Would you shed your skin for me?

Sometimes I get caught up in obsessively listening to one song over and over, and today it's been Japan's "Life In Tokyo", released in 1979.

Japan are one of my favourite bands, and I do love Giorgio Moroder cheese, so of course a collaboration between the two is going to appeal to me. I'm pretty sure, though, that when I first heard this song I wasn't particularly impressed. Obviously something has since clicked, because now it's one of my favourite Japan songs. The bass line and synths work together to produce something quite hypnotic.

The version in the video is half the length of the version I've been listening to today, but the longer 12" version that's up on Youtube is entirely different again. Apparently there are at least eleven different versions of the song floating around.



This video actually makes me laugh. The "standard" band layout is usually drums at the back, guitarists near the front, right? Yet here we have Steve Jansen on drums right up front, while guitarist Rob Dean is all the way in the back somewhere near the backup singers. Poor Rob Dean, nobody cares about you, generally considered the ugly member of Japan. Perhaps if you were as pretty as Steve you wouldn't have to stand way in the back like an embarrassment. Do they even show his face during the whole video? I only noticed close ups on his hands.



That same year, Sparks, who are probably my favourite favourite band, also released a collaboration with Moroder: their eighth album, No. 1 In Heaven. The final track from that album, "The Number One Song in Heaven", is another favourite of mine. I have possibly said the word "favourite" too many times in this paragraph. But I really do love Sparks, and I really do love this song.



The video has Ron Mael x3! What could be better? Well, possibly a different haircut on Russell, but Ron's haircut here is, in my opinion, one of his best, and it's there three times, so perhaps it makes up for it.

Again, this is a song where I usually listen to the longer version. This is only the second half of the song as it appears on the album, but it's the more upbeat and danceable half, and makes a great end to a great album.

This has been stuck in my head all day, so I am damn well going to share it.

i don't even know



vulcan me has a nice voice don't you think

My dear LJ friend tropigalia's family is having an awful time right now. They went through enough hell last year with a fire and another death, and now this? It breaks my heart.

There's an article on the situation her family is facing in the Philadelphia Inquirer:

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/col…

I wish I could do something more to help, but maybe if this link gets spread around to enough places someone who can help will see it. Mary's a fantastic person and I'm sure the rest of her family are too.


EDIT: There's now a Paypal donation link up here.

...I think she would look something like Elly Jackson of La Roux.

I should probably talk about the Amanda Palmer concert, post photos, or something, or even post some kind of catch up post in general, but Amanda Fucking Palmer just posted a link to my Youtube video on her twitter so instead I am dying of glee.

Hello! I am on holiday. I will update properly once I get back to Wellington in a week's time, but for now I thought I would just post a couple of photos of the room I am posting this from...

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I'll post a lot more (and better) photos another time. This house is huge. There are four toilets. There are two coffee machines. There is a historic chapel on the grounds. Yeah.

Majel Barrett-Roddenberry
23 February 1932 – 18 December 2008

Halloween was really fun! It was good to get out and see people again.

This morning my hair is an enormous afro and my room looks like a bomb hit it (well, moreso than usual), and I have all these things I'm supposed do that I put off in favour of costume preparation. I got a couple of fake blood stains on my stays and my hastily-sewn-an-hour-before-leaving pocket hoops are kind of broken now, but whatever.

Not many people seemed to know who I was supposed to be! I think I got two people saying "a bride", three "Sleepy Hollow", and about ten "Sweeney Todd". And then at least three people said "Who?" when I told them I was zombie Marie Antoinette. Lol.

Anyway, photos! I didn't take many at the party and those I did take are awful, but I took some of myself before I left:



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EDIT: Entirely unrelated, but awesome -

Since it's almost been a week, I've filled in the answers for the lyrics that hadn't been guessed in the music meme. They're here, if anyone's interested.


And now, the return of that book meme that goes around every now and then:

* Grab the nearest book.
* Open the book to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post the text of the next two to five sentences in your journal along with these instructions.
* Don't dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST.

Kirk said he had known Beagle captain R.M. Merrick at Starfleet Academy, noting that Merrick had been dropped in his fifth year after failing a psycho-stimulator test. This would seem to contradict other references which establish Starfleet Academy to be a four-year institution. On the other hand, "The First Duty" establishes that Wesley Crusher will have to repeat his sophomore year (meaning it will take him five years to graduate) and perhaps something similar happened to Merrick.