It will be interesting to see if they can manage their shit this time: the 360 managed to somehow show up at the repair center and was fixed THE SAME DAY. On a weekend even! Now that's service.

Anyway, it's being shipped back now, here's hoping they manage to deliver it!

A little backstory here: a week or so ago my 360's DVD player broke. Not a big deal since I've heard that the Microsoft service kicks ass when it comes to these things. I called 360 service in the Netherlands and they drew up an order to pick it up via UPS. Awesome, top notch work by the helpdesk team at MS.

So first of all, they can't get in the door because they don't have the door code, even though I gave it to them. Then, they can't find the appartment because my name isn't on the door (but I of course gave the appartment number!). So after something like 5 failed attempts to pick it up they finally find the place. You'd think that would be the end of the story and it would be smooth surfin' from there, but no. What greets me when I log into UPS and trace the package?

Status: Returnerad till avsändaren

Basically, that says "return to sender". Wait, what. They can't deliver to the Microsoft Repair Center Europe? What, no one answered the door?

Confusingly, if you go into details it looks like the return to sender thing was input and then the box was taken by the delivery guy anyway ("UTE FÖR LEVERANS" - out for delivery). So uh, what? Can't things just work for once?

I'm generally just really annoyed by this whole thing, it's the last thing I need to worry about right now, but I just can't help it. Fucking... thing... SUCKS.

EDIT: And now it seems a work-related thing I shipped off a month ago still hasn't arrived. I hate shipping things.

 Moving to Sweden tomorrow!

Taking a page from airiko 's book (read her list too, I like all the songs on it--the only reason I didn't upload Tetris is because she already did), I'm gonna upload a couple MP3s I'm enjoying at this moment. What I'm listening to changes pretty quickly, but right now I'm really in a mood for really visceral, heavy, emotive music. Anyway, here's my list:

Fire Inc. - Tonight Is What It Means to Be Young

I've been discovering Jim Steinman's entire euvre (I already loved Meatloaf's Bat out of Hell trilogy, and Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipe of the Heart" and "Holding Out for a Hero", but everything this guy makes is so over the top and epic, it's just great). This is one of the tracks he composed, wrote and produced for the movie Streets of Fire. Very typical for his style, very over the top, very awesome.

Yoko Kanno (Macross Frontier) - Welcome To My Fanclub's Night! (Sheryl on Stage)

Yoko Kanno is one of my favorite composers of all time of course, and my favorite style by her is her heavy, over the top orchestral pop style. This song really demonstrates that style quite well, and it's so stylish and cool. I love the melody.

Meat Loaf - Two Out of Three Ain't Bad 

Ha, I couldn't resist putting another Steinman track on here! This is one of the few mellow tracks I heard by Steinman, but I just love the progression in the chorus. Even so, the song still brings that heavy vibe in the lyrics and somewhat in the buildup to the hookline.

naruto - artificial intelligence bomb

Naruto is one of the original greats of the Japanese NES composition scene, very melodic and great production values. He entered AI Bomb in the very first Famicompo and got second place behind chibi-tech's Miko Miko Nurse (partly because Mikomiko.nsf became a 2ch meme). Very imaginative track and original NES track with great catchy melodies and even a bass solo of sorts!

Aya Hirano - Namida Namida Namida 

Produced by everyone's favorite Tsunku, this is one of the best pure pop tracks he's produced in years. I'm strongly reminded of Sonim's Tokyo Midnight Loneliness both in how Aya sings the song, how the song is produced and the lyrics. That's not a bad thing though, I love that song, and I love this song even more (Hinata is my favorite Tsunku-related arranger).

Ami Suzuki - can't stop the DISCO

I'm not a big fan of Ami Suzuki or anything, but when someone teams up with Nakata, I take notice. And so far, Nakata's been really producing some fantastic tracks. This is her latest single, and I really love it. The b-side is also really cool, a loud and crazy techno track, and the third track is a fantastic summery remix of Super Music Maker (from Ami's first single with Nakata), but I've been listening to this track in particular.

The Back Horn - Sazameku Highway

The new album by my all-time favorite band The Back Horn is every bit as fantastic as I'd hoped, and this track is a particular standout track--an eerie sound throughout the verses and a fantastic soaring chorus that brings the whole track together. Absolutely wonderful.

(Removed the annoying part about tagging people and shit.)

1) What are your nicknames?
Not really, just Steve if you can call it that. My artist name is surasshu or slash.

2) How do you style your hair?
I don't, so it usually looks like shit. I'm thinking about a buzzcut, actually...

3) What's new in your life right now?
Making enough money to do more than just scrape by. Attempting to move to Sweden.

4) What color shirt are you wearing now?
My t-shirt is white, and my shirt is baby blue.

5) Are you an introvert or extrovert?
Introvert.

6) Which is more blessed, loving someone or being loved by someone?
Being loved, obviously. Loving someone, in some circumstances, is about the worst thing that can happen to you.

7) Do you nap a lot?
No.

8) If the person you secretly like is already taken, what would you do?
It's happened before, so I guess I'd live.

9) Is there anything that has made you unhappy these days?
Not really. Just general misery. I miss having a lot of nearby friends, but I make up for it in friends far away that do actually give a shit about me.

10) What was the last thing you ate today?
Pasta with an eggplant, mozzarella, tomato, and parsley "sauce". My favorite!

11) How long does it take you to get ready in the morning?
About an hour.

12) What websites do you visit daily?
Danbooru, Pixiv, uh... Google? Lots of other sites too...

11) What classes are you taking right now? And if you're not in school anymore, what's your job?
I'm a freelance composer/sound designer.

14) Do you like to clean?
Not especially.

15) What’s the last song that got stuck in your head?
The Let's Tap song from that upcoming Naka Yuji game. See here.

16) What cell phone model do you own?
It's a crappy Sony Ericsson. Something like a Z600i or something, it's like 500 years old.

17) What's better: eternal love or memorable love?
Since I only have experience with the one: memorable love.

18) First serious fandom?
Probably TMNT.

19) Best time of your life?
Tough call. I enjoyed the latter parts of high school, and I currently feel like I'm doing pretty well, even though I don't feel very good.

20) Favorite ice cream topping?
Ice cream topping? I uh, like Cookie Dough? If it's sprinkles, I like the colorful ones cause they're cute and I'm a kid.

Crossposted from my blog.



Woo, I won Famicompo's original entry contest! For those who don't know, Famicompo is a once-a-year composing competition where everyone around the world makes NES music. It's hosted by K-, one of the more well known NES guys, and a bunch of pretty famous Japanese NES producers (as well as the Western NES scene) joins in and makes some really cool songs. There are two categories: Original and Cover, and this year I made one entry for each category (you can have a total of 5 entries).

For the cover entry I made a cover of one of my favorite tunes: T-Square - Truth. While I wasn't 100% happy with how it turned out, I managed to get 12th place with it, which I'm also very happy with.

My original entry was basically an attempt at making something very catchy and accessible, along the lines of freetempo and early capsule. I wanted to try to keep the melody very simple without making it boring, and then just really drive it home, and give it a summery feelgood vibe. I guess I succeeded in that setup!

Here are both the tracks I made:

Surasshu - HOT JUPITER

Download the MP3, Download the NSF.

T-SQUARE - TRUTH (Nes remix by Surasshu)

Download the MP3, Download the NSF.

Comments on my Famicompo entry (nsf, mp3)

2008/9/2 18:57:13 Unnamed man [] []
おしゃれ！
2008/9/4 14:58:13 wamuwamu [] []
かなりキテました！
2008/9/10 12:49:49 Unnamed man [] []
一番良かったですよ！
2008/9/11 19:45:08 Blitz Lunar [daveharris.lunar@gmail.com] [Website]
I love this so much, it's wonderful! A big favourite of mine.
2008/9/12 08:07:56 mrb [mrburke -at- gmail.com] [Website]
Enjoy a coffee at a gas giant? This should be the theme song for the Jupiter Mining Corps.
Did you know that a day on Jupiter is less than ten hours long?
2008/9/21 08:06:36 coda [coda .at. engramstudio] [Website]
very cute melody.
2008/9/22 01:58:51 Ｗｉｚ． [] [Website]
曲調がOUTRUNの「PASSING BREEZE」っぽいなぁ…というのは置いといて(^^;)、聴いているととっても心地よいです。　テクニック的な部分を抜きにすると個人的には非常に好みです。
2008/9/28 11:38:59 e [] []
南国のバカンスを思い浮かべました
ラジオから流れるオシャレな音楽って感じ
欲を言うと出だしで損してる気がしました
2008/9/29 14:26:20 Juan Linietsky [reduzio@gmail.com] []
definitely one of the best candidates to win, incredible song
2008/9/30 23:41:46 Unnamed man [] []
A pixelized boy starts floating, and ends up in the pixelized clouds. A pixelized girl starts floating, and ends up in the pixelized clouds. Look at it all pass by. Hello sun! A pixelized dog starts floating, and his pixelized bone. Before long, just look―everyone can fly.

Taken from clawgrip! I also had to skip a lot of instrumental tracks. At a guess from this experiment, I'd say about 3/4ths of my mp3s are instrumental.

I had to look up some of the lyrics. I don't know if that counts as cheating, but in my defense, some of them are in a language I don't understand.

Step 1: Put your iPod/mp3 player on random.
Step 2: Post the first line from the first 25 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing the song.
Step 3: Let everyone guess what song and artist the lines come from.
Step 4: Bold (or cross out) the songs when someone guesses correctly.
Step 5: Looking them up on Google or any other search engine is CHEATING!

01. Turn away the collar because the blowing is dry
02. Tomato no yuuhi Kakato ni abi nagara
03. When I blacked out in the winter months of Capricorn
04. Tachi mukau saki ni kawaita kaze
05. Haka inka rei kurai haka inka rei kurai haka inka rei kurai
06. I am thinking it's a sign
07. Guuzen no itazura de anata to surechigatta
08. Watashi no namae wo oshiri ni naritai no deshou
09. Katamari dekitara dekakemashou
10. Osaki ni saisoku sei no ai no cyborg
11. It's alright no need to question
12. Without going out of my door I can know all things on Earth
13. Mai-ia-hii mai-ia-huu mai-ia-ha mai-ia-haha O-ZONE - Dragostea Din Tei
14. FIGU@ FIGU@ FIGU@ FIGU@ FIGU@ FIGU@ FIGU@ otome to MOSAIC.WAV - Gatcha Gatcha Cute Figyu@Mate
15. In the wind ever so warm
16. Hello there the angel from my nightmare
17. Hidamari sansan kokoro wa haremoyou
18. Heya no sumikko mo uchuu no sumikko mo
19. Hear the silence of the winds making your own destiny
20. And the situation's over
21. Caught between the crevice of delusion and reality
22. You know you made me cry
23. Ex-friends, ex-lovers and enemies
24. Turn your head and see the fields of flames
25. Sore de wa minna-san, ikimasu wa yo! (OH!)

Some of these are really embarrassing!

EDIT: I decided to replace the ones with the title in the first line, since that would make it a bit easy.</lj>

 良作ですよねー♪　一度始めるとついついやめられなくなりますｗ

Got it from clawgrip, a rad dude. I had to look most of these up on Google/Wikipedia. As such I don't really know if I wouldn't eat them, since I have no real idea of what they're like.

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Bold and cross out any items you never would again

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea (maybe)
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich (disgusting crap from hell)
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes (lychee, cherry)
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo (I might've had this when I was in California, we did go to a Cajun restaurant)
40. Oxtail (just oxtail soup I believe)
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal (if you think the name sounds like something unholy, you're right)
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut (just Dunkin' Donuts)
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV ("the cannon" rates at 12% which is the maximum before you start to not take alcohol into your system)
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin (is this even edible?)
64. Currywurst (this sounds absolutely delicious from the Wikipedia page)
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini (caviar yes, not with blini, whatever that is)
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie Hostess Cupcakes
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum (looks delicious!)
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse (raw)
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

私は私が花およびダイヤモンドを好むGIRLYである

I was tagged by airiko.
A. List seven habits/quirks/facts about yourself.
B. Tag seven people to do the same.
C. Do not tag the person who tagged you or say that you tag "whoever wants to do it." (note: I will do that)

1. I started reading the Lord of the Rings at age 10, in English. Considering English is not my first language and I barely understood it when I started, it's still probably the most hardcore thing I've ever done. I read it throughout school, with a dictionary at my side. It took me three years.

二. A lot of people don't know that politically I'm actually fairly conservative, or to be more precise libertarian. While I don't think the government should piss off altogether, and I do think the stronger should care for the weaker, I think people have the best chance if they're left alone to get on with their lives as much as possible. Most of my friends are liberal and so I avoid the subject generally, but it's not something I'm ashamed of either. I just don't like arguing about it.

∴. I have a love-hate relationship with smoking. I don't actually smoke myself and I think it's a disgusting habit, but at the same time I will passionately argue against the lies of the anti-smoke lobby regarding second-hand smoke, and fight for each person's right to smoke. I find aggressive non-smokers to be exponentially more annoying than smokers, who are generally really considerate.

Ⅳ. My favorite sport is probably figure skating. I love football and ultimate fighting and so on of course, but there's something about the mix of athleticism, speed and artistic/musical expression that I really enjoy in figure skating. It's not a secret or anything.

正. I've had trouble sleeping for as long as I can remember. It's not that I am an insomniac cause I do sleep enough (although there have been times that I didn't sleep enough), but I have enormous trouble falling asleep as well as waking up, and am tired when I shouldn't be and vice versa. I think of myself as a "binge sleeper".

⑥. If I hadn't gone to college to do music I most likely would've done a science or linguistics. However, if I were to go back to school now I'd definitely go into statistics, as I find them absolutely fascinating.

G. I love tsundere.

I tag whoever wants to do it.

This is old, but I figure people would enjoy it.

I forgot to post this earlier, but here's my new remix. It's actually a shortened version, and you can get the full MP3 riiiiiiiiight here!

The animation is by the troubling genius of dead karl. He makes my music sound better!

Hopefully in the near future you'll see another remix or song or something with a video collaboration with a dear friend of mine who is an incredible artist. I just hope my music is good enough for her. <3

That's Spanish. It means I'm going to the US, specifically Massachusetts tomorrow, for 2.5 weeks. I'll take my laptop though so I'll still be online a bit, but I might not be... xD

Peace!

this also, is a test.

Originally posted on surasshu.vox.com

this be a test

Simultaneously testing whether I can embed youtube videos and promoting my stupid mashup of "Motteke! Sailor Fuku" and "Ore no Wasuremono".

Opening Credits: I've Sound - Time heals all sorrows ~Short Ver.~ [superb, this track is EPIC]
Waking Up: Tchaikovsky - Swan Lake - Act II: Scene (Allegro Moderato-Allegro Vivo) [whee, happy happy morning orchestral music]
Falling In Love: The Postal Service - Natural Anthem [HAHA, a nasty and hateful song "at least i got your name right"--of course that's when I fall in love D:]
Fight Song: Berryz Koubou - Fighting Pose [whut]
Breaking Up: autechre - nuane [Wow, a 13 minute song? mostly violent electronic percussion? yeah, sounds like a breakup to me]
Prom: Frou Frou - close up [rockin' angsty prom]
Life's OK: Prefuse 73 - Plastic (featuring Diverse) [<3 this track, but not exactly positive XD]
Mental Breakdown: Yoko Kanno - Escaflowne - Flying Dragon [happiest breakdown ever!]
Driving: Sean Lennon - Mystery Juice [kick. ass.]
Flashback: hi-posi - welcome to house [28 second flashback? D:]
Getting Back Together: Konami - Michiru Yamane - Castlevania SOTN - Metamorphosis 3 [I really don't love the girl in this movie, do I...]
Wedding: Barbarian on the groove - Wing my way (Upper world) [anime disco wedding!?]
Amazing Hot Sex Porno Scene: HOME MADE KAZOKU - JOYRIDE(INSTRUMENTAL) [04:22]
Birth of Child: at17 - meow meow meow [fucking weird. did i marry a catwoman? D:]
Final Battle: Sean Lennon - Home [not much of a fighting song, more like a happy song!]
Death Scene: venetian snares - sink snow angel [wow, that's dark. my death must be pretty horrific]
Funeral Song: Morning Musume - souda! we're alive [no we're not XDDDD]
End Credits: Momotsuki Gakuen Ichinen A+B-gumi - Girl-ppi [more happy music, whee~ I guess dying was the right answer XD]