terabient

It's musicmonday again, so if you'll indulge me I'll wax about another 2000s-era Asian pop hit 😌

You may have heard of Lights, the theme song of the puzzle/rhythm game Lumines. Composed by Shinichi Osawa of Mondo Grosso fame, it was also the debut of singer and lyricist Nobuchika Eri, whose demo tape won Sony's "Gonna be A Star" competition, even though she had forgotten to write her address on her application. (The audition president eventually tracked her down.) Though only in high school at the time of her discovery, Eri's voice had a rich maturity and boldness atypical of many young jpop performers.

Lights, with its inclusion in Lumines, introduced Nobuchika Eri to a global audience. It's how I first heard her music: playing Lumines on a borrowed PSP in a Boston area arcade while waiting to play the one DDR machine in the place. (The man who lent me his PSP also made fun of my poor playing, after which I returned it and never spoke to him again.)

ANYWAY. Nobuchika Eri's first album, nobuchikaeri released a whole year after her Lights single. It's one of my favorite albums ever--pairing Eri's lush, emotional vocals with Shinichi Osawa's acid jazz/EDM inspired arrangements create a truly singular sound.

Unfortunately, it's a collaboration that's never been repeated--after nobuchiaeri's release, both musicians left Sony Music. Since then, Eri has done some work with NAOTO of Orange Road and released two mini-albums, hands and III - THREE. Both albums have pared down instrumentals heavy on piano and acoustic guitar, giving Eri's powerful voice center stage, and while I wouldn't call either bad the songs lack the identity and pop of nobuchikaeri. I honestly struggle to remember any tracks from either album, despite listening to them multiple times.

The exception is Eri's cover of Woman "Wの悲劇"より. One of the most beloved pop ballads of the Showa era, this song about a love affair approaching a tragic end is a perfect fit for Eri's emotional styling.

If you've made it this far, thanks for reading, and I hope I've lead you to some new music you can enjoy. ♥

It's Music Monday, it's my last day on break, and I feel like chatting about my college radio show some more, so get ready to learn about one of kpop's most successful solo acts, Lee Hyori.

Lee Hyori's career began as the lead singer of the 1st generation idol group FIN K.L. The single Rose was included in Dance Dance Revolution 3rd Mix Korean version, which is how I discovered their music: in a tiny arcade beneath Fenway that is now closed.

Anyway! Lee Hyori left FIN.K.L for a solo career, and immediately became A Big Fuckin Deal. The single 10 minutes from her debut album was a tremendous success, and also serves an ideal example of early 2000s global pop scene: an addictive blend of hip-hop and dance beats, (the BREAK at 2:42 👌 ) provocative dancing and lyrics, and an entire closet of designer brand looks in one video. Of all the music I played on the show, 10 minutes was the most reliable at getting people to stop by the station and ask about the song.

Unfortunately, Lee Hyori's early years were plagued by controversies. She was criticized for her limited vocal range, and her song producers were frequent plagiarists of international hip-hop and RnB hits. Eventually Lee Hyori apologized for her complicity in plagiarism and took a hiatus from the industry, although she continued to work as a show host and entertainment columnist. Although still controversial, people now complained about her animal rights activism, support for worker's rights, and her criticisms of the impossible standards demanded of female performers.

Not surprisingly, when Lee Hyori returned to performing her music reflected her shift to social rights. Miss Korea is a jazzy track with lyrics that highlight how a cultural obsession with beauty erases the real beauty of all women. She has also taken a more direct role in composing and writing her own songs. Black, the title track of her most recent album, has a country/rock influence that is wildly different from the music of her early career, but is still recognizably "Hyorish."

If you've read this far, thank you for listening to me ramble about one of my favorite Asian performers. I hope you enjoy Lee Hyori's music at least a little bit.

Bonus songlist: When I first posted this on Misskey, I cut a few tracks due to length. That's not really an issue here, so here's some extra recs for you!

Hey Girl, from Lee Hyori's debut album and another track with powerful 2000s vibes. It's less catchy than 10 minutes but the music video hilariously demonstrates many of the...less artistic qualities of pop music. Nearly all the comments on this vid are along the lines of "she was my first love" or raving about Hyori's outfits. (The pink angora dress & beret combo in particular is a favorite.) Not included because it's kinda mid if I'm being objective, but definitely doesn't hurt to check out that pink angora dress. ;)

Anymotion, an absolute monster hit produced for Samsung's Anycall flip phone. The ad campaign featuring this song was crucial in Samsung's pivot to a trend-setting brand, and the "stage mix" video linked highlights Lee Hyori's peerless dance skills--not that any performer can afford to be a mediocre dancer in the kpop scene, but even in such rarefied air Hyori's joyously sexual dancing is a cut above any kpop star I've seen.

When I visited my brother in Vermont this month, I did something to my foot that made it rather painful but not impossible to put weight on it, so I've spent the rest of this month feeling sorry for myself, scanning things and playing video games mostly solo because i'm surly when i'm ~recuperating~

anyway here's some phantasy star stuff i've been meaning to post.

first, this Glen/Crawford fanart (DW won't display tweet images, but the link itself should work even with the Twitter anon block going on)~ not deeply interested on any NGS stuff but cute boys are cute

以前やっといたの線画の範囲別けがんばるわよ。 pic.twitter.com/nqZnuccq5r

— おおつのけい (@Valac_Kei) August 15, 2023

Aaaand a bunch of Shivaruna screenshots I've taken while working on my Creative Space. Earlier I was trying to make a cohesive, area-wide theme and gave up on it b/c doing anything, large-scale or not, is a PITA with the current toolset. Working on little scenes that can act as screenshot settings has been just as time-consuming but at least i get cute SS ideas out of it.

I've also been thinking about Shiva and her relationship to Varuna and Mitra, in the context that she knows the universe is in a timeloop and that her lack of emotion towards her loyal subjects is probably a reaction to seeing them willingly die for her in every timeline while she can never save them or herself :') Anyway that's why I'm making an island where they can do things like run a maid cafe <3

1-2: Bunny Day 👯

3-5: Night-time beach date 🌙

6-8: Mothership Shiva Cafe 🍰

Okay, that's a lie. The obstacle to writing more is mental illness, but u know. Overwatch being a Good Time again makes it very easy to pick playing it for hours, instead of spending any time related to fic, RIP

I've lost the ability to write actual journal entries so here's just a list of Feelings I Have About Overwatch:

- The new hero Illari has a special jump/gtfo move and the animation is like, a ballerina spin?! It's so cute?! Really most things about Illari are cute, and they also gave her a very grimdark background story which gives her some of the most powerful gap-moe in all of Overwatch, even more powerful than giving Bastion a bird friend.

- I am not really sure how address how the origin stories continue to be "White People's Concept of Cultural Diversity" except that, well, it's still a thing and will likely always be a thing. Amid all the cringe there are still many lovely and enjoyable things to be found with these characters so I'll continue to hyper fixate on this game.

- Blizzard did, in fact, give Lifeweaver a "flirtatious" line with Baptiste which is great thank you i was shipping them already but it's nice for Blizzard to let everyone know that my shipping preferences are the right ones.

- i used to have a complex about playing Overwatch for years and "only" being in Platinum. Now that I'm playing in a dependable group of 4 I am...in Silver, lmao. Still it's better than queuing alone because the last time I tried to make a call out in ranked I was told I was a dumb bitch and should kill myself. (This person then died to the flanker I called out, so thanks, opposing team!) In comparison a 40% winrate is not so bad.

- This Ana costume rules but it's also a battlepass exclusive and i don't want to pay ten whole-ass dollars just to get it (and unlock Illari earlier) There is also robot Symmetra but they didn't give that costume any description BOOOOOOOOOOO

for personal reference. not sure if i'll end up using this but i want to do something for kinktober.

kinktober 2023 prompt list

I really enjoyed the "demon" outfit from the Designer Dreams contest and now that's finally been released it's everything that I could have hoped for (´ ▿ `) Just wish there were more basewear options that showed off innerwear. It's pretty much jeans and board shorts for T1 types :c

I've been pairing it with the Premium Jeans basewear, and looks similar to Motoko Kusanagi's SAC 2049 collaboration outfit. Excited that I can have Shiva and Varuna match without burning a Salon Pass to switch body types ^^ I just need to transfer her over before maintenance on Tuesday.



( Innerwear only, cut for 🍑 )

so with the EP6 Keywords mostly complete, I've been thinking about how some of the things mentioned there are in play in NGS...

- I'm not sure if this is clearer in the JP version, but it seems obvious that Zephetto was looking to make a Vessel of the World/Ultimate Vessel. Pure fighting ability appears to be less of a concern than 909's photon sensitivity (which, at the end of the current story, is 100%, whatever that means.) Which would also imply that the rest of ARKS is unnecessary; he only needs one. Not sure if we'll ever get to know what Zephetto's "third phase" was meant to be, but I feel like the sudden DOLLS invasion across the regions (which afaik has yet to be explained) is just Zephetto trying to wipe out the not-ultimate vessels.

- The scene where the protagonist is infused with photons as the NPCs cheer them on is probably meant to be the Great Light on a small scale (the hopes of everyone on Halpha are channeled through the protagonist). Garoa giving the protag encouragement from beyond the grave makes more sense when you consider that the Great Light at the end of PSO2 was made up of the hopes of everything that had ever lived.

- I don't buy Zephetto's version of history--that ARKS had grown so soft that when a powerful enemy showed up for no apparent reason they just rolled over and died, and once the Starless wiped out 7 star systems they were like "okay that's enough lol" and just--went away???? The Starless, notably, wipe out the ARKS research ships first. My theory (that I came up with in the last two hours lol) is that the ARKS of 500 years ago were attempting to create a new ultimate vessel for whatever reason, and the Starless arose in response to that. I also think it's pretty notable that the Starless only discovered Zephetto's 300 years old Galactic Thunderdome after a being achieved 100% photon sensitivity.

tl;dr: The Starless are out to destroy ultimate vessels specifically, and not mindlessly wiping out the universe as Zephetto asserts.

i'm too lazy to have this many social media accounts what am i doing with my life

I still need to update pso2_materials so it's current with all the stuff I scanned in since *squints* December 2021, but I have started to post the Material Collection character file transcriptions there, and I'll be allowing anonymous commenting on posts there so people can comment on the information there even if they don't have a Dreamwidth account--or they do, but want to be, well, anonymous.

My hope is that this becomes a place where people who are interested in PSO2's story and characters can discuss that while avoiding the social problems that arose from blatant favoritism/engagement farming and ignoring quieter people on Discord and Twitter. Also if I see comments are gettin' weird for any reason I can just shut it down quickly. (The commenting, not the archive.)

I wouldn't go so far as to call it a PSO2 community but I would like it to be a place where people can talk about PSO2's story and nothing else. :)