Karaoke!
[8/12]
Yesterday I did karaoke for the first time ever. Now, if you’re reading this blog you probably know me (if you don’t...what are you doing here? Isn’t it kind of boring?); if you know me, you might not be able to picture me, sitting in a little room with a bunch of people I’ve pretty much just met, singing HONEY BLADE at the top of my lungs into a microphone. (If you don’t know the song HONEY BLADE, which, let’s face it, you most likely don’t, suffice it to say that it’s a kind of intense Japanese rock song about a guy who’s dreaming about having sex with his old girlfriend and then wakes up to remember that she left him and then shoots himself in the head. I’d say YouTube it but it’s not on YouTube for some reason.) Can you picture it?
Well I did. I sang OBLAAT, hi-ho, MISERY, HONEY BLADE, HURRY GO ROUND, PINKU SUPAIDAA, Madrigal, premier amour...that might be it for Japanese songs. Also several Beatles songs, Bye Bye Bye, Mamma Mia, and several songs I didn’t pick but ended up singing parts of. It was...well, I don’t think I can say it was the most fun I’ve ever had, because it would have some tough competition, but maybe....tied for third, or something. And I was just really proud of myself because I didn’t shut down and sit quietly in the corner and decline to sing because I was embarrassed about the music I like or thought other people would think it was weird. They did think it was weird, but it turns out...that’s okay. I thought some of the music they picked was weird too lol. Mainly people were just like “wow, how do you know all this odd Japanese music?” Jarryd liked some of hide’s songs and said he’d have to check him out. Also, apparently he’s a fan of Gackt’s more recent stuff, but has never listened to his Malice Mizer records. So after I sang a Malice Mizer song he sang a more recent Gackt song. And everyone kept being appalled by how little normal popular music I know; Alisa kept saying “here, you’ll recognize this song for sure,” and then I wouldn’t. So she and Jarryd are plotting on how to get me to listen to some new music. But I told them I’m completely open to it; I just need someone to give it to me. What I’m bad at is going out on my own and searching out new music.
Not shockingly, there was not a single Jethro Tull song in the karaoke book. Can you imagine trying to sing Jethro Tull as karaoke? Muzukashii deshou ne...Still, you’d think there’d be a few songs that would work okay. At least as well as HONEY BLADE lol.
They said the PV (music video) for PINKU SUPAIDAA was the creepiest thing they’d ever seen. (“No wonder people take this as evidence he was suicidal...”) Maybe I’ve just never paid good enough attention to it...but I don’t find the video that shocking. I mean, I do realize that a woman jumps off a building and dies at the end. But it’s artistic, deshou? I don’t really find it disturbing...(This video, by the way, is on YouTube for sure; search for “hide pink spider PV” or something, and if that doesn’t work try pinku supaidaa instead – technically the title is written in katakana.)
Now I want to go to karaoke all the time! Except, I feel like I’ve almost run out of songs I can sing...heh.
Okay, I think that’s the end of the interesting (?) part. At least, the main content of what I wanted to say. On the way back from karaoke, in the car with Jarryd and Alisa, I was pretty much high on tiredness and on the energy of singing so much, and I seem to remember babbling and babbling nonstop the whole ride back. Heh. I wonder what I said...
And right now I am sitting in the kouminkan. Earlier I was working on math, but I don’t feel like doing that anymore. I don’t have internet (although, I was told today that I might get it as early as the beginning of September! Woot!). So I’m writing this post. I could be in my house doing laundry and watching Olympics...but I’d rather be surrounded by people, even people who aren’t paying much attention to me. Jarryd and Alisa told me if they were doing anything interesting today they’d let me know, but so far they haven’t. Tomorrow Alisa’s going away for the rest of the week and the weekend. Sabishii deshou ne...But hopefully Jarryd and I can do some stuff, and I can be productive and keep organizing my house and doing math and things like that. Next Wednesday there’s a short orientation in Kobe, and a week later I will go to my schools and hopefully get more information about exactly what I’m supposed to be doing. But other than that...I’ve nothing scheduled to do.
So to entertain myself, I shall go through another song. :-)
A STORY
Kowareta tokei ga hanashikakeru yo.
Vocabulary:
kowareru = to break
tokei = watch/clock
hanashikakeru = to talk to/to accost (formed from hanasu, to talk, and kakeru)
Syntax: This is a pretty basic sentence. We see the use of the past tense verb functioning as a small relative clause to indicate a state: “broken”. We have a subject marker, ga, and a verb in the present tense. What’s missing is an object of the verb, and in fact, I personally don’t know what it naturally implied. You? Me? Us? In any case, a broken clock is accosting someone. Let’s go with “us”...
A broken clock accosts us.
Subete no mono mo hito mo me o tojite...
Vocabulary:
subete = everything/all
mono = things (physical)
hito = person/people
me = eye(s)
tojiru = to close
Syntax: The particle “mo” means, in this case, “also”, and is really just emphasizing the inclusiveness here: all the things and all the people both. (Note: the “no” is connecting the noun “subete” to the other nouns so that it can be a modifier.) So everything and everyone...Then we have “me” marked as a direct object, and a verb in the -te form, in this case acting as a sort of connective form leading to the next clause. So let’s say...
Everything and everyone, closing their eyes...
Zenbu yume da to mezameta toki omoitai to...
Vocabulary:
zenbu = everything/all
yume = dream
mezameru = to wake up
toki = time (“when”)
omou = to think/believe (something)
Syntax: I’m tempted to just skip this line, because I do not understand it. I understand each little chunk, but not how they fit together. (If anyone thinks they know, please, oshiete kudasai!) So “zenbu yume da,” remembering that “da” is the copula verb, means “everything is a dream.” “To”, you’ll recall, marks a clause as something that is said, thought, believed, etc. So in a sense it puts quotes around “zenbu yume da.” Then “mezameta toki” means “when [someone?] has woken up.” “Omoitai” is the form of the verb omou that means “want to believe” (adding –tai to the pre-masu form). And then we have another “to”. So how does it all fit together?
I don’t know. Maybe the subject is still everything and everyone, closing their eyes...”it’s all a dream,” when they wake up, they want to believe...and then there’s that random “to” on the end...what does it imply? It’s confusing to me. Well, let’s just say it’s something about a dream.
Aaaand...I should go now, so...to be continued! :-)
Yesterday I did karaoke for the first time ever. Now, if you’re reading this blog you probably know me (if you don’t...what are you doing here? Isn’t it kind of boring?); if you know me, you might not be able to picture me, sitting in a little room with a bunch of people I’ve pretty much just met, singing HONEY BLADE at the top of my lungs into a microphone. (If you don’t know the song HONEY BLADE, which, let’s face it, you most likely don’t, suffice it to say that it’s a kind of intense Japanese rock song about a guy who’s dreaming about having sex with his old girlfriend and then wakes up to remember that she left him and then shoots himself in the head. I’d say YouTube it but it’s not on YouTube for some reason.) Can you picture it?
Well I did. I sang OBLAAT, hi-ho, MISERY, HONEY BLADE, HURRY GO ROUND, PINKU SUPAIDAA, Madrigal, premier amour...that might be it for Japanese songs. Also several Beatles songs, Bye Bye Bye, Mamma Mia, and several songs I didn’t pick but ended up singing parts of. It was...well, I don’t think I can say it was the most fun I’ve ever had, because it would have some tough competition, but maybe....tied for third, or something. And I was just really proud of myself because I didn’t shut down and sit quietly in the corner and decline to sing because I was embarrassed about the music I like or thought other people would think it was weird. They did think it was weird, but it turns out...that’s okay. I thought some of the music they picked was weird too lol. Mainly people were just like “wow, how do you know all this odd Japanese music?” Jarryd liked some of hide’s songs and said he’d have to check him out. Also, apparently he’s a fan of Gackt’s more recent stuff, but has never listened to his Malice Mizer records. So after I sang a Malice Mizer song he sang a more recent Gackt song. And everyone kept being appalled by how little normal popular music I know; Alisa kept saying “here, you’ll recognize this song for sure,” and then I wouldn’t. So she and Jarryd are plotting on how to get me to listen to some new music. But I told them I’m completely open to it; I just need someone to give it to me. What I’m bad at is going out on my own and searching out new music.
Not shockingly, there was not a single Jethro Tull song in the karaoke book. Can you imagine trying to sing Jethro Tull as karaoke? Muzukashii deshou ne...Still, you’d think there’d be a few songs that would work okay. At least as well as HONEY BLADE lol.
They said the PV (music video) for PINKU SUPAIDAA was the creepiest thing they’d ever seen. (“No wonder people take this as evidence he was suicidal...”) Maybe I’ve just never paid good enough attention to it...but I don’t find the video that shocking. I mean, I do realize that a woman jumps off a building and dies at the end. But it’s artistic, deshou? I don’t really find it disturbing...(This video, by the way, is on YouTube for sure; search for “hide pink spider PV” or something, and if that doesn’t work try pinku supaidaa instead – technically the title is written in katakana.)
Now I want to go to karaoke all the time! Except, I feel like I’ve almost run out of songs I can sing...heh.
Okay, I think that’s the end of the interesting (?) part. At least, the main content of what I wanted to say. On the way back from karaoke, in the car with Jarryd and Alisa, I was pretty much high on tiredness and on the energy of singing so much, and I seem to remember babbling and babbling nonstop the whole ride back. Heh. I wonder what I said...
And right now I am sitting in the kouminkan. Earlier I was working on math, but I don’t feel like doing that anymore. I don’t have internet (although, I was told today that I might get it as early as the beginning of September! Woot!). So I’m writing this post. I could be in my house doing laundry and watching Olympics...but I’d rather be surrounded by people, even people who aren’t paying much attention to me. Jarryd and Alisa told me if they were doing anything interesting today they’d let me know, but so far they haven’t. Tomorrow Alisa’s going away for the rest of the week and the weekend. Sabishii deshou ne...But hopefully Jarryd and I can do some stuff, and I can be productive and keep organizing my house and doing math and things like that. Next Wednesday there’s a short orientation in Kobe, and a week later I will go to my schools and hopefully get more information about exactly what I’m supposed to be doing. But other than that...I’ve nothing scheduled to do.
So to entertain myself, I shall go through another song. :-)
A STORY
Kowareta tokei ga hanashikakeru yo.
Vocabulary:
kowareru = to break
tokei = watch/clock
hanashikakeru = to talk to/to accost (formed from hanasu, to talk, and kakeru)
Syntax: This is a pretty basic sentence. We see the use of the past tense verb functioning as a small relative clause to indicate a state: “broken”. We have a subject marker, ga, and a verb in the present tense. What’s missing is an object of the verb, and in fact, I personally don’t know what it naturally implied. You? Me? Us? In any case, a broken clock is accosting someone. Let’s go with “us”...
A broken clock accosts us.
Subete no mono mo hito mo me o tojite...
Vocabulary:
subete = everything/all
mono = things (physical)
hito = person/people
me = eye(s)
tojiru = to close
Syntax: The particle “mo” means, in this case, “also”, and is really just emphasizing the inclusiveness here: all the things and all the people both. (Note: the “no” is connecting the noun “subete” to the other nouns so that it can be a modifier.) So everything and everyone...Then we have “me” marked as a direct object, and a verb in the -te form, in this case acting as a sort of connective form leading to the next clause. So let’s say...
Everything and everyone, closing their eyes...
Zenbu yume da to mezameta toki omoitai to...
Vocabulary:
zenbu = everything/all
yume = dream
mezameru = to wake up
toki = time (“when”)
omou = to think/believe (something)
Syntax: I’m tempted to just skip this line, because I do not understand it. I understand each little chunk, but not how they fit together. (If anyone thinks they know, please, oshiete kudasai!) So “zenbu yume da,” remembering that “da” is the copula verb, means “everything is a dream.” “To”, you’ll recall, marks a clause as something that is said, thought, believed, etc. So in a sense it puts quotes around “zenbu yume da.” Then “mezameta toki” means “when [someone?] has woken up.” “Omoitai” is the form of the verb omou that means “want to believe” (adding –tai to the pre-masu form). And then we have another “to”. So how does it all fit together?
I don’t know. Maybe the subject is still everything and everyone, closing their eyes...”it’s all a dream,” when they wake up, they want to believe...and then there’s that random “to” on the end...what does it imply? It’s confusing to me. Well, let’s just say it’s something about a dream.
Aaaand...I should go now, so...to be continued! :-)
posted by Ashila at 7:40 AM
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