Song Saturday: Bauhaus Block

How's it going lurkers? Now that Memorial Day is officially over, there are 2 more patriotic holidays month to month. June 14th is Flag Day (which is also my birthday) and Independence Day is July 4th.

Meanwhile, some of you may remember, that I shared a Song Saturday/Art Sunday Combo blog about Bauhaus, last summer. Today, I have some of my favorite Bauhaus songs. 

Next Saturday, I intend on sharing some Classic Lacuna Coil. You may love listening to Bauhaus like myself or you may hate the band. Then, there are a select few, who will take or leave them.

However, I feel some of you may enjoy listening to songs 3, 5, 6, and 7. All the Bauhaus songs I have recently chosen are some of my favorites from each studio album. 

Regardless, you will either say, "Yay!" "Nay!" or "Meh." Rather than droning on, I will simply cut to the chase. Anyway, here is an extra dose of Bauhaus for this week's Song Saturday.

1) Bauhaus "Bela Lugosi's Dead" Single (1979)

2) Bauhaus "Dark Entries" In the Flat Field (1980)

3) Bauhaus "The Passion of Lovers" Mask (1981)

4) Bauhaus "Hollow Hills" Mask (1981)

5) Bauhaus "Silent Hedges" The Sky's Gone Out (1982)

 

6) Bauhaus "She's In Parties" Burning From The Inside (1983)

7) Bauhaus "Who Killed Mr. Moonlight?" Burning From The Inside (1983)

Cartoon Sunday: Kersten Hackney's "The Girl of His Dreams" (2006 Stop-Motion Animation Senior Art Project)

How's it going lurkers? For today's Cartoon Sunday, I have Stop-Motion Animation for you all. It's actually a short created by best friend from Carthage College, Kersten Hackney. 

First and foremost, I have known Kersten since the time of hosting my college radio show, All Things Frightening at UW-Parkside's 101.7 WIPZ in 2002.

2002 was a very hectic year for yours truly because I literally attended 3 different colleges in 2 different WI cities and became a Radio DJ/Hostess at 1 of 3 WI colleges within the same year!

In fact, when we met each other, I literally juggled being a full-time on campus student and a DJ at UW-Parkside, while being a part-time commuter for Japanese classes at Carthage College.

Kersten and I actually met each other at the bus stop outside Carthage's David Straz Center. Since I was done with Japanese for the week, we talked at the bus stop when I was heading back to UW-Parkside. To be more specific, the 2 of us met on a Friday afternoon in October 2002. 

I don't remember the exact date. However, I DO remember that it was on a Friday afternoon because I hosted All Things Frightening on Fridays 4-6pm and needed to be back on Parkside's campus to host my radio show. 

Being an old relic from the early 21st Century, All Things Frightening was heard locally in Kenosha, WI AND on the Internet, when more people were in the early stages of listening to radio stations online.  

Listeners could hear EBM, EDM, and mostly Metal including Industrial Metal on my radio show. Those music genres and sub-genres could complement each other well, especially when it came to the Goth sub-culture.

Kersten was also a "nerdy Goth" with long Strawberry Blonde Hair and glasses, when I met her and we were able to resonate with each other on an Ivy League-ish type of college campus.

Carthage's student body mostly consisted of the stereotypical, new money, elitist, "white privileged," trust fund brats from IL on a Lake Michigan college campus in Downtown Kenosha, WI.

Did you ever have the chance to watch the late John Hughes' Pretty In Pink, if not his other '80s films that mostly focused on over privileged trust fund brats from IL?

Even though we graduated from high school, Carthage felt like high school NEVER ended because it always felt like a high school popularity contest with the cast of Clueless combined with Pretty In Pink. Ugh! Meanwhile...

As I waited for the Kenosha city bus to stop outside Carthage's David Straz Center, we discussed Hot Topic, Goth fashion in general and being able to customize Goth fashion, especially since Kersten is an immensely talented artist. 

Anytime someone can convert a pair of black LEATHER pants into a leather mini jumper dress, that is SHEER genius and talent!

It wasn't until I completely transferred to Carthage College from UW-Parkside in 2004 that we were reunited by a mutual classmate/friend and soon became close friends.

Hell, Kersten even named the title of my Carthage chapbook for my Creative Writing Minor, It's Not All Bunnies And Sunshine and did the inside cover illustration for it.

I genuinely hope that in the near future, a Rock band will take a liking to Kersten Hackney's abstract sketches to the extent that they will use her illustrations for album covers.

She has NO idea that her sketches alone could be ICONIC album covers much like Joy Division's 1979 album cover, Unknown Pleasures. 

Do you see this Joy Division album cover for Unknown Pleasures?

Ms. Hackney's sketches have such abilities to be like this Joy Division album cover above! If she only knew that her sketches could be iconic in the future.

Kersten's 2006 Senior Art Project, "The Girl of His Dreams" was shot with a Kodak Easy Share Digital Camera. "The Girl of His Dreams" was based on H.J. Lorentz's short story of the same title.

According to Ms. Hackney, "The Girl of His Dreams" is a Macabre Horror Revenge Short Story with a dash of Dark Humor in Stop-Motion Animation form. The woman's ex-husband is the protagonist.  

Kersten rushed "The Girl of His Dreams" by only using 2 dolls in hopes of submitting her project to Adult Swim's contest that same year.

She was almost finished shooting "The Girl of His Dreams," when Adult Swim's contest had just ended. This somewhat explains why the characters don't have any facial features. 

Had Kersten graduated with me in May 2006, I would've GLADLY  helped her with her Stop-Motion Animation project MONTHS before I graduated.

I'm not saying this to sound like a self-centered, attention whore because of helping her in the past with a more TITILLATING art project and for already having some experience with voice work. 

With my own eyes, I have witnessed Kersten Hackney's talent! Maybe someday, she will have more free time to modify her Stop-Motion Animation project. After all, remakes and reboots are "trendy" here in the early 21st Century. 

Shortly after graduating from Carthage College in May 2006, I was supposed to attend Kersten Hackney's presentation for her senior art project. 

Unfortunately on December 1, 2006, I was unable to attend Kersten's senior art project presentation. A family friend's daughter was brutally attacked by a dog and was rushed to the ER. 

To make matters worse on that same date, my mother became dehydrated from excessively shoveling LARGE mounds of snow at our front yard's bus stop. 

It resulted in my NOW disabled mother having her very first seizure. I'll spare you all the details by saying our family friend's daughter is safe, healthy, and doing well in 2nd grade, and my mother is her normal self.

When I originally watched "The Girl of His Dreams" 7-8 years ago, Adult Swim's Robot Chicken (another Stop-Motion Animation) instantly came to mind.  

"The Girl of His Dreams" By Kersten Hackney (2006)

                                                   

If you enjoyed "The Girl of His Dreams" and are on YouTube, hit the Like button!

I'm very tempted to e-mail Cartoon Network/Adult Swim after sharing this Cartoon Sunday blog. You can even Tweet about "The Girl of His Dreams" to Adult Swim, if it helps.

Song Saturday: Anna Tsuchiya Block

How's it going lurkers? For today's Song Saturday, this is a J-Rock Block of the Japanese/Polish American soloist, actress, and "semi-retired" model, Anna Tsuchiya.

In Tokyo, Japan, Anna Tsuchiya was born on March 11, 1984 to a Japanese mother and a Polish American father from Buffalo, New York. 

When Anna and her older sister, Angela were younger, they both learned how to speak Japanese and English. 

Anna Tsuchiya can actually speak Southern Japanese dialects, along with Kyushu or Okinawa slang. At the age of only 7, her parents got divorced.

Angela, who was a former fashion model, suggested that Anna become a model, when she was 14 years old. In 1998, Tsuchiya began modeling in Kobe, Japan for magazine, Japanese Seventeen. She became high in demand for modeling, during the late '90s and early 21st Century. 

By 2002, Anna Tsuchiya did commercials for Uniqlo and Edwin Clothing. Within the last 7-8 years, I remember watching her in a commercial for Venus Jeans. 

However, in 2002, Anna supposedly retired from modeling. She grew tired of being bullied and pressured about being "overweight" as a model. 

Since 97 lbs is considered to be "overweight" in Japan for modeling, I guess those of us above 97 lbs are considered "morbidly obese."

As for Anna Tsuchiya's acting career, she is best known for her character in the 2004 Dramedy film, Kamikaze Girls. Her role as "Ichigo Shirayuri" in the movie was more of a female biker gang member turned fashion model from the countryside. 

I have never watched the Kamikaze Girls movie based on the Manga, but I am willing to bet it was highly dramatized. Every time I generally watched Japanese Live Action TV Shows and movies, they usually had this tendency to ruin them with extremely melodramatic acting, which felt so contrived. 

As a woman, who holds an Asian Studies degree (mostly in Japanese), I am really picky about most Japanese Live Action TV shows and movies. Therefore, I apologize in advance if I offended any of my Asian friends/subscribers.

I love watching Anime, listening to Japanese Music, will embrace their culture, religions, and the Japanese language (I purposely studied to become a Japanese Consecutive Translator).

So far, At Home Dad and Brother Beat were the best Japanese Dramas (J-Dramas) I've ever liked streaming because the actors and actresses were not so melodramatic, that they felt too contrived and obnoxious to watch. Well, I digress. 

Regarding Anna Tsuchiya's music career, she sang in her school choir and joined the music industry, when she was 16 years old. Anna claimed to have completely retired from entertainment, after she terminated her Japanese Seventeen contract. 

That was until the former Oblivion Dust member, K.A.Z. offered to invest in Tsuchiya's music career. By mid-2002, she and K.A.Z. formed a Punk-Rock duo called, Spin Aqua. 

Originally, Anna's musical influences went from being 1980's Pop and R&B soloists such as Whitney Houston, Diana Ross, Cyndi Lauper, Bette Midler, and Mariah Carey to '80s Rock bands such as Bon Jovi and Guns N' Roses.

Several years later, Anna Tsuchiya became a soloist. On August 24, 2005, she debuted her mini-album, Taste My Beat with the single "Change Your Life." "Change Your Life" actually sounds similar to Willa Ford's song, "I Wanna Be Bad."

Meanwhile, I especially remember Anna Tsuchiya's music video for "Slap That Naughty Body." With a song title like that, who could forget it? You know what I mean?

I mostly know about Anna Tsuchiya from the Josei Anime, NANA. If you have never watched the Josei Anime and/or the live action movies for NANA, I recommend streaming them. 

Personally, I love the series. The NANA Anime has an even balance of music, comedy, romance, and of course, drama. 

Watching NANA is the equivalent of watching an animated soap opera about rival Punk and Pop bands with the protagonists (Nana Komatsu-Ichinose and Nana Oosaki) being in love with the bassists and guitarists (Ren Honjou, Takumi Ichinose, and Nobuo Terashima).  

NANA also has a paternity test arc. Nana Komatsu is "torn" between Nobuo and Takumi and because she had sex with them both; She doesn't know which sexy and talented musician impregnated her.

Like I already said, NANA is very much like a soap opera except it is in the form of Japanese animation meant for the young women demographic.

In the Japanese animation, 2 different voice actresses were used for Nana Oosaki. Romi Park voiced the protagonist in the Japanese dialogue, while Anna Tsuchiya's vocals were inserted, whenever Nana Oosaki sang. 

In this clip from NANA's 9th episode, Nana Komatsu (a.k.a. "Hachi") watches her friend/roommate (Nana Oosaki) perform with her guitarist, Nobuo Terashima. 

NANA: Anna Tsuchiya As Nana Osaki Vocalizes "Rose" (2005)

 

Nobu arrived in Tokyo and convinced Nana O. to continue singing for their band, BLAST. He supposedly wrote the song, "Rose." In the above scene, it cut to their drummer, Yasu Takagi, listening to Nana and Nobu perform "Rose" over the phone.

As a quick reminder, click on the buttons that read "Watch on YouTube." Even though Blogger and YouTube are now owned by Google, YouTube is blocking the following videos from being shown on Blogger for some bizarre and obnoxious reason. It must be a copyright issue in Japan.

Also, some of the following videos are NOT  official music videos for Anna Tsuchiya because some are singles from the NANA Anime soundtrack.

Anyway, I'll leave you with her songs, which have been featured on various albums and soundtracks for this Song Saturday.

1) Anna Tsuchiya "Rose" Strip Me? (2006)

2) Anna Tsuchiya "LUCY" Inspi' Nana [Black Stones] (2006)

3) Anna Tsuchiya "Kuroi Namida" {"Black Tears"} Inspi' Nana [Black Stones] (2006)

 

4) Anna Tsuchiya "I'm Addicted To You" Inspi' Nana [Black Stones] (2006)

 

5) Anna Tsuchiya "Without You" Inspi' Nana [Black Stones] (2007)

6) Anna Tsuchiya "Carry On" Resident Evil: Degeneration (2008)

7) Anna Tsuchiya "Switch On" Kamen Rider Fourze (2011) 

Song Saturday: VNV Nation {Double Dose}

How's it going lurkers? Like I already mentioned in my last blog, I am putting a rush on this week's Song Saturday. These next 2 Song Saturdays, I will return to getting you "into the groove" with some Industrial-Electronica Music.

Suddenly, KMFDM's "Megalomaniac" mixed with Madonna's song, "Get Into The Groove" are stuck in my head. Hmm... I just had an idea. It would be interesting to have the Excessive Force Remix of KMFDM's "Megalomaniac" remixed with Madonna's "Get Into The Groove."

Like I was saying, this is an early Song Saturday. Today I have Ireland's Industrial-Electronica duo, VNV Nation. They relocated to Hamburg, Germany. Considering that Industrial Music has become popular in Germany, it made sense for this duo to relocate there.

If you have never listened to VNV Nation, I recommend doing so. This Song Saturday, I present to you a double dose of some Classic VNV Nation with their songs "Electronaut" and "Genesis."

1) VNV Nation "Electronaut" Futureperfect (2002)

2) VNV Nation "Genesis" Futureperfect (2002)

Song Saturday: Type O Negative [Triple Dose]

How's it going lurkers? I meant to share Type O Negative last month, but I chose some other bands. Type O Negative's Peter Steele has been dead for the last 4 years.  

On April 14, 2010, he died at the age of 48 from heart failure. 

Wow! Peter Steele was old enough to be my father, when I really think about it; He was 20 years older than yours truly just like my mother. In fact, my mother turned 52 last Saturday.

I wonder how my old radio station manager from 101.7 WIPZ took Peter Steele's death. He was a huge Type O Negative fan. I am sure he was really devastated over the news. 

I remember when I started hosting my show at UW-Parkside in October 2002. I was in the middle of listening to albums, while making my show's playlist.

The moment my station manager heard me listening to some Type O Negative, he was overjoyed. That's how much he loved them. 

While being a "'tween" and teen during the '90s, I always listened to a few mainstream Type O Negative songs.

It wasn't until I transferred to UW-Parkside and launched my radio show, All Things Frightening, that I started listening to more Type O. 

Once, my station manager said to me, "I'm gonna make you love Type O Negative." Honestly, I think he had a man crush on Peter Steele.

I couldn't always play certain songs from the band. Some songs had "explicit lyrics." 

As long as I censored songs live, I could air them. However, I already had enough songs to censor on All Things Frightening.

Normally, I ended my radio show with Type O Negative's "Love You To Death," from their October Rust album. That was if I did not already play a song from them or another band. "Love You To Death" is such a dark yet calming song.

When I became a Radio DJ/Hostess, All Things Frightening aired on Fridays 4-6pm. Sometimes I hosted my radio show on Thirsty Thursdays, during DJ Madness. 

DJ Madness aired, during the "Safe Harbor" hours. Safe Harbor started at 10pm, which meant we could play uncensored songs on our shows.

Anyway, I have a lot of favorite songs from Type O Negative's October Rust. Not only is "Love You To Death" a favorite, but also "Die With Me" and "In Praise Of Bacchus" to name at least 2 more songs. October Rust is a great album to listen to, if you ever want to relax.

Months after I began working at UW-Parkside's 101.7 WIPZ, I happened to see Peter Steele on Fuse TV's Uranium. Uranium's Juliya C. interviewed Peter Steele in an episode, during the show's 1/2 hour block in 2003.

Type O Negative's Peter Steele Interviewed By Uranium's Juliya C. (2003)

This Song Saturday, I have a triple dose of my favorite Type O Negative songs from their 1996 album, October Rust.

1) Type O Negative "Love You To Death" October Rust (1996)

 

2) Type O Negative "Die With Me" October Rust (1996)

 

3) Type O Negative "In Praise Of Bacchus" October Rust (1996)

 

RIP PETER STEELE!!!