HappyToast music videos proudly present: "Androgynoel by FDA"



Genius! :D
I was told by FDA on MySpace that this song was inspired by an overheard conversation between a young couple; the girl said to her boyfriend "I wish you looked more like Noel Fielding." The boyfriend turned back to her and said "...I wish you did, too." XD

mood: amused tags: androgynoel, happy toast, mighty boosh, music video, noel fielding

'Lo peeps, just getting the word around as best I can here...

My regular (work/home) PC has been struck down with a Windows logon/logoff loop issue, probably caused by a virus. This means I can't access any of my stuff on there, including my 'anime' email. Perfect ruddy timing too, seeing as I have a work deadline coming up on Thursday. Right now I'm having to get by with my laptop for everything while at the same time trying every supposed fix Chris and I can find for the PC. Evidently we haven't had much luck yet as the problem keeps returning... :P

Anyway, if you need to contact me during this time of crisis, pls use my gmail - visual.kei.in.the.uk @ gmail.com (remove spaces)
There's always my Facebook and MySpace lifelines too... I can get into them okay! ;)

mood: pissed off

Today, like so many others I celebrate the life and work of Hideto Matsumoto. 10 years ago today he passed away, but that never stopped him rocking our world.
No time for sadness, because that's not his style. My MySpace and music playlist is all hide'd up for today and it's my intention to raid our sake stash later and down a good few in his honour. Kanpai! ^o^

In tribute I've drawn Heaven's little Pink Spider on a Rocket Dive...

Fu fu~ Ever Free!

Will X-post to xjapan

mood: looking forward to a drink!

Jinecou alerted me to this:

"Unbelievable, I know. But X Japan's Tokyo Dome performances have made it into Kerrang Magazine here in the UK (Kerrang is the biggest mainstream rock magazine, and has only ever lightly covered Jrock bands who have played shows in the UK).
X were given half of a page, including pictures and a concert review (which was glowing). The band were given the highest available score for their performance and were reviewed by someone who clearly knows nothing about the band or Jrock. This said, such a glowing review would seem difficult to come by - apparently not.
World domination begins here :)"

I got my copy yesterday and have scanned the article for the benefit of anyone unable to pick up the mag.



X-posted to xjapan

mood: Xcstatic tags: article, kerrang, magazine, x japan

Hey all,

I have a little something to share with you...
For a little while I have been collaborating with a friend on a music project. Our first demo is now ready and we have a MySpace page...

But first, please understand that at this stage this is very much a personal project as opposed to a professional endeavor. Also, my bandmate and I have never yet met in person, so we are an internet band!! Yep, you heard right - everything so far has been done on a purely remote basis.

Vocals by yours truly (you can call me "V-zhon"! ;D). I also help come up with band imagery and write lyrics. Jinecou and I are both British but live at opposite ends of the country. Firm believers in promoting the concept of Visual Kei in the UK and with similar musical influences, we figured - why the hell not? Let's join forces and see what happens!

We now present to you: Machina Shogunate


Please go easy on us! m(_ _)m
Obviously, we are influenced primarily by J-rock and Visual Kei. Hopefully we are among the first bands of this kind in the UK... we call our movement "Gaijin Kei"! XD
Our first song "Ouroborous" has a very chaotic, undisciplined and destructive sound, so it may not be to everyone's taste. But we are working on varied material with a range of sounds, so watch this space!

We know we are only starting out now. It's early days and undoubtedly we have plenty of developing to do still. But we aim to keep giving this our best shot! o(^o^)O
If you like what you see and hear of Machina Shogunate, then please add us on MySpace if you're on there! We would love to have your support.

Thank you~ m(_ _)m


- Niki a.k.a. V-zhon

PS. I'm the green robot, in case you're wondering. LOL! XD

location: UK! mood: hopeful music: Um... what I'm working on. ^^;; tags: band project, gaijin kei, jrock, visual kei

mood: dirty tags: seme, test, uke

Noticed some tomfoolery going on on the interwubs...
DeviantART's user avatars have all been swapped for Mudikip Pokemon ones. That caught me out! Also, check any video on the front page of YouTube. Sick bastards... LULz.

Now while I'm here I'll mention that I'm not always here at the moment... if that makes sense. XD I'm doing a little contract job for my old employers Climax Group so I'm having to pop into their Solent office regularly. I'm home today but I'll be away tomorrow and Thursday. While I'm working at their office I've got no online connection so if I seem antisocial lately then that's why! ^^; Trying to catch up on my other bits and bobs on the days when I'm at home...

For snowgrouse - don't worry, I haven't forgotten about your request! I've been gearing up for it so I hope the timespaff will issue forth shortly! ;D The devil's in the details with this one... heh heh.

mood: silly tags: april fools 1st

Boy Cafe for 'rotten girls'. Le WOO.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUKT30561220080229

From the pictures, I hereby decree my approval of the wares on display. :3~

mood: hungry

Okay, so maybe I lied about the previous batch of Noein fan-art being the last for now... ^^;; it's been my fix lately, I'm afraid!

Been feeling inspired by some of the Japanese Noein fan-art I've seen around, so I came out with two CG scribbles in quick succession (using a single pixel pencil tool in Photoshop). They seemed to compliment each other so I made a quick animated gif out of them.
Thumbnail preview:

( Follow the cut for battling Karasu and Atori... )

mood: creative tags: atori, fanart, fight, gif, karasu, noein

Two more Noein sketches up (and they're not filthy or anything ^^;)... that's my lot for now, honest!

mood: guilty

Yesterday I lost my mojo. Today I got it back! :D



Unfortunately this is nothing I was supposed to be doing today, but hey... it feels ruddy good to have a new piece for myself that I'm really chuffed with. Thanks to Atori from the adventures-in-time-and-space anime 'Noein' for inspiring me! v^___^

mood: pleased tags: atori, fanart, noein

Well, finally - here's my report on Invasion, the Doctor Who con that Chris and I went to on Saturday. :D



( Cut for seriously mega wafflage and some piccies! )

mood: geeky tags: convention report, doctor who, invasion

http://www.tenthplanet.co.uk/invasion/

Um, that's it really! I've not got time to type much as C-kun and I are heading to London tonight - we'll be crashing at a hotel so we can have an early start at the con tomorrow. I will be taking fan-art of some of the guests as well as my ball-jointed doll Kotaro (in cosplay as theEighth Doctor). Haha, I'm not a freak... honest! XD
Okay, g2g... must eat din-dins then finish off the fan-art stuff and get packing!

mood: rushed

Regarding summat I'm working on:

Paperboy: Week 2, for mobile phones

Are you, like me, old enough to remember the original game? I was a big fan of the Commodore Amiga version. :) It feels pretty surreal to be working on the revival of such a classic. Sometimes I think I was born 10 too years late because I was too young to work in what was for me'the golden age of gaming'. ^^; But at times like this I get to live the dream in a sense... :3
Phear my mad retro pixel-pushing skillz, LOL! X3 Oh yes, and I designed the title screen graphics too... :D

In other news, I maded a lolcat 2day. X3

mood: retro-tastic

♥ Being Human ♥

The first episode was brill. Well written (take note, Rusty T Davies! ;P) and well acted. Particularly sterling performance from the guy who plays Mitchell the vampire... he's gonna be one to watch! Can't wait for more... :D

The plan is to catch up on Ashes To Ashes tonight... we missed last Thursday's episode, although we hear it wasn't up to much. :/ Thought the first episode was okay... main criticisms were how annoying the leading lady is and how silly the self-parodying seemed to get within the show. The speedboat+guns business just seemed daft... still love Gene Hunt and his crew though! And here is a possible example of my retro/automotive nerdiness coming into play... I have yet to check this, but isn't the Audi Quattro in the show too late a model for 1981? At a guess I'd put it at around 1986/7, but then they did do something similar in Life On Mars (some of the cars were post-1973 and the Cortina was a combination of a couple of different models, I think). Maybe it's intentional, either to see how many geeks shout out about it or to hint that the time-slip could be a mental fabrication.
Right, geek-mode off. I'm reading far too much into this stuff... XP

EDIT: Just checked up on the Quattro... I was right about it being too late for '81.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/showbiz/tv/tvland/2008/02/11/audi-quattro-in-ashes-to-ashes-isn-t-from-1981-89520-20315997/
Apparently it wasn't around until '84, so I was a couple of years out. At least that means I'm only geeky at a tolerable level, since it proves I have some sort of life outside of nitpicking at these things. LOL! XD

mood: geeky tags: ashes to ashes, bbc, being human, tv

...to bring X Japan to Europe. ^o^


Only 10 days left to get letters sent off! I should be sending off my SPESHULL original fan-art/letter tomorrow... *bounce*

mood: fangirling tags: europe, x japan

Just a little post before I try crashing out for a bit... picked up a bug over the weekend which took a turn for the flu-y side last night, not good. Could do with catching up on some shut-eye since I didn't get much last night - had the shivers. Touch-wood I haven't had them today, I'm just very achey and tired with a croaky throat now.

Anyway, that's boring shite. XP This past weekend we wrapped up the local panto that Chris and I were in (Aladdin). It went pretty well all in all and we rather enjoyed it. There were 6 performances over the past two weekends. Knackering stuff as the evening shows went on 'til quite late - 10:30/11pm-ish). During the first weekend we had some of our friends and folks come to see the show and hopefully they had a fun time. ^^b

On Sunday wing and I ran the first "Coco Monkey's Manga Workshop" event for TokyoToys in the Trocadero Centre, London. It was a free taster session to gauge interest and we had a good turn-out. The atmosphere was nice and relaxed, too. Hopefully there'll be more of these to come on a sort of monthly basis, probably handled by a range of different artists.
So in our first session Wing and I took the class through some basic character design techniques, me illustrating male characters and Wing handling females. Firstly we each did a kind of portrait shot to go through the details of facial features etc., then moved on to full body shots. The event was sponsored by Letraset and so we also covered some basic techniques for using their markers and other products. ^_^
http://www.letraset.com/manga/shopcontent.asp?type=workshoptokyotoys
After we'd completed our workshop demonstrations and had a little break there was a prize draw for customers to get their caricatures drawn by me... it was my second time doing this (the last time was at the TTs Christmas party and it had proved really popular). So happy-happy peeps all round! ^^v

Next time I'll be heading up to TokyoToys will probably be for their Chinese New Year celebrations.

Okay, time to collapse now. Catch ya's later!

mood: sick music: X Japan

Yesterday I actually made a gaming achievement. :D You know I got Guitar Hero 3 for Christmas, well... I still haven't been playing it enough. ^^;; But ironically I ended up Picking up GH2 yesterday because my friend and work client D came down for a visit. D is used to playing GH2 because his flatmate used to have it, and so he was keen to play it again while he was here. But I hadn't unlocked everything on GH2 yet because I just haven't been playing games like I used to... d'oh! But D said he thought I didn't have far left to go to complete Medium difficulty and decreed that he wouldn't go home until I'd unlocked Free Bird, LOL. As it happened, I picked up my Career mode where I'd left off and played better than I've ever played before. Somehow I pretty much breezed through all the remaining tracks and completed the game on Medium. My left arm hurt a lot afterwards but I'm happy to say it's fine today... I was expecting to have done myself an injury but I guess I'm really adapting to prolonged GH play. This has most pleasantly surprised me! :)

After completing Guitar Hero 2 on Medium I went back to GH1 to show D some of the tracks on there (since he hadn't really played the first game). I've still got to complete Medium on that one too, but it does strike me that the Guitar Hero series gets harder with each sequel so hopefully I can wrap that up shortly as well. Anyway, we did a few quick plays and both D and I tried out a couple of tracks on Hard/Expert mode. I managed to get through More Than A Feeling on Hard, which was a first. I'd not got through any Hard mode tracks before and I think the fingers of my left hand are finally learning not to turn into Play-Doh whenever they have to shift up and down the fretboard. Watch out, orange button - now I know where you live. ;P

For a while now I've experienced what I call the "Guitar Hero Trance" where you're totally focussed on the screen, your eyes 'read' the button combos in advance of them crossing the bottom line and your hands automatically function without you consciously thinking about it. But I cannot multitask or hold a conversation in this state. My little bro Ross on the other hand has conversations with his friends online whilst nailing Through The Fire and Flames on Expert for the umpteenth time. Clever-arse. ;P I can see now though that with enough practice anything is possible. I can't see myself ever getting to Ross' level but I hope that maybe in time I'll be able to get through most songs on Hard and maybe a few on Expert. Heh... this is the closest thing I've come up with to a New Year's resolution. Last year my resolution was to learn how to drive and I never managed to take even one lesson... eep. Well, other things took priority tbh. We're in a good spot for transport links here and C's used to being a taxi service, so me driving is not high on the agenda right now although I still look forward to being able to drive one day. Getting better at Guitar Hero and keeping my freelance earnings at their current level or higher seems a more sensible resolution to aim for this year! ;)

PS. A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Ness!!!

mood: accomplished

A suitable photomanip to show off Kotaro's Doctor Who cosplay. :D


Eighth Doctor Doll Cosplay by ~Niki-UK on deviantART

Will probably get x-posted here and there...

mood: geeky tags: 8th doctor, bjd, cosplay, doll, dw