so apparently it's defective disc month.  first i found out that the copy of sawdust and tinsel that i bought in november is cracked (i hadn't made time to watch it yet).  luckily criterion are very nice and are giving me a whole new copy in exchange for just the cracked disc itself.  then i discovered that my copy of en passion is defective.  i've had that for 3 years and somehow overlooked it.  i think i thought it was my old dvd player's fault.  but it skips in the same place in every player.  so now i have to replace that.  and today i got my long-needed copy of MASCHERA's ca・tas・tro・phe Ⅱ, and it has a defect which causes a skip in the middle of the last song.  so i'll have to replace that too, and that's a pain since the only place it can be found is yahoo japan auctions.  ok, maybe that will be my excuse to buy parade while i'm replacing that.  don't worry, as far as i know the copy i got of トロイメライ is fine.  i've encoded lovely ALAC files of it.  i've never really had any problem with defective CDs or DVDs before, i guess it's all catching up with me now.

i doubt it, but i'll ask anyway: does anyone happen to have mp3s of ca・tas・tro・phe Ⅱ, and if so, is there any sort of glitch at around the exact middle of the last song (生命の消失)?  i just want to make sure it's not a pressing-wide defect before i bother replacing it.  EAC did give me all kinds of read and sync errors with one drive when i tried to extract it, but the other drive did it with no problem.  i get the same glitch in the same place listening to the actual CD and the mp3 file i made with the other drive.

looklook

finally some...... nagisa oshima!

oh, it had to be that one first, didn't it?  well, they do know how to make money :)  but this is what really kills me... they're releasing it on BLU-RAY at the same time.  i would not have guessed that, even though i'm sure plenty of people will find reasons to buy it :)

but seriously, it's a very good film.  nagisa oshima is probably the only person to actually successfully do something like that with a film without it being stupid.  fuck catherine breillat.  they're also releasing this one at the same time, which is exciting, i haven't seen it.  but i'm still waiting for merry christmas mr. lawrence, which has supposedly been on their schedule forever.  i would have guessed that ryuichi sakamoto would have done a commentary track and possibly interviews about that at the same time he did the one for the last emperor.  but i guess one that i haven't seen is better than one i've seen 100 times.

anyway, probably everyone should listen to ZI:KILL if they haven't heard them :)

2008 double bastard is my friend today.  it's too bad i've never had the willpower (or money to buy enough to save some) to keep older bottles of stuff like this.  maybe i'll force myself to keep at least one this year and then drink it in 4 years when the world ends.

(yes, that's a saw blade-shaped mouse pad with a dinosaur on it.  i got it free when we went to a printing place when i was in high school.  what, you don't expect me to actually buy a mouse pad, do you?)

1 Jake
2 Young Vaning
3 Decoratibo
4 Your Grandpa Is The Most Abnormal
5 Buddy Beat
6 By Phero Monde
7 Vogue Man
8 Goodluck Delete

i can't wait to hear the lyrics for that one XD

only 2 really new songs (including that one with the revelation of a title).  i'm guessing it's new recordings (and maybe first-time studio recordings for 1 and 8).  also, if you preorder, you get a bonus CD with 10 MORE TRACKS.  i'm guessing those will be remixes or something.

every time i listen to this song, i yawn at 0:41.  i think it has a subliminal suggestion.

that said, it's important that i express that it's a great song.

another good article:

The Exterminating Angel: My Life As An Entomologist, Or Bugs Are My Business

“People always want an explanation of everything. It is the consequence of centuries of bourgeois education. And for everything for which they cannot find an explanation, they resort in the last instance to God. But what is the use of that? Eventually they have to explain God!” (Buñuel)

one of the few authors to make his own film adaptation of one of his stories...

( sex and death! )

this is really interesting:
http://production.criterion.com/current/posts/517

Hara-kiri is a very positive, very proud way of death. I think it’s very different from the Western concept of suicide. The Western concept of suicide is always defeat itself. Mostly. But hara-kiri sometimes makes you win.

i just used the internet to find out that there was something at my front door instead of opening it and looking.

ps: my plane leaves today but i won't be on it.  i'll see you next year.

if you want to understand why school shootings happen, at least some of them, i would recommend seeing the american film elephant (2004) (gus van sant) and the estonian film klass (2007) (ilmar raag).  they're actually quite good films aside from their subject matter.  elephant in particular takes a unique artistic approach.  klass might be familiar to you if you're in finland since i think it was discussed by the media after the shootings there.

if we consider ourselves advanced societies, we can't continue to allow barbaric treatment and militaristic attitudes to perpetuate in our schools.  of course, it starts at home, but some schools seem to do little or nothing to stop it.

http://www.konami.jp/gs/game/dracula_ds3/
http://www.konamistyle.jp/sp/dracula_ds3/index.html?off

konamistyle limited set is preordered, before it sold out!  now it had better be good for all that money.

i remember a point in 1999 when the USD/JPY exchange rate was ¥137 to $1.  today it's ¥100 to $1.  i've never seen that.

i noticed this:


(the top 8 is for the last 7 days)

and that i happen to be listening to an album right now called "Death 13".  it must be my lucky day!

if you have last.fm, you could help ease my frustration if you'd like by voting for this image and against this one.  the reason being that the latter image is FAR too small, and the proportions are not right for a good display image on last.fm.  the first image i just uploaded, it's a good picture of them from the last year they were together (2000).  i don't know how the other one got so many votes being such crap.  i'm pretty sick of it.

if you're not familiar with ROUAGE and would like to be, then:

( 月のながめかた )

on a lighter note, narasa just told me that Közi has a new band and the vocalist is satoshi from SITHA (he was also a member of the original lineup of goatbed).  i would never have expected a connection like that!!  that's so strange.  so this band should sound really interesting.  satoshi is influenced heavily by new wave and post-punk (i believe his favorite band is wire, and also bauhaus).  this band should be cool.  atsushi from lloy is also going to be in this band.  this is just too weird, but very interesting.  but i hope this doesn't mean SITHA will break up or something.

i've noticed (wow finally!  no, this is a delayed reaction) that i'm actually a really unkind and thoughtless person sometimes.  especially when it comes to my closer friends, oddly enough.  i'm actually rather selfish and cruel, i think.  didn't i just write something like that a few days ago?  well, i suppose it's cathartic.

but i do want my friends to know that i like them regardless of all of that.  most people are probably more important to me than they think.  or maybe not, who knows.  oh, there i go again.  i'm just not nice.  but really, i am.  or maybe not.

i feel bad for not writing back to some people or not doing things i'm supposed to.  but eventually i'll do it and do a good job of it, most likely.  i just have to be in the right mood, otherwise it won't be sincere.  i'd rather be sincere than obligated.  i think it would be best for most people to operate in such a way.

i get sick of myself sometimes.  i read my old livejournal entries and think "what a bitch you are.  shut up".  i really sound american today, don't i?  yes, i need to be out of here again soon.

if i'm supposed to write to you or send you something and i haven't, i'm sorry.  i'm getting to it but being lazy, a bastard, and probably cruel, among other things, as usual :)  if it's something easy i might have already done it, if it's something more difficult... i've been such a lazy bastard lately i haven't done anything that requires any effort, so i apologize.

does anyone know anything about actually renting a room for an extended period in helsinki?  not a hotel or any of that.  something affordable, you know.  and something that is a possibility for non-citizens (normal renting usually isn't!)