28 January 2014

Dove Promises продолжает шалить

"интуиция - твой внутренний компас. доверяй ему", говорит
да я реально интуит, да?

my favourite quotations. part 2 - song lyrics

出会えた奇跡が未来を変える
'the miracle of our encounter will change the future'
a phrase from 'Dance Romanesque' main theme. so true to me.
それでも僕は叫ぶ わけも解らず声を上げる せめて響きは天にとどけ 日もやがて昇るだろう
'and still I cry, I raise my voice without understanding what's what. at least the sounds of it will reach the sky and the sun will eventually rise'
the main line in the book that Hugh was reading in 'Dantalian no shoka'. like it a lot
we are going to move on
a powerful song by Naomi Tamura
You changed my world, I feel stronger, I can see the rising sun, Forever in my heart you'll stay
a line from Cecile Corbel's 'Departure at Dawn' from 'Arrietty'. even though the movie can be considered as one for younger audiences, the lyrics of the songs are much more serious than one could expect
私に帰りなさい
'come back home to me'
a line from Youko Takahashi's 'tamashii no rifuran', a very sad and touching song
若さは素敵とみんな言うわ 恋も夢も明日君のもの だけどこぼれる 今日の涙が 胸に落ちて痛い ねえ誰か彼に告げて  愛がずっとひとりぼっちよと
'everybody is saying youth is great - love and dream, both are yours tomorrow. but the tears which flow are so painful, falling into the heart. somebody, tell him - that love is always a solitude'
人は独りで歩けないものだと 知っているから恐くて
'I know that people are unable to wend their way alone, and that is just scaring'
sings Masami Okui in her song 'Nostalgia'

宇宙の果てまでも 宇宙の果てまでも 私はただあなたに ついて行くだけの星のかけら
'I am simply a splinter of a star which only follows you to the end of the universe... to the end of the universe...'
a wonderful songs by Momoe Yamaguchi, called 'uchuu', which means 'universe', or 'cosmos', which is why the song contains a musical reference to a song called 'akizakura', or 'cosmos'

気がつくと 空はこんなに青い
'and when you come to yourself, the sky is so blue'
a desperate line from another song of ms Yamaguchi, 'sora wa konna ni aoi'

捨てれる 選べる 逃げれる 笑える 眠れる 飛べる 私はフリーで 少しもフリーじゃない
'I can discard, I can choose, I can run away, I can laugh, I can sleep, I can fly, I'm free, but at the same time I'm not free'
a line from a song by Chihiro Onitsuka, 'sodatsu zassou'
人ごみの中で叫びたい 聞いてほしい俺の歌を 人ごみの中で聞かせてほしい 君の声を I'm here 俺はここにいる
'I want to shout in the crowd I want you to hear my song I want you to let me hear your voice I'm here, I am here'
a line from Takarazuka's 'Studio 54' theme song, 'hitogomi no naka no kodoku'
会えないことはきっと 別れることじゃないから
'being unable to meet doesn't mean being separated'
a line from Natsumi Kiyoura's 'gin'iro no kanashimi', even though I don't like the song itself
夢は見るモンじゃなく so かなえるモンでしょ  だからかなわない夢なら夢とは言わない
'a dream is not what is dreamt, but what is fulfilled, isn't it? therefore, don't call a dream the dream which cannot come true'
though I don't like the general direction of ONE OK ROCK, there are some songs of theirs that encouraged me
こわれてもいい あなた以外なにもいらない
'I don't care if I break, I don't need anything except you'
says Minami Kuribayashi in her song 'kaze no yukue', and meseems, I understand her
I just wanna be your sun I just wanna be your sun I just wanna be your sun Dont u wanna be my sun? I say! I just wanna be ur only one I wanna be there In ur heart In ur soul
a line from Saeko Chiba's 'daiya no genseki', which is in fact sung by the 'chorus', not by Saeko herself. and I fancy the chorus is made of Yuriko Kaida's voices =)


Can you, pray, stay by my side?
a line from tiaraway's song 'your shade'. there are different versions of what the punctuation should be, and I prefer this variant

振り返らない旅路をあなたが行くのなら 私はいつもあなたを追い掛ける風
'Even if you go on your journey and never look back, I will be the wind, chasing after you for eternity'
a line from one of my favourite songs by Chieko, 'hikari'



ねえ百年経ってもきっと色あせない
'you know, even if 100 years pass, this scenery will not fade'
a line from Chiba's 'hajimari no keshiki', a very positive and romantic song

27 January 2014

searching for clever lines ~ Sherlock

season 1 episode 1

Sherlock and John
- You're a doctor. In fact, you're an army doctor.
- Yes.
- Any good?
- Very good.
- Seen lot of injuries, then. Violent deaths.
- Well, yes.
- Bit of trouble, too, I bet.
- Of course. Enough for a lifetime, far too much.
- Want to see some more?
- Oh, god, yes.
Lestrade and Sherlock
- Who's this?
- He's with me.
- But who is he?
- I_said_he's_with_me.
John and Sherlock
- That's fantastic.
- Do you know you do that out loud?
- Sorry, I'll shut up.
- No, it's... fine.
- She said, you get off on this, you enjoy it.
- And I said "dangerous", and here you are.
Sherlock
- Anderson, don't talk out loud. You lower the IQ of the whole street.
episode 2
John and Sherlock
- Did you like it?
- Um... no.
- Why not? I thought you'd be flattered.
- Flattered? 'Sherlock sees through everything and everyone in seconds. What's incredible, though, is how spectacularly ignorant he is about some things.'
- Hang on a minute, I didn't mean that...
- Oh, you meant 'spectacularly ignorant' in a nice way!
Sally and John
- You're still hanging around him.
- Yeah, well...
- Opposites attract,  I suppose.
- We're not...
- You should get yourself a hobby. Stamps, maybe. Model trains. Safer.
...
- Fishing! Try fishing!
John, Sherlock and Lestrade
- Fantastic.
- Meretricious.
- And a happy new year.
John and Sherlock
- Homeless network?
- My eyes and ears, all over the city.
- Oh, that's... clever. So, you scratch their backs, and...?
- Yes, then disinfect myself.
Moriarty and Sherlock
- You've come the closest. Now you're in my way.
- Thank you.
- Didn't mean it as a compliment.
- Yes, you did.
- Yeah, ok, I did.
episode 3
children, Sherlock and John
- They wouldn't let us see Granddad when he was dead. Is that 'cos he'd gone to heaven?
- People don't really go to heaven when they die, they're taken to a special room and burned.
- Sherlock!
John and Sherlock
- Punch you?
- Yes, punch me in the face. Didn't you hear me?
-  I always hear 'punch me' when you speak, but it's usually subtext.
- Don't do that.
- Do what?
- The look.
- Look?
- You're doing the look again.
- Well, I can't see it, can I? It's my face.
- Yes and you're doing a "We both know what's really going on here" face.
- We do.
- No, I don't, which is why I find the face so annoying.
Molly and Sherlock
- You're a bit like my dad. He's dead. No, sorry.
- Molly, please don't feel the need to make conversation, it's really not your area.
- When he was dying, he was always cheerful, he was lovely, except when he thought no-one could see. I saw him once, he looked sad.
- Molly.
- You look sad, when you think he can't see you.
Sherlock and John
- Alone is what I have. Alone protects me.
- No, friends protect people.
John and Mrs Hudson
- I have met someone.
- Oh! Ah, lovely.
- Yeah. We're getting married. Well, I'm going to ask, anyway.
- So soon after Sherlock?
-Hmm, well, yes.
- What's his name?
- It's a woman.
- A woman?!
- Yes, of course it's a woman.
- You really have moved on, haven't you?
- Mrs Hudson, how many times? Sherlock was not my boyfriend!
- Live and let live, that's my motto.
- Listen to me - I am not gay!
John
The thing about Mary, she has completely turned my life around. Changed everything. But, for the record, over the last few years there are two people who have done that, and the other one is... a complete dickhead.

бортовой журнал творческого человека. часть 3 - конфеты

открываю коробку конфет Dove Promises. в каждой конфете с внутренней стороны одно послание. страсть к сладкому берет верх, в ход идут 5 конфет.
1. никогда не знаешь, откуда ждать перемен к лучшему
это радует
2. не думай о прошлом, живи настоящим
как это в тему!
3. не отказывайся от мечты, даже если она кажется недостижимой
конфеты, да вы читаете мои мысли!
4. встреча со старыми друзьями - это новые впечатления
надо же, а это как раз про нашу предстоящую встречу!
5. тебя ждет романтическое свидание в необычной обстановке
да. видимо пятая конфета была лишней и предназначалась для угощения

25 January 2014

ms Fujiwara, thank you for coming back so soon

just when I was going to write my predictions about the new manga by miss Fujiwara, I check  facebook and see...
haha, I was almost sure she would make the new manga center on a boy rather than girl, so that's my mistake. my only mistake, though, since the inclination towards mystery was pretty visible in the one-shots ms Fujiwara has published so far, so that was predictable enough
I hope kind people will keep on scanning and uploading raw LaLa. I have nothing but to hope...

05 January 2014

how to buy tickets to different places in Japan when you're a clumsy foreigner. part 3

With time one gets bolder and bolder, even if in the beginning he is afraid, unsure and lacks confidence. That's me, of course.
Perfectly ready to buy tickets to Siam Shade's concert on PIA, I had already registered my account with some kind of an address I thought up, when the tickets suddenly were sold out. I opened all the websites selling tickets to the concert in panic - as usual, Lawson, eplus and CNPlayguide. Here is what I learnt during my attempt (successful, in case you're wondering) to buy tickets.
1. Foreign credit cards
Not sure for CNPlayguide, but eplus doesn't let you to make your purchase with a foreign credit card. Mine was Russian, of course, and I simply couldn't add it to my account. The warning that they don't accept cards issued outside Japan is published everywhere including even PIA, but doesn't essentially mean you really wouldn't be able to. At least PIA's Takarazuka branch allowed it. While it existed... T_T
2. Tickets do appear suddenly after they're sold out.
Not sure if those were cancelled tickets returned back or additional (say what?) ones, but the next day after my purchase in Lawson they appeared on PIA's website again.
3. Yes, my purchase was via Lawson, and no, it didn't even require any registration.
You know the joke that the most important things are always written in the bottom with small font size. Of course Lawson encourages the users to become members and order their Lawson cards called Ponta, if I'm not mistaken, but it's perfectly fine to buy tickets without all that. Without registration at all. As long as their additional fee of 200 yen doesn't bother you. It didn't bother me much, by the way, since I wanted to go to the performance badly, and the tickets' price was 7800 yen. I mean, with that price, 200 yen means almost nothing.
To purchase tickets without registering you need to wait until the tickets go on general sale - 一般. Find the line 会員登録せずにチケットを予約される際は、こちらの利用規約を必ずお読みください。(those who wish to buy tickets without registration please read the rules), and, well, read the rules. Or skip this =p
Click 「ローチケ.com利用規約」に同意し、会員登録せずにチケットを予約する (I agree with the rules and want to buy tickets without registration).
Find the necessary date, time, place, or I don't know what else. Choose the necessary number of tickets (there is a 0 with an arrow beside, you know) - up to 15 in one pair of hands. In order to buy tickets on l-tike without registration you only need to have some kind of phone number in Japan. As my practice shows, it can be entirely fictional, and is only needed when issuing the actual tickets. Choose the necessary payment method, enter your 電話番号 (phone number) and メールアドレス (email address) twice. I'm too lazy today to check the following steps but there shouldn't be anything extremely difficult.
Or there may. Here is where it gets really bothersome. I mean it. Unlike the procedure in 7-11 where you simply give your reference number to the cashier and he prints the ticket for you (which costs only 105 yen, by the way), Lawson requires you to buy and issue the tickets via their Loppy machines. They are designed to make life easier, I think. They don't, however. Especially for us, foreigners.
Let's rewind the time. First of all, during the registration you have to think up a 'secret code' which is essentially a temporary password... passnumber? for the operation, and immediately write it down because it is not shown on the screen, isn't remembered by the system and isn't included in the confirmation email. Then, you need to print the confirmation email you get after the purchase and write down the phone number you used during the purchase.
After coming to Lawson and seeing the Loppi machine those who don't speak Japanese well may want to go straight to the shop consultants instead of the Loppi itself and ask for help. Because even I couldn't cope with it myself during the first attempt. The instructions how to print the ticket are all included in the email, but that's not a piece of pie cake, yeah.
When you find the Loppi, touch the 各種サービスメニュー button (all services menu).
First, you need to find the necessary item in the menu - like in my case スポーツ/コンサート/演劇・ミュージカル・お笑い~ (sport events, concerts, plays, musicals, performances).
And choose 予約済(当選)チケットの引取り (issue a paid ticket). The next thing displayed on the screen really confused me due to the complexity of the phrase. In reality, however, as far as I remember, that was simply a question whether one confirms or not that the operation cannot be cancelled.
In 予約番号入力欄 (order reference number) enter 10 digits of your number, and in 番号入力欄 (your number) enter your phone number that you typed when ordering your tickets on l-tike. Next, enter your very very secret code which consists of 4 digits.
Then, you type in your name in... guess what. Japanese, of course. That really takes a lot of time, since you would need to correct every single letter to make it katakana. No, in case you want to, you can buy the tickets under a fictional name, too. They don't really check your passport very often at the entrance of the place you're going to visit.
Then you type the phone number again (as far as I understood, it's the field required for all types of purchases, like LEncore members etc., so it doesn't have anything to do with the fact you had entered your phone number already in the previous step), press 了解 (OK)
and print the receipt which you again carry at the register, in case you paid with a credit card you won't have to pay for anything, and only then you may receive the ticket. On a cute Lawson-styled card in a cute envelope. Right. Seriously, why do we have to do all that ourselves, and pay 200 more yen for that huh?
4. Buying a ticket to Ghibli museum
I would say that's another story but since I've described the process in general already, there's no need to write about it separately unless you're an ISTj or ESTj and like instructions more than anything.
Tickets to Ghibli museum cannot be purchased in advance overseas and are sold within Japan only. No, actually they can... in case you find an agency that will do that for you. That's how they respect tourists, obviously. The way to be sure that you get your tickets is to plan your visit to the Museum closer to the end of your trip and buy the tickets as soon as you get to Japan. The availability of the tickets can be checked online every morning, fortunately, by clicking on 入場チケット購入 (tickets purchasing), in Japanese, unfortunately.
Be sure to come to Japan out of the season and choose a rainy, cold ordinary weekday, and you will be able to buy your tickets, oh yes. Well when I was buying tickets for the 19th of December there were only 2 o'clock and 4 o'clock options left, and it was a working Thursday. Oh, there are 4 time options for you - 10 in the morning, then 12, 2 and 4 o'clock. Be sure to come in your time since this is checked at the entrance.
First from the main screen of Loppi choose 'Ghibli museum in Mitaka' - yes, this time it's convenient - and then follow the same instructions as above. The price will be 1000 yen plus 115 yen for printing.
More accurate instructions in English are available on the Lawson Ghibli museum special page.