strange occurrences

february 26, 2010

met jamie at hachiko in shibuya. ate lunch at "freshness burger."

later, met elena at hachiko. went to h.i.s. to arrange trip to okinawa. sucess!

later, met up with ashley. dinner at "la pausa." karaoke.

february 27, 2010

chill out day.

february 28, 2010

met jamie and ashley in shinjuku.

went to lunch at the cute teatime place that jamie and i went to before "tokyo decadance."  had omuraisu.

then went to karaoke. we always go to the same karaoke place because they have the nicest staff. whenever we go to other karaoke places, even if it's the same chain as the one we usually go to, the staff is always really mean to us. so we always just end up going to the same place. ashley and jamie told me that they think the staff recognizes us now! when jamie went to the bathroom, one of the staff (this guy who came in to give us our drinks one time and who seemed impressed by whatever "the gazette" or "d'espairsray" song jamie and ashley were singing) nodded and smiled at her. then, he proceeded to show her the way to the bathroom because she apparently got lost there before and now has a reputation among the staff. sang "hello" ( www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_OlqK… ) by hyde with music video, so of course jamie and ashley made fun of hyde's shortness.

afterwards went shopping. went to "like and edison" j-rock cd store and other j-rock store with bins of merchandise. found "plastic tree" mirror there. then went to "marui one" and looked at h.naoto, sexy dynamite in london, sexpot revenge and black peace now. jamie ended up buying a stripy ryuutarou-esque vest from black peace now. the lady who worked there seemed to like jamie's "merry" t-shirt and was very cute and helpful. went to another branch of marui to go chill out in starbucks. found vivienne westwood neckerchief with orbs, skulls, ribbons, and bones. as we chilled in starbucks, looked at j-rock magazines jamie had bought earlier. magazines from around 2003, so interesting to see what bands gone, what bands still around, how bands have changed, etc.

on way home, saw guy on train that i had seen on the way to shinjuku the same day. remembered him because he was wearing a hot pink leopard-spot "butt flap" (as jamie calls them).

march 1, 2010

went to movie theater. got an unexpected discount on ticket due to the 1st of the month. "bruno" coming out soon here, so had some of bruno's outfits on display in the lobby. while waiting for movie, drank jasmine tea in cafe and watched trailers, such as trailer for new kitano takeshi yakuza film "outrage" ( www.youtube.com/watch?v=NII7eQ… ). before film, showed trailer to final "nodame cantabile" movie.

saw japanese movie called "hito no sabaku" [desert of people] ( www.fnm.geidai.ac.jp/hitonosab… ), comprised of four short films, all very strange.  went to see film because of koike eiko (kamikaze girls, utahime) and natsuki mari (spirited away, ping pong). oshinari shuugo (all about lily chou-chou) also showed up. he's usually typecast as "the self-absorbed jerk," so it was nice to see him play a very vulnerable character in this film. went into film thinking there would be a lot of humor, but all stories very tragic and depressing. koike eiko's performance in this film was exceptional. usually she's typecast as an antagonist of some kind, so it was nice to see her in a leading role. although it is difficult to develop a multi-dimensional character in such a short time, her performance really showed multiple sides of her character and felt very realistically human in her changes in mood and emotion. she played a character that could easily come off as annoying or bratty if not done right, but she pulled it off and made the audience really understand her psychological issues. i would recommend this film just for her performance alone. it was kind of a funny coincidence though because on the way home from the theater i passed a "sukiya" (gyuudon beef bowl fast food chain) who had a huge advertisement outside with koike eiko's smiling face on it.

on the way home, saw poster on train for pepsi nex zero with l'arc~en~ciel on it. went on youtube and found matching television commercial, featuring l'arc performing "i love rock 'n' roll" ( www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTD3e9… ). so funny how the band is playing surrounded by towering pepsi bottles. all i could think was "i know hyde is short, but... really?"

***

in other news...

on the topic of davey havok.

okay, i admit it... i used to listen to the band "afi." (not "american film institute," stands for "a fire inside" - don't ask me why because i haven't the foggiest) around freshman/sophomore year of high school. this was before bands like "my chemical romance" and other crappy "emo" bands ruined american music for me (not that "afi" themselves want any part in that mainstream "emo" b.s. - perhaps that is the cause of their "revamped" style leaning more towards their punk origins). i wasn't obsessed with them or anything, but i owned a copy of their 2003 album "sing the sorrow" (yes, i actually went out to "barnes & noble" or something and bought a copy).

at the time, lead singer davey havok definitely had a memorable look/style/appearance/aura to him. long, wavy black hair. lots of mascara and eyeshadow. deathly pale skin. pouty face. muscular, completely tattooed arms (his sleeves are actually all "nightmare before christmas"). whiny, strangely accented singing voice.

exhibit a: "girls not grey" ( www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Yzu-4… )

although i didn't really keep up with the band so much after "sing the sorrow," davey's look didn't change much over the years. for their 2006 album "decemberunderground," all that really changed with him was his haircut. and not to an extremely noticeable extent.

exhibit b: "miss murder" ( www.youtube.com/watch?v=YU4hhN… )

fall 2009, while running around "hmv" and "tower records" in tokyo, i noticed some promotional flyers and such for the band. my reaction was kind of like "huh, a new "a.f.i." release? didn't know they were still around... well, whatever." a few months later (february 2010), one day i was bored and decided to check out the band's new stuff, not really expecting anything.

i was shocked...

exhibit c: "beautiful thieves" ( www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vz__wH… )

"davey, what did you do to your head?"

*

february 21 at 11:55 p.m. -- facebook status: geri gallas was unaware that davey havok could grow facial hair...

status comments:

melissa: isn't it absolutely mind-blowing? i HATE it so much... eww... he looks like a bum in my opinion.

[...and this is why i heart melissa.]

geri: after at least 6 years of his long-haired, clean-shaven, porcelain-doll deathly pale, dark angel look (or at least that's how i characterize him in my mind), i was like "holy shit, it's a man!" hahaha. the facial hair just seems so wrong on so many levels.

melissa: i know... i used to idolize him so much in middle and high school, and now i can't stand the sight of him. it's terrible. i can never ever go to a concert of theirs, it's just too wrong, lol.

greg: hahah

[at this point, i had that look in my eyes of "quoi?" (as eddie izzard would say). i'm friends with greg on facebook because we worked on a class project together, but it's not like we're close friends and it's not like we ever comment on each other's facebook statuses. so i was like "of all things, of all the random and weird stuff i post on facbook, this is what greg responds to? unbelievable..."]

*

as far as davey's new look goes, it's not that he looks bad persay... it's just that it's such a drastic change! it's like a mid-career crisis or something! if i ever ended up at an "afi" concert for any reason now, i think i would probably laugh so hard at davey's appearance that i would pass out. and, as it seems, other afi fans seem to feel similarly. oh well...