It's the last day before holidaysssssss

[nekokoban]

You know, occasionally I realize that sometimes I wish I was--silly enough, or pretentious enough, or teenager enough--to do some of those things that I really want to do, and then talk myself out of. :|a Mostly this involves JOURNAL POSTS THAT ARE ONLY LYRICS!! BECAUSE THEY REALLY HAVE REAL MEANINGS GUYS!! even when a lot of the time it's just because I really like a particular line or whatever. \o_O/ I suppose that's why I have twitter, but there's only so often you can do that, too, before someone decides to take a mallet to your virtual kneecaps.

[UNPOPULAR OPINION] Okay so also a part of me is kind of irritated at the condescending "oh isn't that cute" attitude I sometimes get from my friends for liking singing robots when they're going mad over Lady GaGa. Who I don't listen to, so I cannot judge, but dude, some of the stuff I've heard off nicodouga would rival any of the pro stuff I've heard, too, and I am vaguely :\ over people cooing over how crazy/bizarre/talented/etc their pop stars are, but then are like "oh, you" if mine even get mentioned. Just because the vocals sometimes come from a synthesized program doesn't mean that the whole thing was computer-generated, and gods and fishes know there are real live human covers of robot songs that are more popular in the ratings than the original. I think this is part of why I feel so apathetic to trying to listen to Lady Gaga--I understand she's actually really good, but I'd rather give my love and attention to my "silly" singing robot fandom, which I don't think is always as silly as people act. My irritation, let me punch someone in the face with it, even if it's just myself. [/UNPOPULAR OPINION]*

Though on the musical note, I need to remember to see if there's an mp3 available of the chorus cover of Butter-fly I found last night, because damn, that was a nostalgic kick and a half. DIGIMON, THERE WILL ALWAYS BE A SOFT SPOT IN MY HEART FOR YOU!

I didn't get any writing done yesterday, but man, I was so incredibly dead after a ~DAY~ that really, the fact that I managed to make all the phone calls I had to in order to kickstart repairs and fixing things that need it outside of work is an incredible achievment. CFUD people, I will pick up the chorus post tonight. /o\ THOUGH RELATEDLY, after reading this (courtesy of ysadrel and is an amazing read even for someone who doesn't know WoW, like yours truly), I really want to just. Do a text-based adventure thing and see how well I can do when I'm making things up on the fly. That's actually how I do a lot of creative things, honestly; I have learned that I cannot handle outlines that well, because then I get bored and I'm like BUT I ALREADY WROTE IT! \o_O/ and want to move on. Sob. XD Part of me just wants to make a journal post that is like, YOU WAKE UP HERE, WHERE DO YOU GO FROM THERE. Like every RP ever, only I'd want to do it with those forums where people are just giving (occasionally ridiculous) input and trying to roll with that. It seems like it'd be fun, but I don't know that people would actually be interested in it. WHY CAN'T I GET THE HANG OF FORUMS! [fistshake]

\o_O/ is still my favoritest emoticon ever.

THE END.

* PS: the UNPOPULAR OPINION is not actually meant to specifically call out people. The Vocaloid vs Lady Gaga thing is obviously the current example in my life, but it's really just an example of something that keeps happening. \o_O/ It's part of why I am really starting to hate when people say "but you're so cute!" to/about me, because I honestly feel like I'm not being taken seriously, and it drives me up the wall! SO. While I don't mind being silly and off the wall, I'd like to be taken seriously (and the things I like as a reflection of "hey, I like this unironically") as well.

Comments

[alexander.livejournal.com]

I prefer mp3s of the vocaloids before seeing the videos because I have a really hard time paying attention to the videos.

Also I have Ongoing Debates with a roommate of mine about music. She's a big pop music fan and. Well. :( yeah and we get into these weird passive aggressive moments like ". . . oh, anna, the music you listen to... have you ever noticed that noone ever sings? It's like, not real music." or whatever.

[nekokoban]

Haha, I only watch the actual videos about half the time--there are a few that are amazing, but normally I'm dewindowed from it and puttering elsewhere.

... h-how is music with no singing not real music ...

[irishninja.livejournal.com]

That link is blocked to me here at work. How did you get to it?

Tricksy... >_>

[nekokoban]

Oh, I just c/p'd the link as my friend gave it to me, via a gchat. XD I read it over last weekend, and I wanted to reference it today, so I just went and found the logs. o/

[lluvia]

I'm a crazy singing robot fangirl who also enjoys Lady GaGa (mostly because of how fucking catchy her songs are), but like... I could never even compare them, because they're completely different things. Yeah, Lady GaGa is super talented music-wise, but she's also a huge show-woman, whereas singing robots are... singing robots. And the music/arrange/tuning are what sells the whole thing to you (sometimes the videos too, but we know not all of them are that cute or whatevs).

Also sorry GaGa bb, I don't care if Poker Face is about a woman fantasizing about another woman while she's getting it on with a guy, your lyrics have got nothing on many Vocaloid songs. WHICH IS FAIR, REALLY, MINDLESS POP CAN BE FUN but looking down on singing robots really isn't.

[nekokoban]

SOB I AM GLAD TO HEAR THAT--it's just kind of irritating for me, because I do occasionally get the "oh, YOU, that's so cute :')" when I mention singing robots, and it's like. Yes, they have cute designs and it takes a bit to get used to, but I'm growing irritated with that response, especially when I turn around and I'm smacked with OH BUT SHE'S SO GREAT!! KYAA!! and that's usually when I end up ... growing super-apathetic about things that I know, intellectually, I'd probably would have enjoyed if I found it on my own. :|a

MY FRUSTRATIONS! HEAR ME VENT THEM.

[lluvia]

I guess I'm lucky in the sense that I've never really gotten that treatment from anyone I know? :( I am super self-conscious about Vocaloid fandom and live in constant fear that it will become the New Thing To Hate (aka Hetalia -- also because they're like, cousin-fandoms), so I keep my spazzing to you guys and people I know who can tolerate it (HI PUPPY HI) b-but yeahhh.

IDK, Lady GaGa is good, but not better than EVERYTHING EVER. I want to think people who think Vocaloids are "cute" do it out of sheer ignorance, because like you said, THESE PRODUCERS/SINGERS ARE ACTUALLY PROS AS WELL. Hell, look at supercell, they started with Melt and they're now doing anime EDs and... yeah.

[nekokoban]

It comes up now and then, and yeah, I'm occasionally self-conscious about it? But it's still something I like, so I feel really bad ABOUT feeling self-conscious! AND YET! It's hard not to when people are like, "so, they're ... singing robots, huh ..." and you're like BUT NO, REALLY, THEY HAVE SOME REALLY GOOD SONGS! ;;

It's easier to vent on my journal than actually punch people, though, so here I am.

[lluvia]

FWIW, I've found that showing people mind-blowing songs/videos/covers and explaining exactly how the program works tends to help make them realize how they are SO MUCH MORE THAN FANSERVICEY MOEBLOBS but... yeah. :|

I APPROVE OF VENTING. also lol being self-conscious about things you like /)_(\ I'M ACTUALLY OKAY WITH PEOPLE JUDGING ME AND MY TASTES, but if they're going to do so I would appreciate that they are at least informed on the matter so their judging is of the educated kind. >/

[nekokoban]

Yeah, actually, I ended up blabbing about it a bit to a friend's boyfriend over lunch a few weeks ago, and he was actually really intrigued (he's a programmer, that sort of thing pings him), and I am collecting songs that I can use in the future. Sob. I feel like we should do another post of cover songs at s_r soon. I MIGHT EVEN DO IT!

Y-yeah, that's .... partly why I did specifically mention I don't listen to Lady Gaga, I honestly cannot judge her beyond hearsay! I just always feel so awkward to be really enthusiastic about something and someone just sort of ... cuts it down to its base stereotype (MOEBLOBS) and then admit they don't know anything about it. \o_O/ I can roll with it 90% of the time, but for me it tends to be one of those things where it eventually piles up and I'm like PLEASE STOP AND GO AWAY AND LET ME GEEK OUT IN PEACE.

... man, in that case, I need less cute Vocaloid icons. :|a

[lluvia]

asdfjkd icon NO YOU CAN NEVER HAVE ENOUGH ADORABLE VOCALOID ICONS

WHAT KIND OF COVERS? I'd be super happy to help. And yeah, that's the thing, I think it's mostly a matter of pimping people something you know is very likely to ping them and then go from there. IT'S SUCH A VAST AND WIDE FANDOM, there is always bound to be something for everyone.

Y-Yeahhh no, even outside the topic of music. Harshing on other people's squee is ಠ_ಠ IT'S OKAY IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT, but please direct your hate elsewhere kthx.

[nekokoban]

WELL I COULD HAVE MORE SERIOUS ONES TOO! I made of Rin, too. :(

I was vaguely toying with the idea of making a chorus post, and see if I could find some with ridiculous amounts of people (like the 108-person World is Mine) as well as some of the generally-nice ones (like the Just Be Friends I linked last night). I have this weakness towards big group songs in general, I just need to start making lists!

Yeah, luckily outside the topic of music, I get by pretty easily, but every now and then, in my head, I am like MY FIST+YOUR FACE=OTP. :|b

[megido]

... yeah, what Floor said, basically. :|b

[nekokoban]

sob sob THAT MAKES ME FEEL BETTER ;;b

[canaa.livejournal.com]

Haha, you should have heard him while he was reading that. XD I linked it to him, so I got to hear his running commentary in IRC. It was great.

[nekokoban]

IT'S SO AMAZIIIIIIIIIING, I did the babbling mindlessly at him in gchat while I was finishing the whole thing up. XD

[canaa.livejournal.com]

It isss. XD My main character in WoW is a hunter, so it was a little extra special, too. And of course, I want a Larry. And a Scratchfever, but especially a Larry, so I can stop sucking at pvp . . .

[nekokoban]

I have never played WoW, but one thing that has always impressed me is the worldbuilding--also man, a Larry would be pretty bitchin'. And honestly, about the only place the story failed for me was not knowing the whole Mankirk's wife thing, so I had to google it after reading the end.

[canaa.livejournal.com]

It's a very interesting world. I've never played the Warcraft games, just WoW, and I love the draenei race and their story so much. I know they're a very sore point for some Warcraft fans ("Wait, what, WHY DO WE SUDDENLY HAVE SPACE ALIENS IN OUR FANTASY GAME SERIES?!!!") but I think they make a neat addition to the world. And besides, who COULDN'T love the fact that they can play a squid-chinned space goat?

[nekokoban]

... I would play a squid-chinned space goat, that's amazing.

[sigelphoenix.livejournal.com]

I hate the "the thing that I geek out about is okay, but the thing you geek out about is bad/stupid/uncool" thing. :

[nekokoban]

Y-yeah, it's usually just mildly frustrating--because people seem to think that since being "cute" is a compliment, it's all indulgent good fun? which I usually don't mind, but when I'm trying to be serious about things and I STILL get that, that's when I start resenting it. :\

WHY DO PEOPLE HAVE TO BE SO GRUMPY, DORA. :( Including me!

[sigelphoenix.livejournal.com]

Well, I think being condescended to is a good reason to be grumpy, so there. :P

[inarticulate.livejournal.com]

Even my mom thinks that Vocaloids are awesome and the people are incredibly talented. :|b so.

[nekokoban]

YOUR MOM IS AWESOME THEN :(b!! sob nicosingers will be the death of my hard drive with all the downloading I've been doing lately.

[jeva-chan.livejournal.com]

... oh honey. I love Vocaloids. I will never go "oh you" at you for it. The key to these kinds of things is to be shameless. Because really. Really? The music's pretty. Other music is pretty, too.

But to be honest, I love all kinds of music. I don't get the hype over a specific singer or band though. I'm a song lover. I hear a song and I like it. Or I hear a song and don't really pay it much mind. Ffff.

P.S. if you need someone to go squee over those kinds of things with, hit me up, I love Vocaloids |'D mostly because they DO have a lot of pretty songs and yes, I watch their videos at times. don't judge me

[nekokoban]

I HAVE FALLEN SO MUCH FOR THE STUPID SINGING ROBOTS. ;o; To the point where it's like, 95% of the music I listen to these days--I love pretty much all sorts of music, I just also get kind of >\ at the idea that somehow it's cute and silly for me to like them. :(

YOU SHOULD COME TO #stupidsingingrobots WHEN YOU'RE IN IRC. It's pretty much a spam chan for new/cool songs. BUT I WILL HIT YOU UP TOO--do you have a moontube account yet? :|a

[jeva-chan.livejournal.com]

THEY ARE ADORABLE (in a nonpatronizing way, I swear) AND PRETTY AND I SORT OF LOVE THE VIDEOS KINDA A LOT. But no, no I do not have an acc. Show me the ways, sensei :

[nekokoban]

WikiHow saves the day! And singing_robots, if you haven't joined already. :D

[mikomichan.livejournal.com]

Chorus cover of Butterfly??? Is there anyway I can steal that from you? I love that song and Digimon a lot ;o;

I wish I had more to contribute to the discussion, but I don't really listen to any Vocaloid music OR Lady Gaga, so clearly I am the most uncool person in this post so far :x Having said that, I think it's annoying when people go "Oh you and your weird interests" at me, it's belittling and I'm uncomfortable with that.

[nekokoban]

I'm going to see if I can download/rip it tonight (it's so cool, it's like ten or eleven people singing and it's so cool ;o;), and when I do, I WILL LINK YOU! I may just be like HEY MAINCHAN IF YOU LOVE DIGIMON, HERE YOU GO!

You are not uncool, you just listen to different things! Which is really the point; I don't mind people not being interested in what I am, I'm just uncomfortable (and thus become kneejerk contrary) with the implication that I'm silly or immature for liking it. :\

[katmaxwell.livejournal.com]

If I've ever made you feel that way, it wasn't my intention. I think it's mostly the "I don't understand this song because it's in a language I don't understand", in addition to the fact I'm not a huge fan of Jpop to begin with.

But again, I'm sorry I've made you feel this way. Next time, please say something about it because I honestly had no idea.

[nekokoban]

Well, to be entirely fair, it's actually not ALL J-Pop, which is--part of my problem? The thing about the Vocaloid fandom is that it's sort of so huge that to say it's only J-Pop is ... like saying that all sci-fi is like Star Trek or something. :|a

It's mostly been just a building thing, and it's not you; it's sort of a combination of factors and people that have all come together and hit a point where I am like OKAY, ENOUGH, OR FACEPUNCHING WILL COMMENCE. :|b

[vitani]

YOU CAN BE CUTE AND TAKEN SERIOUSLY AT THE SAME TIME, I PROMISE.

And I know absolutely nothing about Vocaloids so I'd never comment on it, but it's silly to hold one fandom over another. Except Twilight fandom.

[nekokoban]

I just have such a weird reaction to being called cute. \o_O/ Sometimes I don't mind, and sometimes I do, so in the end I am like arrrrrgh /o\ instead.

The Volvo dealership near my apartment has New Moon posters slapped all over it, it was a little amazing in a horrifying sort of way. :|a

[unicorn]

I HAVE YOUR SAME THING ABOUT BEING CALLED CUTE which I've actually mostly gotten over, because it's so prevalent in ljfandom and CFUD especially. But I totally see where you are coming from!

I could never judge anyone on music tastes or anything tastes really because I have no idea why I like half the things I like, so whateverrr let's do things that make us happy. :|!

[nekokoban]

MOST OF THE TIME I CAN IGNORE IT? Or I just do the kneejerk protest, which ... tends to lead to people saying that's cute too, which is like. BAD END, UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES! But at times it's also like, no, dude, I am trying to be serious, please stop being "ha ha how cute |D" at me!

:|b Singing robots makes me happy, sob, after this post last night I actually went and made a chunk of new icons for it. \o/

[unicorn]

I do wish it was easier to tell when people crossed the line from "ha ha not cute" to "Okay, actually, being serious now" in text, because that is probably part of the problem. Tone would make that distinction a lot more... distinct.

THEY ARE PRETTY

[cyanwitch.livejournal.com]

I-I'm gonna jump in and encourage you to post lyrics because that is totally interesting! Like, usually I'm like "yay, song, yay, lyrics, whatever moving on" but occasionally some particular lyrics really ping, and I think it would be fun to see what lyrics hit you!

And I understand the Vocaloid thing a little, even though it's my sister and not my friends, but idk I'm used to her doing that to my interests but I kind of do that to hers a bit too, proll, so I cannot say anything. \o/ But it makes me sad that I have failed to spread singing robots to my friends past basic recognition of "oh, those are the things you like."

ALSO ALSO! I um, finally finished listening to the Protomen music. ;_; I am like, ridiculously slow, sorry. But I really, really liked it! It takes more attention to listen to than I usually divert to music, but that's kind of cool too because it's worth it, totally! And yeah. I fail at forming opinions about things past I REALLY LIKED IT YAY could you tell? Sorry.

[bromantic.livejournal.com]

LINK ME TO MORE VOCALOID STUFF!! You said you would!! Because I actually don't know a thing about it but I would like to!! I generally don't like making an opinion of something I'm completely ignorant about either.

[nekokoban]

I WILL! But I need to know a) if you have a moontube (nico douga) account, and if you have any preferences for music. THERE ARE HONESTLY SO MANY STYLES, if I can focus on one genre, I can probably find quite a bit. /o/ (They can be like, pop or rock or even SCARY SONGS or story songs, etc. I'LL MAKE A LIST.)

[suzuran-lily.livejournal.com]

It's part of why I am really starting to hate when people say "but you're so cute!" to/about me, because I honestly feel like I'm not being taken seriously, and it drives me up the wall

S-sob this happens to me too /)_(\ I'm like NO I AM NOT CUTE I AM A MIGHTY WARRIOR AND YOU MUST BOW TO MEEEEE

[nekokoban]

I DON'T MIND BEING CUTE OCCASIONALLY! BUT ONLY OCCASIONALLY, CUTE IS NOT HOW I AM DEFINED AHHHHHHHHHHH

[suzuran-lily.livejournal.com]

[CLING ;o;]

[nekokoban]

;o;b!!!

[jpegasus.livejournal.com]

...The only thing I know about Vocaloids is that I see icons for it, sometimes? Is this the same thing?

I AM INTRIGUED BY THE CONCEPT OF CATCHY ADORABLE ROBOT MUSIC AND WISH TO KNOW MORE.

[nekokoban]

Haha UH OKAY! Vocaloid is the general name for a voice synthesizer program (focus on singing) that was originally developed in the west; the first two were actually English-speaking! Then Japan got a hold of it and drew characters to go with the voices (Meiko and Kaito respectively) and that's when they really started taking off! Eventually others started coming out (both in the west and in Japan, though the English-speaking ones don't have nearly the same level of popularity)--at this point in Japan, there's like ... seven? I think? I MAY BE FORGETTING A FEW. But on nico douga (nicknamed moontube, and is like the Japanese youtube), people began composing songs and creating PVs to go with these songs--and people began covering these robots and you really have this amazing range of styles and different voices. It can sometimes be a bit uncanny valley (especially with Meiko and Kaito, the two oldest), but someone who's really good at tuning the program can really make them sound human.

PV art tends to range a lot, too--some of it is amazingly gorgeous (the icon for this reply is one)--but then you have this too. My favorites tend to be the story songs and then the creepy songs, and I have several versions because I download covers as well as chorus versions. :x

SO IN ESSENCE while a lot of the designs are moeblob cute, people can do some really amazing things while still making them recognizably themselves. :|b And because Stel is not here to do it, singing_robots is a great place to start for general links, especially if you have a nico douga account. (Information here.)

[jpegasus.livejournal.com]

neeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat

I will check the comm out, and I do in fact have a nico douga account :3

Thank you for the explanation!

[nekokoban]

\o/ SINGING ROBOTS ARE FUN :(b