neo-japanesque

During my high school years, I wasn't the "emo kid", the "goth kid", the "nerd", the "cheerleader".... I was just like every other Asian at my school: good grades, involvement in sports, active participant in club activities. However, there weren't many Asians in my school that were interested in Japanese rock music or Gothic/Lolita culture. The few of us that WERE piqued by this culture eventually went all our separate ways, and I somehow ended up working in fashion, leaving that "culture" behind. Then I started watching anime again, and a Ticketmaster email roped me back in, as one of my favorite artists would be returning to LA on a world tour.

Miyavi, as a young boy, dreamed of being a professional soccer player, but had a serious foot injury that kept him on the bench for the rest of his life. As he could no longer play soccer competitively, he took up the guitar... which, now, doesn't seem to be so bad after all.

Miyavi's origins were in visual kei, a type of Japanese rock that involves a lot of make-up, outrageous hair and ensembles (think 80's hair bands with more make-up). He was the guitarist for the band Due le quartz, who were very popular in the indie circuit and were thisclose to touring in the US. But most indie Jrock bands separate after one or two "mini-albums", and Miyavi went solo in 2002 shortly after the bands' breakup.


I don't know where this image is from (sorry!)
L-R: Kikasa (bass), Sakito (vocals), Miyabi (guitar), Kazuki (drums)


His solo debut was highly anticipated, as fans (like me) simply saw him as a pretty guitarist, slightly uncertain of his skill as a musician. I don't believe his debut album helped to confirm his abilities, but it was different from what other indie artists were producing, and of course, with his good looks, he garnered more and more (mostly female) fans. His first solo tour piqued a lot of interest as well though, as he recorded all the instruments himself on the album, and there was no mention of a traveling band.


One of his first singles, "Girls, be ambitious". I'm not crazy about it, but it did pretty well on the indie charts.


An updated version of the song, featuring the KAVKI BOYZ!
I much prefer this variation of the song.



POP is dead


Senor Senora Senorita

It was his 5th album, "Miyaviuta ~dokuso~", an all-acoustic album--just him and his guitar, that finally won me over 100%. My favorite songs from him are from this album.... (see below)


The intro track on ~dokuso~


A version of "Kimi ni funky monkey vibration" performed with TYKO;
one of my favorite tracks from his acoustic album.

On his next album, "This iz the Japanese Kabuki Rock" he collaborated with the KAVKI BOYZ, and again, changed his sound. It was funky but it was still Miyavi. I caught him on tour after the release of this album, at the Avalon in LA (my video is below). The KAVKI BOYZ performed with him, TYKO providing the beatbox, Tap SARO bringing tap-dancing skills, both giving a very unique rhythm and sound to what could have just been a very ordinary rock concert.

Though he's left the visual kei scene, he's kept some of it with him, as his style continues to evolve through his career....



Miyavi vs Tap SARO

He went on a little hiatus it seems, after that tour, and in the middle of 2009 he got married and had a daughter. This was totally unexpected as most of us Miyavi fangirls were praying that he was gay. I mean, look at him, isn't he pretty? On occasion I check the Japanese music charts, various J-music websites, and it didn't seem like he was producing music anymore....

Until I got that email today from Ticketmaster.


Scanned from "21sekigata koushinkyoku"


Scanned from "
This iz the Japanese Kabuki Rock"

This is such great news for me, as he is one of the best musicians around today, though many people don't know of him. From reading his blog and seeing a few of his tweets, I could tell that he genuinely cares about his fans, much like another huge talent today, Lady GaGa. I think it's unfortunate that other superstars aren't more grateful and humble to their fans (I won't point out any in particular), and this only makes Miyavi a better artist.

Hopefully, this insanely talented 28-year-old decides to stick around for a long, long time, because not enough of the world has been exposed to his talent yet.

His latest single, "SURVIVE"

Cosplay

Cosplay berasal dari dua kata yaitu "costume" yang artinya kostume dan "play" yang artinya bermain, jadi coplay adalah semacam memerankan karakter tertentu dengan memakai kostum dan aksesopries sesuai dengan karakter yang di perankan atau di bawakan. para pelaku cosplay di sebut cosplayer.





cosplay di bagi menjadi beberapa macam :


* cosplay anime / manga, biasa para cosplayer memakai peran dari sebuah anime atau manga tertentu.


*cosplay game, biasanya mengambil peran dari game.


*cosplay tokusatsu, biasa'a dari film tokusatsu.


*cosplay Gothic, biasa'a bertemakan gelap tetapi gothic bisa juga di gabungkan dengan lolita.


*cosplay oroginal, cosplay yang tidak ada pada game; anime ataupun tokusatsu.


*cosplay harajuku style, memakai pakaian ala jepang ataupun berghaya seperti masyarakat jepang.



ARISA MIZUHARA as MIKU (VOCALOID)




smelly flower (xianghua), meet my father (part 4)







(my dad made this stand especially to hold the sword!)

The clay took about 24 hours to dry, and between that time, one of the parts fell off because we didn't properly secure it with glue....

After spending a little over an hour sanding down the rough edges and knobby shapes, my dad showed me that the hilt was ready to be painted...


I didn't really use all this paint. My dad just thought it'd
be funny to display all these colors...



That's me, obviously, my dad's hair has light colors but no pink.




After 6 coats of the goldenrod.




You can use any regular acrylic paint; don't thin it with water, otherwise you'll just be brushing all day.

I did something very, very wrong, that my dad did not point out to me until I was completely finished.

In my attempt to create a worn, rusty metal look of the sword, I started layering a goldenrod color (6 coats to completely cover the red tone of the clay), then proceeded with a dry brush to add gold accents. I then mixed the gold with brown to create a bronze tone, then mixed gold with orange to try a more "copper" tone. Then I added some silver highlights, all of which took me far too long. My dad said that in the future, I should paint the entire surface black, then use a dry brush to dab on a FEW strokes of gold or silver, which would do the trick. I thought my way was the best way to go about painting, as anyone who has painted, used markers, pastels, knows that the dark color is usually last. Anyway, I learned something very valuable this time and the next time I need to paint a sword hilt, I will heed his advice.


Only 1 coat of the ultra blue... many more coats are needed.

We're almost there...

Rider Costume





Rider Costume

Rider Costume





Rider Costume

smelly flower (xianghua), meet my father (part3)

The previous post hinted at the next step of the sword-making process... CERAMICS.

My dad cut the plastic as the base, and added clay (here we're using DAS clay) for shape and more support. Without the plastic, the hardened clay would be too fragile for me to carry around all day.












Punching out the air bubbles, and also creating texture on the surface of the clay






We placed the stone into the clay before it hardened so we would be able to replace it
after the clay was hardened and sanded smooth.

The clay took 24 hours to dry, and after sanding, all that's left is the painting!

Final Fantasy Cosplay





Final Fantasy Cosplay

smelly flower (xianghua), meet my father (part2)

I had to separate the process into more than 1 post because I had too many photos! My dad insisted that the procedures were too easy to put into a video, but I uploaded 50 photos yesterday just for this part... if I'm going to have to make an animated .gif I might as well make a video! So for the remainder of this sword-making project, there will not be video. However, there WILL be video for Zephie's wand.

Now that my dad connected the blade to the hilt and secured it with a screw and glue, our next step was to create the "guard". This part my dad asked me to sketch on the computer and make 3 copies, so he could create the base with plastic.



Finished sketch on Adobe Illustrator



Cutting the shapes out...


Taping the paper stencils onto the plastic sheet


0.5mm sheet of plastic, to be used as the base of the guard..


Cutting the shapes with the saw again...






All shapes done!


Applying glue...




There are multiple layers to be used for the guard, so here we are marking off where
to cut to fit the blade...


After we cut the 2nd layer in half, we placed it on top of the 1st layer to ensure fit


My dad realized that 3 layers would not be enough, and instead of cutting another layer
to accommodate, he simply filled in the spaces with leftover pieces...


Letting the glue dry...


Drilling the hole for the tassel at the end of the sword


Tools laid out for the next part