The J-Music Lovers' International Assembly

[Mandilinn]

How is playing Ni no Kuni going? I finished it in July, well I still have a few errands left (got too busy with other stuff), but still want to play it some more.

I just got the dragon, so traveling has just been made a whole lot easier for me. I need to do a bit of level grinding because I barely scraped past the graveyard and I had a hard time making it up to the fortress. The casino and coliseum are now open, so I want to try those. I'm enjoying the battle system a lot now that I know how to use it. Those first five hours or so before everything was available were rough, though.

[Mandilinn]

it is rough at the beginning. The girl always runs out of MP and if you change her tactics to not waste it all so fast she keeps dying on you. sigh...i really hate AI. Its why i always prefer direct command in a turn based game instead.

Oh i did pick it back up yesterday. I finished the trials thing after the desert town and going to the volcano next, which i think was in the demo.

My recommendation is to find a strong physical attacker to compliment her magic/healer skills. If you just load her up with other magic/healer familiars, her MP won't last long at all and she'll be completely helpless if Oliver dies. I learned that the hard way :._.:

And a tip: Do the bounty-hunting side quests and request board. It's a good way to earn extra money and items, plus useful bonuses.

[Mandilinn]

noooo i chose the mage/healer starter pokemon for her after i beat the trials lol. I actually thought it was going to Oliver that's why. Yea i'm probably gonna level a bit and try to get one for her before i go to the next area.

Stock up on items, too! I made the mistake of buying too few healing items and I had none by the time I reached the top of the mountain. I had to fight my way back down and then back up once I decided to go back up (the monsters won't ignore you unless you're a higher level, so I had to fight every single one). At least it helped me with the boss in the end. :lol:

Yeah, he kind of does. :lol: That's promising though, since I'd really like to see some of the classic show shine through this season, since I miss the subtle severity that pervaded a lot of those episodes. Though, my tastes might not exactly align with the majority of fans.

Before watching the classic series I would've been in that majority, but after watching it, I agree with you. Peter is a lifelong fan, so hopefully he sees what has been missing and brings it back in an exciting way. There are a couple quick interviews on the BBC America YouTube channel with him talking about the role if you want to check those out.

Anyway, looking forward to tomorrow. I might watch the after show, too, depending on who is on it.

He makes traveling so much easier! I love the animation for it to. It was such a drag running everywhere and taking the boat. Traveling will only get easier from here on out. There's an island in the northwest, I think it's called ugly duck island, that has the familiar toko on it which is good for grinding. I dont want to spoil too much so later on in the game there is another familiar that gives a lot of experience. And ugh the Casino. I got so addicted playing platoon. But yeah the first couple of hours are tough. I was pretty underleved for awhile.

Ugh, don't talk to me about the boat :cry: It's good if you're looking for familiars with water attacks, but everything else about it was a pain. The only thing that made it better was me trading in my stamp cards for the speed upgrade. I died several times on that boat due to the monsters just hanging out in the water.
I'm thrilled to have the dragon now. I feel like I've earned it after all that walking and boat travel. I kind of want to just explore, but I'm terrified I'll land somewhere high level and die immediately. :lol: Edited August 23, 2014 by Mandilinn

[Mandilinn]

Left my thoughts on the debut episode of Season 8 in the DW thread. If you watched it, join the discussion! (I saw you lurking, Ryu.... :lol: ) If you're not watching it till tonight on BBC America, then beware of spoilers.

 

Oh. One of my mom's old friends is directing an episode of Doctor Who. IDR her name but i think it was like Rachael or something.

 

Rachel Talalay? (It was listed on Wikipedia). That's really cool! :ahmagah:  It must have been amazing to work with Peter Capaldi.

[Mandilinn]

Heh. All I'll say thus far is that I'm mostly happy with that episode and very much pleased with Capaldi as the Doctor - I want to watch it again later before I give an actual full opinion on it, since my stream got slightly choppy at a couple points. Think there might have been a couple pacing issues, but I've come to expect those. So, mostly positive.

I might watch it again later, but I want to catch the after show, too. They're having some of the writers on.

I will say they had better fix the pacing issues for next week because the premise is a good one. (Not sure how clear the trailer was, but there's a short description out there on the internet.) There's an Eighth Doctor story based around the same idea and it's a favorite of mine, so I have high hopes for this episode.

[Mandilinn]

I was playing Ni No Kuni and I saw them! 

 

 

Llapacas  :ahmagah:  There was even a baby one. <3

 

[Mandilinn]

 

 

Off-topic, but have you seen the setlist for Namie's tour yet?

 

[spoiler]

01. Ballerina

02. Poison

03. ALARM

04. WANT ME, WANT ME

05. Big Boys Cry

06. FUNKY TOWN

07. Contrail

08. Grotesque

09. ROCK STEADY

10. WHAT A FEELING

11. Sturdust In My Eyes

12. SWEET 19 BLUES

13. TSUKI

14. La La La

15. Rainbow

16. Can You Feel This Love

17. SWEET KISSES

18. Whisper

19. Alive

20. Love Story

21. HimAWArI/The Meaning of Us/Four Seasons/Think of Me (She changes this ballad and costume each show)

22. CAN YOU CELEBRATE? feat.Taro Hakase

23. Supernatural Love

24. Hands On Me

25. ROCK U

26. Heaven

27. Neonlight Lipstick

Encore

28. Still Lovin' You

29. CAN'T SLEEP, CAN'T EAT, I'M SICK Remix

30. Baby Don't Cry

 

[/spoiler]

 

:ahmagah:

 

 

The baby was so cute. I really want to replay it now.

 

I'm really enjoying it, but some days I can't play it because I don't have the energy. It requires a lot of focus to keep from dying constantly.  :cry:

I really need to start playing this again  :cry:

 

Yes! Play it again. Go see the Llapacas  :ahmagah:

[Mandilinn]

Mother flippin Whisper??! :ahmagah:

Yes! :ahmagah: The fans that attended said the dance for it is really raunchy.

Plus she did a chair dance during FUNKY TOWN and was pole dancing on a giant carousel for Grotesque. I already want the blu-ray for this. <3

I was reading this...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exile_(Hurts_album)

The album's title was revealed in December 2012,^[1] followed by the track listing and artwork in January and February 2013, respectively.^[2][3] Hurts singer Theo Hutchcraft came up with the title while sitting in a bar in Osaka; he glimpsed it on a scrolling billboard, and it was the only word he could understand. "That sense of being in a weird place. Freedom, fear, isolation, joy, religion, punishment, the decadence that comes with exile—always being on tour, always far away from home. It did feel like we were on the run, always chasing something", he also explained

EXILE'S IMPACT!!!

I wonder if it really was EXILE? They are everywhere. :lol:

[Mandilinn]

OMG that setlist....... :ahmagah:

The stage is really cool-looking, too. Kind of steampunk-ish?



Then during Four Seasons the other night, the set looked like this:



:ahmagah:

[Mandilinn]

I HATE living away form home. Every night I get paranoid someone is going to break into my place and murder me.

I miss the comfort of having my family around, ugh and it literally has only been like three weeks and I'm already miserable. 

 

And listening to this song alone in the dark doesn't make me feel any better

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKPA8L5ZpqU

I'm still in the midst of my Hikki phase tbh

 

I know it doesn't feel like it now, but you'll get used to it. When I first moved out, I used to get up a few times during the night to make sure I had turned everything off and locked the front door and windows. It's normal to feel a little uncomfortable about it. :) 

[Mandilinn]

EDIT: Topped.




(Well, he kind of deserved it...)

In my 5 years of listening to K-pop, this is the first time I've heard an Idol dying. Not to mention she was apart of one of my favorite groups. 

 
The whole thing is so heartbreaking. :( I hope the other members of the group involved in the accident can recover. 
 
 

Lmao it's gonna be 26 in the afternoon so im dressed for that.

 
:wth:  But....couldn't you just wear jeans in the morning and take the shorts to change into later?
 
(That's what I'd do. I hate being cold, personally.  :._.: ) Edited September 3, 2014 by Mandilinn

[Mandilinn]

I'm sorry but these kpop fans who called that kid's school principal, and whatever else need to get a life. That's going a bit overboard. Like I understand getting his social media shut down, but constantly calling his school isn't doing anything more than causing problems for the school.

I agree. I understand wanting to report and block him (he deserved that much), but harassing him at home/school and treating him the as badly as he's acting himself? Call me old-fashioned, but I don't believe that's right at all. He's acting like a horrible and despicable human being, but stooping to his level makes you no different than him and it doesn't really solve anything in the end.

[Mandilinn]

For those of you who watch Doctor Who, does the change in doctor get acknowledged or is it treated as a new series/season?

When a new Doctor is chosen, they usually reserve the regeneration/new Doctor scene for the last moments of a final episode of a season. They've never revealed a new Doctor in the middle of a series/season.

As for how they treat it in the actual story, they spend the first episode setting up the new Doctor's new personality and dealing with the aftermath of the regeneration. The show is basically the same after that, but with a slight tonal shift (mostly because each of the twelve doctors has a completely different personality, even though they're essentially the same person).

Hopefully I didn't just confuse you more :lol:

are people really fascinated by only-childs? lol

They are? o.o Edited September 7, 2014 by Mandilinn

[Mandilinn]

Yep, I'm like 10 times more confused now haha. But it's okay I think I get a little bit. :)

It's a bit intimidating to figure out where to begin if you're curious, but people are always suggesting starting with the episode Blink, and I'd agree. It introduces the Doctor from an outsider's perpective, there's no story arc to try and understand, there's good writing/pacing, and best of all it's super creepy without being cheesy.

This might help, too: http://blog.ademagnaye.com/a-beginners-guide-to-doctor-who/

[Mandilinn]

Jasmine's new PV is out, but it's blocked. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9Vd4hJsx6g&list=PL1cpeiLNEG5T8rnOL89qjgcyXweiXIRD7 It was composed by the same men behind EXILE's Ti Amo (Matsuo Kiyoshi and JIN NAKAMURA.)

[Mandilinn]

Single Version = Japanese
Album Version = English

I like to pretend the English version doesn't exist....the lyrics are too corny. :lol:

[Mandilinn]

LOL
I think it was because almost every song on uncontrolled was already released so she rerecorded songs in English so they were "different"


I only have the English version, but I prefer the Japanese version, especially the outro.

Yep. YEAH-OH/Go Round English versions and an album mix of Break it (again, I prefer the single version).

I'm glad she ditched the English version for tours in favor of the Japanese version. It just works so much better.

_____________

Speaking of tours, she performed I WILL last night in Osaka \O/ She hasn't performed that in years. <3 I'm hoping Dreaming I Was Dreaming is tonight's ballad.

[Mandilinn]

I kind of want to re-listen to Uncontrolled now, but I'm listening to PLAY for the 1st time right now and it's surprisingly good.

I think she did a better job with English songs in FEEL than Uncontrolled.

PLAY is a fan favorite. I've never talked to a Namie fan that dislikes the album.

She likes to experiment, so I think Uncontrolled was more of her testing the waters with those types of songs and FEEL is her going full-out with it. She puts a ton of work into her albums and it usually pays off. Ballada for example has been in planning for 3 years, and FEEL was started before Uncontrolled was even released. I'm curious as to what her next album will be like, though we won't get anything until this whole mess with Vision Factory is worked out. Currently neither side wants to budge, but she has fan support and Avex is rumored to be backing her, so we'll see what happens.

You know what Namie song needs more love?

Higher!


TAKE ME HAIIIYAHHHH

It gets plenty of love! She performed it just last year :o

Hey guys. So i was trying to think of ideas for things to do in the J-section. IDK if it's just me or not, but it seemed like this section isn't as active as it used to be and i've been wanting to do something anyway. I thought of some possible things to do in the future but i'd need help with them and i wanted to know if any of them even sounds like a good idea or not. I'm gonna post a google Doc. You can leave opinions in here or at the end of the doc. Or if you have other ideas that might be good for the J-section, those are appreciated as well cus i'm not the most creative guy :(

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JqQbbNCHWXtpbbjEgSs6Ub8zlVAac3i7zgBup7p_K28/edit

:ohbi: :ohla:

This probably isn't helpful, but I like all these ideas :ohla: Especially the book club. Is it for the J-section only, though? What types of books would be chosen?

Hey guys! Just letting you all know that you guys can embed Jpopsuki.tv vids now \O/

http://www.jpopsuki.tv/video/NICO-Touches-the-Walls---Bakemono/7d26ab24a10d0d042468c770117332a6

Hooray! \O/ Edited September 11, 2014 by Mandilinn

[Mandilinn]

Can i spazz about One Ok Rock here?? :rlytearpls:

 

Sure you can. :) There's several users here that like them.

[Mandilinn]

Where did you read that? I can't believe ballada has been on the works for 10 years, like the resung vocals seem so lazy. I can see how FEEL was planned beforehand tho, since uncontrolled was more of a singles collection.

 

An article that came out around the release time. I'll try to find the link to it. And I said 3 years, not 10. 

 

yeah i dont get how ballada ould take years to plan... :\ like its a best album full of old ballad songs. ????? unless they planned what type of albums she will release in the next several years, then i can understand that

 

It was probably the work on the old PVs that took the most time. They weren't half-assed and just slapped on the album like most artists tend to do. They look fantastic in HD. It's actually worth buying the blu-ray version of Ballada.

 

Namie obviously does think far in advance if she was considering Ballada back when Checkmate was still in the works. I'm pretty sure she's done this with other albums, too. Uncontrolled seems like the only album she didn't do that with.

[Mandilinn]

 

TTS's new song is apparently a remake of this song. I feel bad for being in JR&B so long and never hearing of MizRock

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6Mov2bDPNs

 

I feel like I've heard of the artist before, but not the song. The song is fine enough, but why not get producers to make an original song for them? It's not like they're some small company that can't afford to hire really great producers.

[Mandilinn]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

:rlytearpls:

They were going to attempt to take down a whole lot of sites including torrent ones, but honestly so many of these sites have backups or aren't going to listen anyway that I doubt anything will change.

[Mandilinn]

Congrats Hemlock and Mandi~

edit:

OMG CONGRATS HEMLOCK AND MANDI <3 Congrats on becoming part of the press team!!

Thanks, you guys :chu: :smile:

[Mandilinn]

Thanks guys.

Please look forward to my terribly written pieces! :)

Your articles will be fine. :lol:

edit: congrats Hemlock and Mandi, so proud of you guys =DD

Thanks, Krunchii :chu:

[Mandilinn]

What's with the sudden obsession over Miliyah's "Sensation"? It seems like people are just discovering the song now. o_oa

This thread is getting some color~ \O/

Hooray! \O/

Congrats Mandi and Hemlock

Congratulations as well Mandi and Hemlock

Congratulation Hemlock and Mandi :D

CONGRATS GUys ^^

Thanks! :smile: