain cap behind, but now, it was just covered by white. When some strong wind blasts, you can see a "wall" of snow mist being pushed toward yourself! When the wind came today, God, that was CRAZY, but it was also such a fresh impression! I LOVE that chilling moment!!
You could skate, I saw lots of people were playing there. Hmm, I wonder how they managed to stay well in that snow mist. :P
Now, the main dish -- Ice Magic Festival.
ICE SCULPTURES~~


Should be "The Welcome Sculpture"? Welcome to Ice Magic Festival, welcome to the ice fairyland! And I do love how they froze flowers into the ice.

Two swans in front it. Looks nice!
However, due to the transparency of the ice, it's so hard to see the sculptures in detail very easy. I wonder what it would look like if they plug in some color lights during night. Must be wonderful.

Lady Bug, this year's No.2. So delicate. though I more like some smaller fairies than this huge woman. (bricked)

Bird of Pray. Looks great, and reminds me something related to USA? ~_~

Cold feet. Hmm, is this one made by UofC Dinos? LOL

Freeze. Nice title. When they duel, the time froze. (On our way back, I noticed the gun-holder's left arm broke. So he got frozen so seriously that his arm was slashed by the sword-holder? xD)

Ice Bar, and they are really "selling"!
Then, the biggest one,

Ice Castle!

Miss. Ice Queen~

Love Letters, I didn't get the whole idea of this one, and I couldn't get chance to capture from a better view (too many people ^^;).

Mise-en-place. Kind of a cute design.

Pandora's Box, what a complicated work!

Play on Words. Straightforward like what you read from the work itself. Actually it was the first sculpture I saw today. Nice impression I got from this one though.

This spells trouble. Sorry but I didn't get the idea from it. Yes, I know I'm slow on extracting abstract cores from artworks themselves.

Trying to get ahead. This year's No.1. Probably people voted for the well-done ax? lol


These two, I forgot to get their name cards. orz
Beside the hotel, there were another a few smaller sculptures as the side dishes.

Sponge Bob.

Adorable dolphin!!

And what's this? A pig? or a hippopotamus?? Can't really tell. lol

If remove all snow covering on it, will I see a whole ice-block?

Nothing but an ice-cuboid, yes, nothing more..
Indeed I had a nice day in the iceland. I also want to thank my pretty Xperia Arc. Yes, it does have a high-quality camera (it would be even better if it can do focus), but the battery went quickly once I began to take shots. However, finally, I know you could manage it, to get all pictures I want before running out of battery! lol
Phone makers REALLY need to think up a way to elongate the battery working time, for people who are visiting places for a whole day!!

♧ Dumb Life Summary - here I'm back

When I stop writing, seems it always becomes a long while. :sqhmm: So I guess all my blog posts written in this situation will be like summary-of-recent-days. xD
First, of course I'll give it to my regular music topic. :P
Since C81 has gone, I can only introduce this album:
Angela Aki - SONGBOOK

Interesting jacket, isn't it? ^^
Anyways, here we got another cover album. I really don't listen to western pop music that much (you know!), but, I love her covers, like KOKIA.
Kinda weird view? Maybe. Yet, I later went to youtube and dug out all original versions. My conclusion, still like KOKIA's case, I prefer Angela Aki's cover! lol
I think, to me, I don't care if that's Jpop or whatever, what I really like is the way the artists sing. So here, Angela Aki (and KOKIA) turned those songs more Jpop-like, and thus I could have a chance to listen then love them. However, if I love them will be fully depended on who thethe singers are. :sqwah:
Currently I'm still waiting for Hanako Oku's new single "Cinderella". (damn why no one uploads that? =A=)
And on 25th, KOKIA will be releasing three new singles! GREAT!!! :sqlove:
*:..。o○☆○o。..:*゜*:..。o○☆○o。..:*゜*:..。o○☆○o。..:*゜*:..。o○☆○o。..:*

Finally finished this series. What I could say? If give this anime a score, I will rate it 9/10.
That's such a great anime. It fits my taste. Its colour scheme is good, neither too brilliant nor too grayish; cast voices are nice, characters are vivid -- gosh, Yukari is just MOE!!!! (super fangirl mode) :sqpo: More importantly, the story is interesting. Music, though I'm not familiar with the famous composer (not a fan of Taku Iwasaki ^^;), I love the theme songs so much. Oh, god, Masumi is here too! <3 The only regretful thing is that Masumi didn't actually sing. xD
In all, I enjoyed Katanagatari so much. I COULD give it 10/10 if its end wasn't like that.
Spoiler, highlight as you wish.
Who got the darn idea to make Togame die? Who??? I wanted to see a good end that Togame and Shichika travelling together around Japan and making their map... why?? Don't die, Togameeeee~~ and Hitei-hime, I don't like you at all, stay away from Shichika... TAT
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I got a TA position in this term, and I was very happy to work with the course coordinator and administrator again since I've been working with them since last year. But the only issue, my lab section is at 8:30 in the morning. I had to re-adjust my inner clock... :sqohnoes: And now I think I've turned my clock back to normal. Not bad but I still like to stay later to enjoy the night silence. Well, I can't in this term anymore. xD
*:..。o○☆○o。..:*゜*:..。o○☆○o。..:*゜*:..。o○☆○o。..:*゜*:..。o○☆○o。..:*
I think most people should have heard about SOPA and PIPA. I knew that from the blacked-out wikipedia. As I learned more about it, the main thinking in my mind was like, hey, it's 2012, and ahead of the nature, that's humans themselves going insane first? However, seems it got calmed down a little bit, but not done yet. When I saw the whitened wikipedia again, somehow, I feel like to play some warm KOKIA songs. At that moment, I really felt very good in my heart. "Thank you" is such an amazing phrase! -- I just want everything to be normal as it is now. I don't care about the gov decision, but I do care about the online freedom. >_<
Pretty much of my dumb complaint and fanatic passion toward what I dislike and I love in this post, I'll end here! :3

♡ 音が綴る新しい始まり - A new beginning made by melody

New Year, new music.
Let's go to the point directly, C81, I'm satisfied.
Istoria -Kalliope-

Akiko, you finally began to care about your unfinished promise of Istoria -Musa-... totally FOUR years! TAT
Anyhow, I love this album! This time, all tracks are more unified comparing to Musa. Instead of the collaboration of different composers, Akiko did all the work. I think this is the reason. But, that's a pity that Yoshitaka Hirota wasn't here this time. His arrangement of "Terpsichora" is EPIC!
Also, I don't really like the illustrations. I mean, I don't like their style of drawing the character, especially the face. -_-||
However, the music is superb, and that's enough to me. I have no favorite track, I love them all! XDD These tracks are this kind that you can loop for several times without being realized. You will not get bored by looping; the music is so colorful and gorgeous.
Killer Song

Now, this is my newest addiction!
I never thought there would be Key + yanaginagi! Though I wondered how come there was Key + Haruka Shimotsuki. xD But, nagi does fit it!
This mini-album (or single?) is like a prelude to their next project "Love Song 2". However, by reading their official page, I remembered Key + riya. 13 love songs, similar world setting, also, their URL is called 'lovesong2'!
So, will there be any relationship between these two albums? I hope there are some, but... probably not, who knows. :P
Anyway, I love the music movie of "Killer Song" so much! They're so nice to release a full length video with high quality!

Awesome. I especially love the part begins from 3:50.
時は流れひとつの伝説が / Time went by,
まことしやかに囁かれた / And since when, people were murmuring a tale.
難攻不落の城があるが不可解 / In a mystious impregnable castle,
その城の主は目が見えず / The lord could not see,
騎士はまともに歩けさえしないと / And his knight could not even walk,
そんな奇跡を起こす恋もある / Yet, that was such a miracle by their love.
This is just typical Key-style! ><
Maybe I should use my crappy translation power for the whole lyrics someday. :P
There were other good C81 works, including my favorite Haruka and Annabel, but they were not as exciting as Akiko and Key + nagi. I will just keep those on my EHD and stop writing here.
P.S. Still in Corpse Party mode during New Year. But that guy who made funny videos for "Blood Covered" didn't do live playing videos for "Book of Shadows", I had to look for other's playing videos. People hardly do live videos like him, and all I found were rather boring. -_- Now I only watch for the plot. I hope that guy can do live for BS soon!!!! XDD

✿ Christmas Sweetie

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This idea came out 2 days ago. -- I didn't get any celebrating images for this year, so why not do one?
It was Christmas period, so, of course, the theme was that! But who?
For getting a joyful aura, I thought that would be nice if I get some chibi-characters. Dolls would be pretty good, and the main character holds one. To cheer that up, maybe two dolls? The other one would be on her head!!
Then that was the arrangement, and for the characters, don't know, since it's a trio, why not simply use my ange-sis? :P
I didn't make any pre-color scheme. It came to the time to color, and I finally decided not using the classic Xmas red. Sweet pink! -- this image was hence directed to be surrounded by pink magic. xD
BTW, the title was got at the end. To put them together in to a real illustration is actually much harder than just draw and color it, so true! xD

✯ Corpse Party - Amused Mode

I've mentioned before, I got addicted to a PSP game, "Corpse Party". After these days, I finally finished watching all endings of PSP "Blood Covered - repeated fear".
The cause was, I was attracted by Noriko Mitose's song, "Crimson Sign", and I wondered about the work where this song came from. Thus, found a video from youtube (don't click when unprepared!).
My first impression toward that, that's Higurashi!!! Then I did some search and watched a few others' playing video. Horror game, nice, I like -- even get scared so much, I still want to finish. By that time, I got lots of interest in the game. After that, I went to wikipedia and read the entire article (and got completely spoiled =A= ). However, that became my next game.
My game, but the player wasn't me. From others' videos, I learned that this game is kind of complicated to play (to search, walk around, activate stories, and run from ghosts... = = ). Luckily I found one's live playing videos. He completed this game and did a good job for translating and interpreting it (in a super FUNNY way!! I got amused!!! I especially like he using 'AT FIELD' in certain cases. XD). If you do live videos for "Book of Shadow", I will definitely watch again!
watching list:
CP1:
(CP1 1/3)
(CP1 2/3)
(CP1 3/3)

♢ Ribbon in our heart and others, or reversed?

I know it has been 2+ months for my absence. But I was here, you noticed the new template? For sure, simple cold hue rules! u_u
I was going to write something about "new music" I had been looping for a while, in October, but... lemme do it now.
Checklist (ordered by release dates my memory):
- eufonius - Aletheia
- eufonius - Phonon
- Noriko Mitose - Centifolia
- binaria - bottle
- Annabel - memory cycle of a Sentimentalist
- Angela Aki - White
- Suara - Karin
- Haruka Shimotsuki - Kasou Shoujo Lip-Aura Fantasy Collection
- KOKIA - Ribbon in our heart
eufonius - アレセイア (Aletheia) × フォノン (Phonon)

Here come eufo double hits!
Good titles -- Greek plus abstract (?) scientific words.
Both of them are sort of best collections. Anyhow, when I firstly saw the cover of "Phonon", what I reminded was...
Sound Horizon's "Elysion"!!! How could I relate this two completely different things together? OTL
Well, the first one has a super-cute cover, which fits the songs in it.
>> Winter tales <<
I don't know if I mentioned before, that eufonius' songs tended to be more average. But since their release of "Bungaku Shoujo", I found they were going back to their unique style. Great! I missed that! My special loves: "アレセイア (Aletheia)", "natalis" and "サイクレイション (circulation)".
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みとせのりこ (Noriko Mitose) - Centifolia

Best collection again. But I'm okay with this. Most songs from it are different from the "original" versions, and some of them, I have never heard them, so they're new songs to me! Also, thank to this album, I can finally delete some albums where Noriko is in but I don't like the others (e.g. "message"). xD
No matter new versions, new songs, or fake new songs, Noriko's voice is just beautiful as usual. My own favorite is definitely "Crimson Sign" -- what a mystic and dark ambience! For other (fake) new songs, "kinema mosaic" is also wonderful. By Noriko's own description, that song was just awfully hard to sing. lol Then, as a "theme song", in "Centifolia", Noriko got her crystal-like voice performed perfectly with the accompanying piano. Somehow, this song is like "sonido", quiet and peaceful.
Moreover, because of "Crimson Sign", I got addicted to the game "corpse party". Not playing it by myself, but I enjoyed a guy's live playing video a lot. (Just don't dare to see some CG's OTL)
At last, nice cover art! <333
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binaria - bottle × Annabel - memory cycle of a Sentimentalist

Kinda weird cover art for Annabel... ^^;
Nothing changes at our dear ABC's (Annabel x binaria x Cor Leonis [yanaginagi]) side. Music notes are tuned up and down, their duet was dancing with the delightful yet kinda mysterious melody. There is no any difference comparing with previous works, but this is actually why I fell in love with them. They combined delusion and reality, their sound magic does worth to be spelled in a lazy weekend evening.
*・゚゚・*:.。..。.:*・゚゚・*:.。. .。.:**・゚゚・*:.。..。.:*・゚゚・*:.。. .。.:*
Angela Aki - White
I'm not a big fan of her, but I do love her songs. As a J-pop singer, Angela Aki is apparently different from the doujin artists I mentioned above. However, I don't care about genre, I only concern about the songs themselves. Angela's songs are always bright and full of happiness, and her voice type is superb too. Her songs are the kind that you can loop for several times without being realized. Out of songs from this album, my favorite should be "モラルの葬式 [Revival] (Moral's funeral)". I can't tell exactly why, maybe just being attracted by the first impression. I've already said, her songs are all pretty nice, so it's hard to decide a favorite. ("Honest" is so touching! >_<)
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Suara - 花凛 (Karin)

To be honest, I can't tell any special thing toward this album, but why I list it here??? -- I DID loop it for several times! I know there is a couple of songs I liked very much, just due to my bad memory, I can't recall any of them. :P
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霜月はるか - 花想少女~Lip-Aura~幻想歌曲集 (Haruka Shimotsuki - Kasou Shoujo Lip-Aura Fantasy Collection)
Lip-Aura series! I liked it since it's "origin" -- Lip-Aura. But here why I got a feeling being deceived?
.
.
.
Lots of songs are not new! (゚д゚)!
Okay, my bad, the album title has the word "collection". -__-
Yet I still feel hard to like this album.
Because...
Kaori, why are you here? -.-You just stay with your SH crusade; for Lip-Aura series, I vote for Haruka x Annabel, you know? (bricked) That should be Annabel x yanaginagi! (bricked again)
*・゚゚・*:.。..。.:*・゚゚・*:.。. .。.:**・゚゚・*:.。..。.:*・゚゚・*:.。. .。.:*
KOKIA - 世界を包む Ribbon in our heart

(I love the new profile picture on victor artist page so much!!!)
This single has been released in last month. Too bad I didn't got a good version until now. From this song, I found a similar feeling like that from "The VOICE". Still the typical KOKI-pop, and still adorable. I wish this song can be in a real CD!!!
*・゚゚・*:.。..。.:*・゚゚・*:.。. .。.:**・゚゚・*:.。..。.:*・゚゚・*:.。. .。.:*
I also got a album from GARNET CROW, but I hasn't got a chance to listen to it. - -#
Soon, new music will come. Akiko Shikata, KOKIA, Hanako Oku, etc...
Maybe I'll write about GC and the coming new ones later~
Hmmm....
HEY, I THINK MY POST TITLE CAN BE REVERSED ACCORDING TO THE CONTENT... XD