Hideki Taniuchi

Hideki Taniuchi's music is amazing.
The chords at 2:26 "Kaiji Ost- Wish" and the bass onwards is out of this world. His music is etched onto my brain , wether I like it or not. After the DEATH NOTE ost , that was it. It still is one of my all time favorite soundtracks and musical compositions in general. Favorite Hideki Taniuchi track is "Kodoku (Solitude)" although in 2007 it was "Suiri (Inference)". Returning to my musical taste origins in 2013 I came across his band Shocking Lemon that I had overlooked before. While I think the DEATH NOTE ost is his best work; great moments exist in tracks like "Star Star" and did I mention his basslines?
The crying guitar sounds of "Kodoku" are reminiscent of post rock and the volume reminds me of shoegaze. The way he spaces out sounds is really great. Although he was arrested for a drug issue in '12 (It's ridiculous that people still go to jail in 2013 for substances they use on themselves while hurting no one) ,I hope he is well wherever he is now, and that he keeps making music after a speedy recovery. Best wishes !

Fictional diary entry of 2007

I booked the first flight to Hong Kong, Kowloon was my target city |the second to last weekend of March 2007,

I said to myself; Try to live, to make some memories. In the future, all you're going to have left is memories, videos, pictures, text.

Make the effort, I said to myself. So I did, and I arrived at Kowloon by taking a taxi from the Hong Kong downtown area. The first weeks went by quite smoothly, a little boring at first when I was getting used to the feel of being in a new town. It sort of blended the capitalism of the West and the raw feeling of living in China, with whatever that brings to mind to my slightly more familiarized but utterly Western mind . The food, everything was pretty satisfactory, would you believe they had 7-11 stores in Hong Kong? It is kind of a staple there as well. Beats me, a foreigner that didn't even have that in his own country.

All joking aside though, the diary is not about me getting to know the special Asian flavors or anything detrimental like that. The thing is that I managed to convince Klaudia Rusek to hop on the plane the following week, joining me here at my shabby place. (I keep saying HK)

At first she was shy . We booked nearby rooms and she came to mine , I went to hers etc for about a week. Then as I got to know the area a little better, I used to take long walks after the sun had set, with my camera and take pictures of the deserted metropolis. She stayed at home smoking weed. (dOOKIE)

I love the roads when noone is around. I like seeing places that were once bustling with life, empty. I also love nature, old buildings and the juxtaposition of the two, especially when old vehicles have "returned" to nature . When a place that was to become a new block was scrapped instead,and only vines and old machines can be seen; that's wonderful.

I have this amalgam of pictures in my mind; Pictures of Asia, pictures of the sea-scape images of me walking along roads with my camera listening to Rei Harakami's music. Abandoned junkyards. Vehicles used for construction, now dumped into a field with two cans of beer and coke next to a carton of some Japanese company; left to the rain and the wind.

I have always harboured a desire to venture into Asia. Although never really thought about actively seeking out the means to do so until later on .

I didn't necessarily want it to be Japan that got my foot on for the first time. Japan, particularly its language being the first "real" experience I've had directly with Asia even if I don't particularly like their POP culture to be honest (Anime etc bores me with minor exceptions)

But the thought of just the different sights that the Asian continent held for me was something I kind of inherently had with me for years, subconsciously.

I think it may have a lot to do with the fact that it's just a whole lot different to what I've been experiencing for the better part of my life. Even a big escape plan if you will, a sort of childish behaviour on my part, a desire to leave everything behind and start anew. Whatever.

Places like Kowloon's outer areas fascinate me. I just love the flats there,

I love the narrow streets, just like Macau but at a lower scale.

The broad squares, the monuments that no Westerner has ever set eyes on; The places outside of the mainstream Western tourism. Picking a place on google earth and becoming infatuated with it. Venturing into an unknown country with really just your backpack and the album "wasuremono" a fitting title for a place in the world, forgotten by many.

This ain't art by the way.

It's just a projection of a feeling I have that makes Asia so alluring to me Sorta like falling for a city. I booked the highest room available and ordered a champagne. As I opened the window I heard the fanfare of the city, at 17:00 sharp. Reminding people to stop working. 

Klaudia had knocked on my door and the last rays of the sun reflected on the venetian blinds overlooking Victoria Peaks, and the cascading Metropolis with its post 80s architecture called for a mood that required smooth jazz.

Putting "Day's End' started what was going to be a very fun evening for both of us.

"Knock Knock!"

17:01

God, I love the morning breeze. Let's go to the national park today, I thought to myself. 

18/1

Sin swam in the sea near Zanarkand. 
Perhaps the waking dream eased its suffering. 

Your father touched Sin and became real that night,
 Foundering in the seas of Spira. 
 How sad now he is caught in the tragic spiral.

 He is Sin.
 He is lost.

Swing out sister - Now you're not here

Swing Out Sister - Now You're Not Here από pezhammer

Listen to my story. This may be our last chance.

Final Fantasy X, including its direct sequel, X-2, was the last diamond of the Sakauchi era Final Fantasy series. Back when I was a kid, and Squaresoft produced great games. I admit that me being 23 now, has a lot to do with how I evaluate  today's games. I am not as easily impressed as I was in 2003 when I first played FFX. Would the game have the same effect on me today? Probably not, but that's partly what makes it so sweet to reminisce. All the games have a special place in my heart, until X-2. After that, Hironobu Sakaguchi left the company due to reasons unexplained to the public.
I wish SquareSoft still made good games like that. Now their titles are too action oriented and too frothy story-wise. The music is not as memorable either .I remember waking up in the mornings to play FFX. Oh boy, that fight with Seymour on the snowy mountain of Gagazet. It was so hard to beat him that I remember, even his robotic voice, to this day . What a badass he was. Wakka, the dependable, albeit naive character of the group. Always hoping for the best, and keeping in line with the teachings of Yevon. His faith is tested in the game, and in the end, what he sees changes his whole perspective of it. Funny, easy-going, a brotherly figure for Tidus, and a serious and trust-worthy guardian at heart. Yuna, a quiet but powerful summoner. Respectfully going on a pilgrimage towards her doom, following her father's footsteps in a suicidal ceremony that will grant the people of Spira two or three years of Peace. Rikku, the cousin of Yuna, secretly an Al-Bhed , the comic relief of the group. Nicely making fun of  people to their faces, and being the carefree and full of energy thief-guardian of the lot. She acts as a little daughter to Lulu, the most mature of the group. Hardly the small-talk type, her remarks are always spot on, and her wisdom is always a great aid to the hot-tempered youth of the fellowship. I suppose she is like a mother to Yuna,when something goes wrong, Yuna always finds comfort in her arms. That leaves us Kimahri and Auron. Kimahri hardly ever talks, and thus he doesn't have many lines in the game. But his acts speak more that most people's words. He was with Yuna from years back. In a way, maybe his own tribe 's turbulations made him who he is. Kimahri's love and protection of Yuna sometimes makes him seem intimidating to others. But Yuna always found solace knowing that he was around. And she loved his little broken horn. It's what made him special.
Auron. When the game starts, the character Auron appears , non-chalantly re-defining the word cool ,to my 16 year old eyes . As I raised my jaw from the floor, the sequence begins when Tidus is brought back to reality from the dream of Sin by a whilrwind of anti-gravity. Somehow Tidus is transferred to another dimension through his "old man" 's intervention. But how did Jecht first materialize from the Fayth in the first place? How did he break free  from the dream of the Fayth ? He must have swam a long way from home , in "Dream Zanarkand" . The game cleverly leaves us hanging in questions such as this one.

Anyway, what I know now is that both things have happened. I grew older, and the games are really bad now. Final Fantasy is not the game that I loved to play. I still remember my wild excitement when I saw the little paragraph in a videogames magazine (yes I used to buy them, I was a hardcore gamer back then) that announced a sequel to FFX. I found solace in these games. Final Fantasy was a portal outside of this world for me, and every different installment of the Sakaguchi era games had a different charm to it . It's not a coincidence that Final Fantasy was successful and made its name in the 90's. The world was more open to dreamers back then, people were more open to sentimental and romantic ideas. But then again, I might just have grown old.
I don't want to hear any comments on how great Lighting's return must be in the new FFXIII. I don't want to listen to what casual fans have to say about the games. I am one of the niche market that grew up with it, that dreamed with it , and fell in love with its charm . I want  , however, to think that somewhere these kids (then) still look back to these utopias now, and reminisce them from time to time. I want to believe that these young dreamers are still the same today, somewhere in their heart, and the dream did not end just because they are now adults. Let's hope I am not the only one .

00:30am

There are so many people trying to fit in the society molds , it's bad for them , I think.

Why bother, when all of us are who we are, and we are going to be gone soon enough.

What I have now is the bursts of good memories that maybe never were, and thinking of

the past makes it seem more alluring. Memories are made , they do not just happen.

Just like re-writing a page of your diary, with every passing year . But there is something

inevitable, and sweet, no matter how far you go, or high you fly, you'll come back down

to earth. One of these days, you will be a post on an internet forum , 5 years ago, 10.

Fifty years from now , you will be what you felt that night when you reminisced,

but you won't be there to feel it. You, along with the rest of us, will be just another

pawn that came into this world only to leave it . Soon enough, this story will be told

again, from a different perspective, in another time. From another mind, and til we all

return to our rightful place, the solitary bliss of nothingness, it will be a recurring theme

of our daily lives. An elephant in the room that noone dares to notice. Willingly burdening oneself with duties of the Western mindset. Turn on the refrigerator

and change the channel once again then, you paid for it with your whole life. Smile, because the trip is so short, that it makes it seem sweeter at the end, than at the start.

Look back towards the past that comes running towards you, and flattens you with

the power of the present. 

Louise - Clan of Xymox