Krunk4Ever!

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I’ve really only been listening to the Inception soundtrack for the past week, but today I’ve returned to my regular music. It was time to clean up my Current Favorites playlist, so I wanted to blog about some of the new music I’ve been enjoying before they disappear into my 1600+ song rotation.

Side Note: I never understood why some music videos can’t be embedded. Then again I never understood the concept of purchasing music videos since they’re really just advertisements for the music. It’ll be like purchasing a movie trailer. Shoot, did I just give movie studios a horrible idea? Maybe if the music video came with the song, it might be worth the extra cost. But nope, I have to purchase that separately.

I’m also trying out YouTube’s new iframe embedding so not quite sure how it’ll turn up in RSS feeds and so on. But goddamnit, their new iframe embedding code is still not XHTML compliant!

The following songs aren’t in any particular order. If anything, they’re probably in the order they were added to my playlist.

Timbaland – If We Ever Meet Again ft. Katy Perry

Timbaland is usually a hit or miss for me. This song with Katy Perry was definitely a hit.

Mayday Parade – Kids In Love

A Rocket To The Moon – Like We Used To

I found these 2 songs to be very similar for some reason. I guess I originally confused them to be the same song when I was listening to it on the radio. I think if you like one, you’ll like the other too.

Red Hot Chili Peppers – The Zephyr Song

I forget if I saw this song on Rock Band first or if I heard it on the radio first and then purchased it for Rock Band. But this song is just awesome!

B.o.B – Airplanes (Feat. Hayley Williams of Paramore)

This is probably my favorite song out of this list. It was so good that it’s the only song that was due for removal from the playlist that I actually kept. For some reason the chorus is just so catchy. I wonder if the clapping has anything to do with it. Or it could be the fact that it’s the vocalist from Paramore that is singing the chorus.

Black Eyed Peas – Rock That Body

I originally didn’t like this song, but after hearing it on the radio several times, I just started to dig the beat.

Eminem – Love The Way You Lie ft. Rihanna

This is the 1st song from Eminem’s new album that I really like. You’ll notice a catchy female chorus in a rap song is a good formula for getting me to like the song. This music video also features Megan Fox and that Simon guy from FlashForward. I think he was also Charlie in Lost.

OneRepublic – Secrets

My sister introduced me to this song a long time ago when I told her that there was a new OneRepublic song that I liked. She asked if it was Secrets, but it was actually All The Right Moves. However, after hearing Secrets on the radio several times, I’ve begun to like it more and more.

Ne-Yo – Beautiful Monster

Song is definitely very fun and the term beautiful monster just conjured up images in my head. The music video on the other hand is very weird. I’m not quite sure why he’s fighting some random yakuza.

Enrique Iglesias – I Like It

Another really fun song. I didn’t even know Enrique Iglesias still made music. The beats just makes you want to dance.

Drake – Find Your Love

I think the Hey Hey Hey sold me on this song. Haha. ;p

David Guetta & Chris Willis ft Fergie & LMFAO – Gettin’ Over You

I didn’t realize Fergie and LMFAO were part of this song until I saw the music video. But the beats in this song are definitely rocking.

Eminem – Not Afraid

I first heard the parody song done by the Key of Awesome: EMINEM Not Afraid Parody: Key of Awesome #26 and it was just hilariously awesome. The song/melody wasn’t bad either, so I decided to check the original out.

3OH!3 – Double Vision

For the longest time I thought this was a Timbaland song (when the guy sings I’m thinking maybe I can have relationships), but after searching for it, it turns out it’s 3OH!3 instead. They’ve released a couple good songs, but this song sounds nothing like their other ones.

Linkin Park – The Catalyst

Very typical Linkin Park. Just catchy repetitive shouting.

The new Medal of Honor game also has a trailer out featuring this song in the background: Medal of Honor / Linkin Park – “The Catalyst” Trailer

Bruno Mars – Just The Way You Are

I’ve never heard of Bruno Mars until my sister told me about this song. We were talking about Miranda Cosgrove’s Kissin U and she said she was also listening to Just The Way You Are. After a few listens, I really began to dug it. This song has been playing on repeat for some time today.

I also didn’t know that Bruno Mars was part of B.o.B – Nothin’ On You (Beautiful girls, all over the world) and Travie McCoy – Billionaire

I’ll end this post with a small random treat.

Ore Ska Band – Jitensha

So I first heard this song on Naruto Shippuden as their 13th ED and found the animation really cool and cute. I initially thought it was really weird how this ED has nothing to do with Naruto, but someone else later pointed out that the girl in the ED is Hinata and then it sort of made sense. But 自転車 (Jitensha) just translates to bicycle and it just seem really fun to shout Jitensha over and over again. You can download the ED here.

Also how can you go wrong with adding trumpets and sax to a pop song!

You can also see the original PV on YouTube.

Wow, it’s been a long time since I blogged about an anime series.

I recently finished watching Angel Beats! The series started off very random, yet very fun. The main female character reminded me of Haruhi Suzumiya. In fact the randomness and wackiness reminded me a lot of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. The story begins with a boy Otonashi waking up with amnesia and this girl Yuri holding a sniper rifle tells him he’s dead. She tells him to join her Battlefront Brigade who’s main enemy is the Angel. Of course Otonashi doesn’t believe her and confronts the “so called” Angel. The Angel then sticks a sword through his heart and the crazy series begins. The story pretty much continues with the Battlefront Brigade fighting against the Angel and how the Battlefront Brigade tries to outsmart the Angel.

For the first 8 episodes, the series was pretty random, wacky, and fun. Story was light and I enjoyed it quite a bit. However starting with episode 9 (do note this is only a 13 episode series), it got really serious. At first I was wary of the change, but really quickly I liked how it turned out and made me love the series even more. My only regret is that the series was so short that they didn’t really get to develop much of the characters beyond the 4 or 5 main characters. I really want to know the back story of TK!

This is one of the better animes I’ve seen in recent years. The OP and ED music are pretty catchy too! They even had a band inside the anime called Girls Dead Monster and I really like one their songs: My Song. They even made a rock version of the OP.

One of my favorite scenes is below (won’t really spoil much):

My sister says it reminds her of The Matrix, and I agree. I believe this to be a homage.

Did I mention they have an awesome soundtrack?

Now with Angel Beats! done and a new season of anime series airing, I’ve taken a liking to Highschool of the Dead. It feels like a typical zombie series at the moment, with 5 students and a nurse trying to battle their way out of this mess. The graphics and animation are superb and I’ve heard great things about the source material (manga). There also appears to be a lot of fan service. Check out the OP if you’re interested. If you search for Highschool of the Dead on YouTube, you can also stream the 1st episode before it gets taken down.

I’ve also started watching Darker Than Black now that I realized it was available on Hulu. Many people have recommended the series to me and I even have it in my Netflix queue. So far, the first 2 episodes look interesting. Let’s hope it’s as good as everyone claims it to be. Maybe I shouldn’t set my expectations that high. That’s just setting myself up to be disappointed. ;p

It’s once again time for me to blog about new music that I’ve been enjoying. Once in awhile if I really dig a song, I’ll post it on Facebook immediately. Here is the list that didn’t become an immediate favorite, but has the honor of being in my “Current Favorites” playlist:

Taio Cruz – I Just Wanna Know – After discovering his “Break Your Heart” song, I found this song on YouTube and really enjoyed it.

CHEMISTRY – Period – This is the new OP (opening song) for Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. The animation that accompanies the OP doesn’t really do it justice, but after you listen to this song a few times, the melody really jumps at you. I always try to sing along when I watch the anime.

SHIKI – Sepia – Artemyst showed me this MAD video and I really enjoyed the background music. After digging around, he was able to get me the song title and artist.

Lady GaGa – Alejandro – First heard on the radio and didn’t even realize it was a Lady GaGa song until I started searching for lyrics with the names Alejandro and Roberto in it. My sister says I probably like this because there’s some euro/trance beats to it.

B’z – PRAY – I first heard this song as an ED for Detective Conan, but apparently this isn’t really a Detective Conan ED song and it was just something the fansubbers did. Nevertheless, I thank DCTP (Detective Conan Translation Project) for introducing this song to me as it’s an awesome song! I found the English translations to the lyrics if you’re curious.

The Last Goodnight – Pictures Of You – Recently heard this song as part of the 4 Chord Song and decided to add it to my collection. Unfortunately the music video is prohibited from being embedded, so you’ll have to see it on YouTube.

LMFAO – Yes – Denise introduced me to the band LMFAO when she was visiting and I have to say I really dig this song. The beats are awesome and lyrics are just hilarious.

Mika – Relax, Take It Easy – After posting that I enjoyed his Happy Ending song on Facebook, Krishnan told me to check out this song. I was not disappointed.

Spose – I’m Awesome – First heard this on the radio and although I’m not a big fan of rap songs, the lyrics to this song was just too fun! And after listening to this song, I’m always in a happy mood.

Mason Jennings – The Field – Heard this song as the background music off a trailer for 180° South. The song just sounded so soothing and I enjoyed it.

伍思凱 – 秋天別來 – I was first introduced to this song by Valerie, but it was sung by 侯湘婷 (female) instead. I found 伍思凱’s version (male) later on YouTube and decided I like his version better. I’m guessing it’s probably because it’s easier for me to sing along to his version as his pitch doesn’t go as high. It’s a bit ironic listening and singing along to this song the past few days. If you’re interested in what the lyrics are, I found the English translation to “Autumn Don’t Come”. Ugh… After reading part of the lyrics, they haven’t really done that great of a translation job, but you’ll get the message.

Awhile ago, I had posted about Pachelbel’s Rant where Rob Paravonian identified lots of modern day pop music using the same notes as Pachelbel’s Canon in D. Yesterday on Digg, I had found another musical comedian group that did something similar, titled Axis of Awesome – 4 Chord Song

What got me wondering is if the 4 chords they played actually mapped into any of the 8 notes that the cello repeats for Canon in D. For those who haven’t seen Pachelbel’s Rant, you should:

About 1:18 into Pachelbel’s Rant is where Paravonian starts listing the 8 notes he plays over and over again. I tried to compare that with the 4 chords that Benny (Chicken Little) plays at about 0:30 into the Axis of Awesome video. The 1st 4 notes that Paravonian plays do sound a bit similar, but they don’t seem to quite match up. There were definitely a few songs that were played in both Pachelbel’s Rant and the 4 Chord Song:

• U2 – Without or Without You
• Natalie Imbruglia – Torn
• Beatles – Let It Be

After speaking with Xyon, it turns out not all songs really play the same notes, but is using what is called chord progression (shifting scales as I learnt in piano). Here’s an interesting article he linked me to: Writing Better Songs: Analyzing Pachelbell’s Canon in D / Basketcase

Now I have some new songs to add to my music collection!

Update: Thanks to Tekman for providing some additional data:

Canon in D is: 1, 5, 6m, 3m, 4, 1, 4, 5 (D, A, Bm, F#m, G, D, G, A)
Their four chords were: 1, 5, 6m, 4 (D, A, Bm, G)

Also, the Australian guys cheated a lot. Theirs is essentially one of the foundational cadences of western music that is in almost every song ever. And they just used the tiny parts of the songs that were similar. Though, for example, since 4 is very much like 2m, they just fudged it. (Again, in Canon in D, G is very much like Em.)

While going through YouTube, this video was recommended to me: 光良 – 童话. I fell in love with the song even though it’s 5 years old. My sister tells me that 光良 (Micahel Wong – the artist) was actually signing autographs sometime ago at a restaurant we frequent. However at that time I had no idea who he was.

One interesting thing to note is that I always seem to mis-sing part of the lyrics. The original lyrics are:
我想了很久 我開始慌了
I thought for a long time, I began to panic
是不是我又做錯了甚麼
Did I do something wrong again?

But instead of singing 慌了 (huang le), I keep on singing 懷疑 (huai yi). I guess the main reason is because I didn’t know what 慌了 meant and both phrases actually begin with the ‘hua’ sound. After looking it up, I see it means to panic. 懷疑 means to suspect/doubt and both seem to work fine in this context.

Another part that I sometimes screw up on is 守護 (shou hu) which means to guard/defend. I sometimes sing 保護 (bao hu) instead, which means to protect.

Here are the original lyrics:

忘了有多久 再沒聽到你
Forgot how long it’s been, since I heard you
對我說你最愛的故事
Tell me your favorite story
我想了很久 我開始慌了
I thought for a long time, I began to panic
是不是我又做錯了甚麼
Did I do something wrong again?

Chorus A:
你哭著對我說　童話裡都是騙人的
While crying you tell me, all fairy tales are lies
我不可能是你的王子
I couldn’t be your prince
也許你不會懂　從你說愛我以後
Or maybe you can’t understand, from when you told me you loved me
我的天空星星都亮了
In my sky, all the stars have brightened

Chorus B:
我〔願〕〔要〕〔會〕變成童話裡
I (am willing to) (need to) (will) become the fairy tale’s
你愛的那個天使
Angel that you love
張開雙手 變成翅膀守護你
Spreading both arms, becoming wings to guard you
你要相信 相信我們會像童話故事裡
You have to believe, believe that we can be like the fairy tale where
幸福和快樂是結局
Happiness and joy is the ending

Repeat Chorus A 1x

Repeat Chorus B 3x

喔…
Wo…
一起寫我們的結局
Write our ending together

Update: Translation note: Technically both 幸福 and 快樂 both mean happiness, but saying “Happiness and happiness is the ending” sounded a bit weird. Initially I had “Good fortune and happiness”, but good fortune didn’t quite sound right in this context. I ended up switching it to “Happiness and joy” which sounded much better. While contemplating this, I remember when I was a kid, my mom would give me 幸福傷風感冒素 (medicine by Fortune Pharmacal to treat the cold and flu).

Thanks to @superekin for sharing this song: 李健－向往 (Li Jian – Xiang Wang). The title of the song means Longing and it appears to be a song released back in 2005.

Besides the melody, I really liked the lyrics too. The only lyrics I found were in simplified Chinese. Not a big fan of simplified Chinese (plus I don’t know as many words and read it slower), so I’ve converted it to traditional. Technically, I believe the title in traditional Chinese should be 嚮往, but I’ve never used this phrase before, so I’ll leave it as is.

Please forgive my pathetic attempt in trying to translate the lyrics. I had to look up several phrases in the Chinese dictionary. I would also like to thank howard2005 for providing an English translation, though I don’t agree with all his translations.

我知道並不是
I know it’s not that
所有鳥兒都飛翔
All birds fly
當夏天過去後
When summer passes
還有鮮花未曾開放
There are still flowers that haven’t bloom
我害怕看到你
I’m afraid to see you
獨自一人絕望
Alone in despair
更害怕看不到你
More afraid I can’t see you
不能和你一起迷惘
Can’t get lost together with you

Chorus:
多想你在我身旁
Wishing you were at my side
看命運變幻無常
Watching fate change unpredictably
體會這默默忍耐的力量
Understanding the power of patience
當春風掠過山崗
When the Spring breeze grazes over the hill
依然能感覺寒冷
I can still feel the chill in the air
卻無法阻擋對溫暖的向往
But no way to stop my longing for warmth
（又怎能停止對溫暖的向往）
(And how can it stop my longing for warmth)

我知道並不是
I know it’s not that
耕耘就有收獲
Farming will yield harvest
當淚水流乾後
When tears run dry
生命還是那麼脆弱
Life is still so fragile
多殘忍 你和我
So cruel, you and I
就像流星劃落
Like shooting stars falling
多絢爛 飛馳而過
So splendidly, fleeting by
點亮黑夜最美焰火
Lighting at night the most beautiful fireworks

Repeat Chorus 3x

It’s been a while since I last blogged about music I’ve been listening to. I’ve tweeted a few, but I thought I’d share with you my current Zune playlist that’s on rotation/repeat:

• Flyleaf – Again
• Broken Bells – The High Road
• The Providence – Letdown
• The Maine – Into Your Arms
• Taio Cruz – Break Your Heart
• Train – Hey, Soul Sister
• Neon Trees – Animal
• OneRepublic – All The Right Moves
• Miley Cyrus – When I Look At You (Don’t laugh at me, I really enjoy the piano opening.)
• Adam Lambert – Whataya Want From Me
• Civil Twilight – Letters from the Sky
• The Tony Rich Project – Nobody Knows (Heard this on the radio actually and decided to get it)
• 3oh!3 – Follow Me Down

Sorry to disappoint, but no Justin Bieber. ;p

I’ve been seeing the Lincoln MKZ ad on television for a few weeks and I’m starting to dig the song. After a quick search, it turns out the song is a cover of Major Tom (coming home) by Shiny Toy Guns:

[Please visit blog post to view streaming video]

Generally, I’d just tweet this but it turns out that Shiny Toy Guns is giving away the song for FREE: TRANSMISSION TO MAJOR TOM. YOURS. FREE. They require you to register, but that seems like a small price to pay for getting the song for free. After registering however, it appears to just redirect you to Lincoln’s website, telling you to look for the download link in the lower right corner.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the download link. Looking at the comments back on Shiny Toy Guns’ website, people were saying it was pulled because they were planning for an official release. However on Lincoln’s website, their source still links to the song:

function downloadSong() {
    [...]
    window.open('/extras/asset/majortom.zip', '_blank', 'height=100,width=200,top=200,left=300');
}

If you input javascript:downloadSong() into the location bar or just open this download link, you should be able to download the song. It’s a 10MB file with a 320kbps encoded MP3

Enjoy!

So I recently heard an old song on a TV show and really dig it: Cherry Lips by Garbage

YouTube Link

However, it wasn’t after listening to 20+ times that I realized the song was about a boy!!! According to Wikipedia:

Shirley wrote the lyrics in the song as a tribute to writer “JT LeRoy”, pseudonym of Laura Albert, with whom she has an email friendship, after reading “his” two novels Sarah and The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things. The song is loosely based on the two novels, apparently referencing the character ‘Cherry’, a cross-dressing child-prostitute from the novel Sarah.

So I finally remember to ask the Xbox discussion about the issues I was hitting with Lips.

It turns out that all my issues stem from the fact I have a USB microphone connected to my Xbox 360. Somehow microphone registration gets all screwy because of that. In my case, I have my Rock Band microphone plugged into the Xbox 360 at all times. The fix is to unplug the USB microphone when you’re playing Lips. Apparently this will fix both the 2nd microphone lighting issues as well as the static noise, video and audio out of sync issues, as well as the freezing issues.

Other good news is that Harmonix (creator of Rock Band) is going to patch up Rock Band so it can use the wireless microphones! From MTV Games:

We broke the news that the highly regarded microphone bundled with Microsoft’s “Lips” karaoke game would not work with “Guitar Hero” or “Rock Band” at launch.

Harmonix and MTV Games have now addressed gamers’ concern over the lack of compatibility, and there’s good news to be shared.

“Microsoft and MTV Games are working together to ensure that consumers will be able to use the wireless mics from ‘Lips’ with ‘Rock Band 2’ after launch,” said the companies in an e-mailed statement. “More details on timing to come. Harmonix and MTV Games strive for all third-party controllers to work with the ‘Rock Band’ games, fitting with Harmonix’ open-platform philosophy for controllers.”

Sounds like we’ll have a patch in the coming weeks! Will you use the “Lips” mic?

That’s great news! Being able to play Rock Band with a wireless microphone would be neat! Then I can scrap my Rock Band microphone and not hit into these issues anymore!