ayumi hamasaki - A 50 SINGLES ~LIVE SELECTION~ + Rock 'n' Roll Circus Tour FINAL ~7 Days Special~

Hello hello! It's been awhile since I've blogged because as y'all know, I've been really, really busy last weekend because of all the things that I had to do. Well, now that Kaka is back in Singapore, I can stop worrying about some stuff and continue to live life as per normal. :D Yes~ I think I'm extremely dependent on her already.

Anyway, it's a Thursday and I'm home tonight! I'm finally passed out as an operator! That means no more throwing me here and there and getting bossed around (well, this may not be true anyway since I'm still technically a man). By the way~ I got a plaque!! Photo's on Facebook because it's irrelevant to today's post.

Well, first up...

ayumi hamasaki - A 50 SINGLES ~LIVE SELECTION~

It's ayumi hamasaki's A 50 SINGLES ~LIVE SELECTION~ DVD!! This DVD set comes with 2 DVDs featuring all her singles performed LIVE during her tours. Well, other than her single "kanariya" which she did not performed live at all throughout her career - weird isn't it? This DVD set is to commemorate the release of her 50th single "L".

All 50 clips of her best live performances of her singles! This DVD was originally released alongside with ayu-mi-x 7 but due to the fact that Japan press DVDs are extremely expensive and that they are not compatible with my PS3, I had to wait until the Code 3 Hong Kong version is out before getting this one. It's so much cheaper and it comes with a free toy (which I will show you later on~)!

Surprisingly, this DVD set comes with a sticker! Love freebies!! But I wonder what this sticker can actually be used for though. Looks like something that you would stick behind your iPhone or something but I guess I will just slot this inside the box for keepsake purpose.

Due to the sheer amount of contents, this collection has to be split into 3 DVDs and here is a close up on some of the tracks. Basically, the songs featured are picked from all her major tours (arena tours, Asia tours, etc) and they are supposedly the best! Can't wait to watch this collection - when I can find the time...

How the inside look like - simple and clean.

The lyric booklet that are colored using the colors of the rainbow. Cool concept but sadly, it's all text and there are no photos at all. A little disappointing because I would love to see ayu pose in some costume or something for this DVD set but oh well~ Better than nothing right?

At least she put her personal touch at the end where she thanks her band members, dancers and (can't you just read from the photo?!) of course, me. :) And yeap~ Isn't her signature adorable!

Okay~ That's all I have for A 50 SINGLES ~LIVE SELECTION~... Now...~~

ayumi hamasaki - Rock 'n' Roll Circus Tour FINAL
~7 Days Special~

Ta da!! Finally, the long awaited tour for her Rock 'n' Roll Circus album. This time, there are definitely more photos than the LIVE SELECTION DVD set so keep your eyes peeled. I've watched segments of the tour on Youtube and I must say, I'm really looking forward to watching this concert because it's so energetic and the stage design is awesome! "Microphone" was extremely well done!!

Well, unlike (miss)understood, My Story, ASIA TOUR 2010, this box is solid and opaque - no plastic, no transparency, no gimmicks. Just plain old cardboard holding the 2 DVD boxes inside. Weird design decision considering that the previous designs are so nice. Furthermore, I disagree a little with the front cover because ayu's background is a little distracting. Anyway, here's the back with the track list at the bottom. At least the logo's nice~

OH NO!! I missed out the photo of the second DVD covers! Oh well, please google it because I believe it's on the internet (somewhere) or wish that one fine day, I might decide to be a little bit more hardworking to go and take a picture of it because right now, I'm half-asleep and therefore, I shall not go back to the light box for more photos. This is how the inside looks like for the second DVD casing - 2 DVDs. One of which consists of the continuation of the first DVD (which is the main show) and the other one contains the special features like the MC segments, making offs and things like that.

And the long awaited lyric booklet has ayu's fierce face on the cover! Wow I've never seen her open her mouth this wide and angry before~ I've watched the opening segment on Youtube before and it was really fiery and fierce! Really brings out the whole mood of the "rock 'n' roll"!

"あなただから～"!! One of my favorite songs by ayu by far - "Microphone"! I can listen to it now and then and never get tired of it because it's so fierce and fantastic! Even the performance is good~ Loving her huge dress and energy on stage~ You should totally get this DVD to watch her perform because it's damn good!!

Some other snapshots of the lyric booklets - here's ayu in an Indian/Egyptian-inspired costume performing INSPIRE and Don't Look Back.

I may like the song "Microphone" but I think that these pages are the best ones in the entire booklet because of the bright and cheerful colors as well as the spontaneous energy from ayu. I'm all about good energies and that's why I'm also a fan of AAA~ Makes me feel like jumping and singing along with them!

And since I got these DVDs from Yesasia, I'm entitled to a free toy and here's the toy for this shipment - another Boo from Mario Bros! Just that this time, it's a really small toy but I like it anyway~ I think I can totally collect all the Mario toys from Yesasia one day.

Well, hopefully for the next few days, I may be able to bring you another entry, provided that I have the time and energy. I shall rest well this weekend to prepare myself for the next phase of my NS life in my new unit. Will probably be stuck there for slightly under a year until I ORD~

Can't wait!! Freedom is nearing~~

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Lady Gaga - Judas (single) + Born This Way (2CD album)

Hello fellow monsters! Mama Monster, also known as the LEGENDARY pop icon, Lady Gaga, has finally released the long awaited album - Born This Way! And yes~ She also released a single with the same title and people who are unfamiliar with music (like my youngest brother and some other guilty ones out there) thought that the album was released long ago~ Funny!!

Anyway, I finally collected my pre-order copy of this album at HMV Somerset yesterday evening after having dinner at Choa Chu Kang. Couldn't wait for the weekends to collect them because I want to get them quick! Okay~ Partially because I won't really have much time to take the photos of the album and single so I just want to clear my "To-Do list" quick.

By the way, Kaka went back to Indonesia for a short break before coming back again to continue to stay with us. This means that the house will basically be very quiet and probably very messy since Vera doesn't know how to operate the washing machine. SHAME ON HER!



Back to the topic at hand. This album was released last Monday - May 23, 2011 and it's Lady Gaga's second studio album since "The Fame". I wouldn't consider "The Fame Monster" as an album because it only has 7 tracks - that's more of an EP, no? The pre-order version at HMV comes with a copy of Judas; the single following the hit "Born This Way". Other stores have other premiums - for instance, Laser Flair (is this the correct spelling?) is giving out exclusive posters along with a purchase of the album. YES! I do my homework~


Let's take a look at the controversial single first, shall we? Juda~Juda-ah-ah~~

In case you're wondering how come this photo looks slightly tilted, it's not. When Gaga herself designed this cover (Yes~ She did it herself~), she either made the word Judas tilted or she missed out the fact that it's tilted. Oh well~ Not the best looking cover because of the color choices - in my opinion - but who cares?! It's a great song!

Just some trivia. According to what I read on the internet (forgot where though~), she apparently used her camera phone to capture the texture of the single's cover and used the IMPACT font for "Judas". I guess she took less than 15 minutes to create this single's cover but oh well...

The back of the single - the CD itself. When I first saw the single, I was like "WHAT?! One track only?!" I think this is the only single in my entire CD collection that has only one single track! What happened to the remixes? Oh well~ Since it's a free gift, I shouldn't complain too much but I think that HMV should have given this single to the customers when they first purchased it.

What's the point of giving us a single track when this track is featured in the album already? For a CD collector like myself, I'll definitely appreciate the physical copy of the single but others will be like "What the..." At least if they had given us the single earlier, we can enjoy the song first, no?

Back to the CD. Does the "Lady Gaga" font look familiar? That's the font used on the "Born This Way" single! I was slightly disappointed that this font was not used again for the album but oh well~ I think the CD looks better than the cover... Just sayin'~

A CD with a single track - what a waste of memory on the CD~ If only they gave us the single with the "Born This Way" remix, I would be so much happier!

This is what you see when you open the casing up. Well, the album promotional stuff inside obviously hints that this single is meant to be a free gift. Plus, if you see carefully, you can see the words "For Promotional Use Only. Not for Sale". At least I get something limited, no? :D Only people who pre-ordered the album from HMV will get this single - no where else!

Close up on the words on the sleeve. Love Judas! Fantastic song!!





Now - Born This Way (2CD version)

"OH MY $%&*%$!" is probably what you will shout when you wake up in the middle of the night and see this scary face looking back at you with bloody red lipstick and almost emotionless eyes. This is by far the SCARIEST album I have in my possession and honestly, I don't really dig it a lot. Well, you should see the regular CD version because that's even worse.

Sometimes, I have no idea what Gaga is thinking - especially when it comes to her album arts. She take fabulous photos in VOGUE and other magazines but she somehow just cannot score on her own album arts. There are nice ones like "Born This Way - single" but there are also very bad ones like "Judas" and this album. But this 2CD version is still considered better looking as compared to the CD only version. You'll see...

This is the back of the album and yes, that motorcycle-gaga is featured on her CD-only album art. Don't be hatin' on me but I have to say that that's the worst album art I've seen in my entire life! It's digitally imposed cheaply and you should have seen the cheap, embossed fonts on that version - cannot make it! Not to mention it's also very scary...

To me, there's a fine line between being different and being uninspired. I can't say that the album art isn't inspired (maybe the motorcycle is inspiring) but the cheap embossed font cannot be forgiven. 

Dear Mother Monster, please hire me as your art director 

so I can make your album art look better. 

Sincerely, baby monster 

who is afraid of his own mom's photos...

Still love Gaga though. :)

"So scary!! I think I need some hypnotherapy~" - Britney Spears - Scary

Enough of the criticism of the album cover. This is what you see when you open up the scary box. The Singapore/Malaysia press greets you with this card that tells you that by submitting a photo of your receipt to the distributor, you may stand a chance to be invited to the album party~ Coolness! Sent my receipt already~

And when you remove the invitation, you see a SO MUCH BETTER LOOKING GAGA! Come on! Why isn't this on the cover instead? The colors are inviting and the photo begs for a second look because of the textures and lightings. A motorcycle vs this abstract beauty? I'll definitely pick this!!

Let's look at the lyric booklet first, shall we? More photos of Gaga and most of them are like better than the cover. Okay~ I really have to stop bashing the cover but you'll know where I'm getting at, no?

This is how her lyrics are arranged - almost like a newsletter style if you asked me. The words are not really arranged properly and reading it is a little challenging but that beats not having the lyrics at all. In fact, I think the lyrics of Lady Gaga must be published because they are such marvelous pieces of art! The meanings are deep and the writing is beautiful~

Another photo of the queen printed inside this booklet. I wonder what those things wrapping her are... Looks like goo mixed in thread and caramel and peanut butter. Really disgusting looking but it's really intriguing. But I definitely don't want to be covered in those things...

Those artificial cheek bone implants make her look so unhealthy-thin! Think she is going towards the direction where she wants people to know that she is weird but then, she is embracing herself because she's "born this way". Really loud statement! By the way, am I the only one who feels that Gaga's eyes are 90% blank? Or is she doing it in purpose? 

Here's the simple looking CD with 17 ass-kicking tracks inside! I have to say that though this album is really questioning the notion of what is aesthetically pleasing, it definitely did not question what is audibly enjoyable. This album, packed with strong singles and songs, is really worth the money especially when you get the 2CD version. It's quite hard to describe how good this album is because I haven't really fully listened to it yet but so far, it's impressive. Look at the reviews out on the internet~ I do mainly packaging, not really the music :P

Oh yes~ Noticed that I did not mention that this is the deluxe version even though legally, it is? That's because Lady Gaga did not like the words "Deluxe" or "Special" or something along that line and therefore, it's not specify on the cover too! You learnt something new, yes? :D

Close up on the invitation. I hope I win something this time... :D That would be cool~

Anyway, that's all I have for Lady Gaga's "Judas" and "Born This Way (2CD)". Go get the album and support this monstrously woman! Even though her covers are by far the most aesthetically unattractive ones in recent music history (personally at least), her songs are definitely worth it! :D

You go, Mother Monster! But don't be scaring me the next time you release an album!

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F.I.R. - Atlantis 亞特蘭提斯

10th post on "word shutter" is dedicated to F.I.R's 6th studio album - Atlantis (Mandarin title: 亞特蘭提斯, roughly pronounced as a te lan di si). I think that this album might be F.I.R's best packaged album so far and I have photos (as usual) to prove it!

Are you ready to enter Atlantis, the legendary island?

Finally! Something of manageable size to photograph - F.I.R's new album! I hope the photos in this entry are better than the previous unboxes. It comes in this rectangular slipcase packaging with the band members Ian, Faye and Real gracing the cover. When I first saw this album at CD-rama, I was like "HUH?! F.I.R. released a new album?!" I couldn't really read the Chinese words to see if it's a new album but when I came home to check, I found out it is! Got this at HMV Somerset with the HMV vouchers my cousins and friends gave me. :)

The back of the album. The theme of this album is very "ocean" and very "pirate" mixed with very mystical symbols. Interesting theme. Again, I can't understand what the Chinese word means. Heck~ I don't even know how to read some of the titles of the album but no worries~ I'll find out eventually... In case you want to know what I used to support the CD, it's a box of shampoo. Never saw that coming right? :P

As previously mentioned, the album is released in a slipcase and I thought that there will be a regular CD casing inside but no~ It's another identical-looking digipak album! They could have used an alternate cover art for the digipak though to make things more interesting. Or, they can learn from ayumi by making several covers so people will collect 'em all! By the way, they are selling the autographed album on YesAsia if you're interested.

The back of the digipak is slightly less wordy but I still don't understand the words...

In between the digipak are two booklets. Correction - one booklet. You'll see what I mean later. One of them is obviously the lyric sheet while the other is a photo booklet. Cool, no? :)

Maybe they heard my prayers for a better packaging as opposed to their previous album where you slip the CD into a cardboard slipcase - not my favorite packaging, and decided to go for this digipak packaging. I think that this is even more effective because the CD is well protected! Click here for my take on the previous album's packaging (with photos, of course).

A Victorian inspired designed of the artistes photo on the left side of the digipak. See the words "Chapter VI"? Think they feel that this album is their 6th chapter in the Chinese music industry and I hope they continue making fabulous music.

The minimalistic design on the CD resting in the jewel case.

Now, let's take a look at the photo book shall we? :) Here's the artistes interpretation of the mystical Atlantis on the cover of the booklet. Looks like a Greek architecture with some modern buildings and a Singapore flyer rising from the ocean...

 One of the pages in the photo book featuring Faye in this flow-y white dress - graceful!

More photos of the band members - here's Real.

Lead vocalist - Faye. I think she's really successful in the music industry simply because her voice is so unique plus she never had to show too much skin to attract people because her beauty comes from inside out. She always look calm and in control in her photos - really pretty~

Probably the brain of the band - Ian. The photo book features the artistes and these are just some of the photos. Get the album if you want to see more!! I love the smoky hair effect on the left, by the way.

So typical F.I.R.!! But this works for them really well~

This is my favorite part of the photo book - these Chinese words which I can read! No~ They are not my favorite because I can read them but because they are really interesting... These words roughly translates to...

In life...
The 10 most important treasures...
Have you discovered them?

Now this short message tells a lot about this album. Atlantis, the place which some think is fictional while some think is real. The island of mystery. The island that many, until today, are still searching for. So from what I interpret, is this album about searching for something? The different things in life??

And apparently, the track list, coincidentally 10 tracks, holds the key. Each track in this album represents something that the band, or maybe what they hope the listeners, will be searching for. Such creativity and depth! Each song speaks of something but unfortunately, I can't really understand everything but I shall attempt to translate what the album is seeking for...

Innocence, Hope, Love, Passion, Adventure,
Vision???, Forgiveness, Friendship, Courage, Confidence

Isn't this album beautiful even without listening to the songs? I had listened to the album once but wasn't paying attention to it but I sounds quite good to me. Heck~ Anything with such depth is definitely going to rock, no?

This is the lyric sheet - not booklet. Nothing really interesting about it but when you open it up...

The map to Atlantis! The underside of the map are the lyrics to the album. I took a picture of it but it's so uninteresting and plain and badly taken - main reason why I'm not posting it, so I'm not posting it here. I was pleasantly surprised that they really made this album such an experience to go through. It may be a very simple packaging but to me, it's simplicity speaks volume.

Albums with such depth are hard to come by these days - especially when a lot of artistes are just bothered about looking nice and not really bothering about the creative process of creating music. The meaning of music... Maybe they should seek for it again in Atlantis.

Now you know why I think this is F.I.R.'s best looking album so far? :)

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