Happy New Year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Somehow things move on,
But somehow we’re still standing here,
and we’re living through today.
[ evolution - ayumi hamasaki ]

I really haven’t posted here in months, but that’s mostly because I now use my Livejournal more often.  Feel free to add me if you have one.

But anyway — It’s almost a little sad, isn’t it? One year has passed.

I’m sure we all experienced a lot this year. There were sad moments and happy moments. Moments when we laughed till we cried, and moments when we felt like we wouldn’t even make it to December 31st. We met new people, and might have even lost (and regained?) some along the way. Yet here we are. December 31st, 2008 and we’re still here.

We made it!

We’re now stuffed with memories contained in this time span called 2008, and our minds are fresh and ready to make new ones in 2009. 2009’s waiting for us, and we don’t know what it has in store. But like with 2008, we’ll make it. We got through hard times in ‘08, so what’s stopping us. If anything, we’re stronger. We’ll make it. If not alone, then together.

Here’s to 2009 and everything it has to offer.

Happy New Year!

just because.

Well, because I’m quite interested and impulsive, I just ordered two graphic novels I’m really interested in reading — and looking forward to reading at that!

My Comparative Literature professor recommended the first one I ordered, “MAUS,” to us, and it really does look interesting. Simply put, it’s a graphic novel about the holocaust… an allegory of sorts because all the characters are (c’mon MAUS?) animals. Jews are portrayed as mice, Germans are cats, Americans are dogs, Poles are pigs, and so on and so forth.

I want to learn more about the holocaust, and it seems like a very powerful book, so I’m excited.

The next book is called “Pitch Black,” and it actually just came out. I read about it in the New York Times — it’s a graphic novel about homeless life in the subways of New York City. The author and main illustrator, Youme Landowne, spoke with a homeless man about his experiences, and the book is basically a graphical representation of that.

The subject intrigues me, and I have to admit that my heart was telling me to read this story, just to see what life for someone less fortunate than I lived like… and the conditions that people like him have to live in every day.

Books are really enlightening. Maybe I should have gotten that Barnes & Noble member card…

(And who put Joshua Radin on the Statesman computer? His music is good, actually.)

untitled ~for her~ by ayumi hamasaki

For someone I miss.

—

We walked hand in hand,
And we laughed and cried over trivial things
…
If I could have just one wish right now,
I’d want to see you again
…
We walked without holding hands,
And we quarreled over trivial things and got stubborn

But even the silly quarrels are my sweet memories now
…
Supposing everyone goes on that endless road
Over the clouds and into the sky,
Sooner or later,
Be sure to wait for me

And then we will talk away,
With our countless memories
…
No matter how many times the seasons may pass,
Our days are unfading

New Song by Ayumi Hamasaki

Hooray. Ayumi Hamasaki is coming out with a new single, and one song off the EP is called, “GREEN,” which was featured in the new commercial for Panasonic’s Lumix FX37. We’re yet to know if the will be the A-side, or the only A-side, off the single, but my bet is on it being a B-side. (Or one of two or more A-sides.)

Ayu mentioned in a recent blog post that she had just completed recording a song for her new single, but I doubt that this song is it. She wrote that 3 days ago after all, and for Avex to have finished it up AND sent it to Panasonic in time for the CM seems unlikely. So there’s definitely two songs on her latest single, it seems.

But anyway, here’s GREEN, and I really like it. I might just buy this single off of iTunes… or depending on the single’s package, I might buy the physical :O

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince release date moved… to 2009!

Well, my heart just broke into two. After browsing my usual Ayumi Hamasaki message board, I came across something very disappointing: the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince movie, the sixth installment of the HP series, will now premiere on July 17, 2009 in the U.S. — nearly eight months after the original release date of November 21, 2008.

The reason — unsurprisingly — is so Warner Bros. can take advantage of the financial benefits of opening during a weekend in the summer season, according to this Yahoo! News article.

The move was made to take advantage of an open weekend in Hollywood’s busy summer season, said Alan Horn, Warner Bros. president and chief operating officer. “The picture is completely, absolutely, 100 percent on schedule, on time. There were no delays,” Horn told The Associated Press. “I’ve seen the movie. It is fabulous. We would have been perfectly able to have it out in November.”

And to think, I was passionately looking forward to the HBP release this fall… especially after seeing the teaser, which is now for a movie to be released almost a full year from now.

Thanks Warner Bros. Now I have to wait another 10 months. The only upside: the wait between the sixth and seventh movies will be less.

Full article from Yahoo! News: http://news.yahoo.com/story//ap/20080814/ap_on_en_mo/film_harry_potter