Archive

Archive for March, 2009

the GazettE – DISTRESS and COMA

March 29, 2009 vegahighwell 2 comments

Their brand new single of 2009, released on 25th March 2009. I will definitely recommend all to watch this PV. Even if you can’t make heads or tails of the PV (like me… but I am able to decipher a little from it) or have never heard of this JRock band, watch it. It’s worth your 5 minutes and 28 seconds.

Watch the video in HQ version. It will take longer to load, but the quality is much better than watching it normally.

Purchase the single to support the GazettE! Singaporeans can make a trip to either outlets of HMV and check the shelves or order from the M.A.G.E. shop by giving them your order for ‘DISTRESS and COMA -Auditory Impression-’ or ‘DISTRESS and COMA -Optical Impression-’ from CD Japan. Global readers can just order straight from CD Japan.

The lyrics below are taken from yet another link. Credits to the people who provided the kanji lyrics and english tranlsations.

Until your distress sleeps,
Fill me up with your grief.
Until your distress sleeps… [x2]

Hello, dear; my bride
何を見ているの
床に散った 蝶も拾えぬその目で
Hello, dear; my bride
What are you looking at?
You can’t pick up the butterfly that fell to the ground with those eyes.

忘れたいのは 白すぎた苦痛
信じてると 言い聞かす
傷は消えない
What I want to forget, the pure white agony…
If I believe,
The wounds I’ve substained won’t heal.

踊る 踊る 眠らせてと踊る
止まぬ涙
声を殺し 弱く震える手に 唇を落とす
Dance, dance, I let you sleep and dance
The tears won’t stop.
Kill your voice, and with those hand that quiver weakly,
Clean your lips.

Hello, dear; my bride
足元を焼く
耳鳴りにもう 近づく必要など
無意識に吐いた 息が肌を沿う
寡黙揺らす刃に 笑みを
Hello, dear; my bride
Your feet are burning.
The buzzing in your ears is becoming a need
Your breaths of unconsciousness
Runs along my skin
The smile in the blade that swings silently.

忘れたいのは 白すぎた苦痛
信じてると 言い聞かす 
傷は消えない
The thing I want to forget, the pure white agony…
If I believe,
The wounds I’ve substained won’t heal.

痩せた夢に 冷めぬ今が写る
悲しみさえ 素顔だよと 答えてくれるなら
傷ついてもいい
In the barren dreams,
The reality that does not wake up reflects the present.
Even the grief…If it answers me with a real face,
It’s okay if I get hurt…

忘れないで
痛みを知る 貴方に惹かれた鼓動
ここで
Don’t forget;
The throbbing is attracted to you, who knows pain,
I wait here…

「おやすみ」
“Goodnight.”

踊る 踊る 眠れるまで踊る
止まぬ涙
何もないと 心を伏せる度 枯れそうだと
痩せた夢に もう一度を歌う
悲しみさえ 自分だよと 答えてくれるなら 
傷ついてもいい
Dance, dance, dance until I can fall asleep.
The tears do not stop.
If there is nothing, then the time that closes the heart
Will wither away.
In the barren dreams, I sing once more;
Even the grief…if it answers me with myself,
It’s okay if I get hurt…

Until your distress sleeps,
Fill me up with your grief.
Until your distress sleeps…

終わるはずの夢に「さよなら」が咲いてる
In the dream that should end, “Goodbye” is blooming…

The lyrics were taken from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mymLkeFkAY

The links to download the PV and mp3 file (taken from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGd6o7kyCog)

mp3 || mp4 || AVI

Now, it’s just so tempting for me to buy the single… The lyrics somehow ring something in my heart, long before I read the lyrics (which were in fact just a little earlier, as the copy I have posted is the 1st set I’ve read). So, for me, it now hurts to hear the song. Grief. I think I’ve felt that earlier in March, but to say it out loud will be repeating what I’ve so hated myself for doing on a blog so I’ll stop. Well, enjoy the PV of ‘DISTRESS and COMA’!

Updates

March 20, 2009 vegahighwell 6 comments
 

So, I just returned from Gopeng, Malaysia yesterday and with my tired body and sunburnt skin I sat down in front of my sister’s laptop to type this post and upload a new piece of digital art I just finished.

A 10 hour ride from Singapore to Gopeng… My bum hurts and if without my mp3 player or Stephen Hunter’s “Point of Impact” I would have died of boredom on the bus… Scratching the bug kisses makes my skin tingle. Gosh I hate sunburns, but they give this really beautiful and healthy skin colour! Now I’m dark again.

I’ll summarise my trip: Fun, adventurous, eye-opener, tiring, first-timers.

Haha… Highlight of the camp is white water rafting! Man~ going through 22 rapids in a raft is so exciting I want to do it again! And I have no idea how to share my experience on the raft to anyone… it’s just indescribable in words…

Take a look at my “Wishlist of material goods” and you’ll see that 2 items have been struck off. Heh, I’m a happier girl now cos I have a scanner (Epson TX100) and a tablet (Wacom Bamboo Fun Medium in black) at home now!

Yeah… so this piece of work is my latest. Amongst all those which I drew using the tablet, this one isn’t that bad. Mature content ahead.

A girl under the sun, presumably on the beach

 

A girl under the sun, presumably on the beach

 Click on the image to see the art in my DeviantArt in full size. You can comment in there if you’re a member.

Digital Art – Otoko

March 11, 2009 vegahighwell Leave a comment
A mans side profile (diminished)
A man’s side profile (diminished)

A side profile. Worked with Adobe Illustrator CS4. I’m just too lazy to add the other pics…

Categories: Digital Art, Drawings

Essay on Guren

Yeah, Guren. That song released early last year by the GazettE. I did an essay on it, as a replacement essay I was supposed to have handed in on the 1st day of school. I only did so on the 2nd March though… ‘Sides I didn’t even think I could have the chance to write about this and hand it up to my teacher, but now I’m looking at the graded essay on my lap… with a nice 32/50 on it. Oh and by the way, it’s in Chinese.

《我喜欢的一首歌》

  我很少听华语歌曲,主要原因大概是因为我从小就开始日本动画,而觉得日本歌曲的含义比华语或英语歌曲来得深。当中就有一首摇滚乐曲让我留下了深刻的印象。

  歌名从日语翻译到华语是《红莲》,主唱、作曲、作词是日本摇滚乐团the GazettE一手包办。名气虽然比不上日本流行歌后宾崎步,但他们的歌曲是粉丝们一直以来的支持的原因之一。而我是受到朋友的影响而开始听这个乐团的歌。

  歌词写的是某人失去了身边一位非常重要的人之后所感到的痛苦及悲伤。歌词也透露出不舍和后悔。MV里侧加强了歌词的感受,让许多观众和听众为这首让人心酸的歌流下泪。

有个朋友告诉我,这首歌的含义可以从MV当中找出。他说,MV里出现的红房、水龙头和穿着分别红和白色连身裙的小女孩代表着(照顺序)女人的子宫、男人的阴茎、活着和死去的胎儿。一边看MV,一边以这四样关键物来解读MV后的故事,就知道是一位母亲因为失去了未生出的小宝宝而经历的心痛。

  我喜欢这首歌是因为我可以站在那位母亲的角度感受到她的感受。我可没有经历过母亲失去孩子的痛苦,单就凭这首歌使我为她感到伤心。还记得我第一次听到这首歌时,是因为它那不是很沉重的曲子给吸引住了。那时侯我还不了解它的含义,但曲子和略带优怨的歌声让我听出这是一首非常悲伤的歌。

  在我们这一生中,想必大家都不想能够亲身体会到这首歌的一切,但这首《红莲》却做到了,令我非常佩服。可以的话,不仿在网上听这首好歌。

And to answer the last line, here’s the song, once again.

http://www.veoh.com/videos/v3306045WdsPBq6s [PV]

http://www.4shared.com/file/39053520/a44540b2/the_GazettE_-_Guren.html [MP3 + Download]

I’m so sorry, but I feel like doing this… please don’t get offended for I am not laughing at the song, but at my essay… 哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈……

Adobe Illustrator (Adobe Web Premium Creative Suite 4)

March 1, 2009 vegahighwell 6 comments

I’ve recently (a week already) acquired a copy of the Adobe Web Premium CS4 package that costs me $99 (o.p. $939). Even though they came to my school for a roadshow and get orders for the CS4 as well, many aren’t prepared to fork out that $99 on the spot. This led to my order being a complete waste of my time through them. I couldn’t take it anymore, so I just ordered it online and had it delivered to my home. $99 were deducted from my stash and wah lah! Here it is~

The package includes Adobe Photoshop CS4, Adobe Illustrator CS4, Adobe Dreamweaver CS4, Adobe Soundbooth CS4, Adobe Fireworks CS4, Adobe Flash Professional CS4, Adobe Bridge CS4, Adobe Contribute CS4, Adobe LiveCycle ES 8.2 plus a few more.

Currently I’ve only tried out Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, cos I’m dabbling with digital art at the moment. The others… hopefully I will blow the dust off them soon and peek and play around with them.

Talk aside, here’s something I decided to draw after I learnt how to control Adobe Illustrator.

Lines, Cyan and Black

Lines, Cyan and Black

Xin shared with me the purpose of the cyan pencil in line art, and I admit I’m gonna get some as soon as possible! After using cyan as the rough lines of a piece of art, the black ink comes next. This all is shown above.

The base coat of colour, as you will call it

The base coat of colour, as you will call it

The first coat of colour, no shadows at all. Escept for the lips which I played around with the blend tool… It’s done with 4 layers and basic brushes found in AI.

Some additional touch ups, in this case being shadows.

Some additional touch ups, in this case being shadows.

The darker shade of colours for all used in the base coat. They serve as shadows, just to add a little more life in you art. I do need some more practice in this… The shadows are done on individual layers, by the way.

So the last one is how it finally looks like in the end, and all was finished with a mouse, not a tablet! I can really see the choppy lines, making me squeem over it… I really want one… Being able to draw on a Wacom Intuos3 tablet doesn’t help in any way either… *sigh*

Other than that, Happy Birthday Xin. Though I was there for lunch and a bit of shopping with you and Billy, I didn’t get to say this… So sorry!

And, art without the use of a pen is just… crap.