Some of you know about my interest in old time radio shows from the early days of radio. A few of you know about my online OTR station.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been adding many new series to the playlist. With the help of various people, I have discovered many shows I never knew existed. I have added quiz shows (such as You Bet Your Life), more dramas and comedies, storytelling, a poetry series, historical dramas, and many other types of shows. I also plan to add early music from time to time. I believe my station will be one of the most unique stations on the Internet.

With my selections, and some of my offbeat programming, I’ll probably not attract many listeners. But that’s okay. I do hope to attract a few listeners, and they will listen often. If I manage to average 10-15 listeners (or more), then I will be satisfied. So if you’re interested, checkout the station. And if you enjoy it, please tell your friends.

http://www.live365.com/stations/otrgirl

(If you have an iOS device, you can also listen through the ooTunes app ($5 US). Browse to the OTR or Old Time section and look for “Risuzu•Workshop OTR”)

I’ve been watching the latest PV preview of GARNET CROW’s “Misty Mystery” repeatedly for the past 30 minutes. The visual effects look cool. The song is amazing.

When I saw an earlier preview, I was thrown off. When I saw the blond for a split second, I thought it was Yuri. I was surprised, thinking she was wearing a blond wig. With the latest preview, I can see there are alternate universe versions of the band in the video. (And no, there is no goatee) I’d love to see a lyric translation sometime. Maybe there will be an explanation for the alternate GARNET CROW.

I’m very excited for this release. I’m glad I ordered both versions. I wish the CDs wouldn’t take over a week to arrive after they are released. I have a feeling this single could be one of my favorite songs. (My number one favorite at the moment is “Rainy Soul”. Beautiful song.)

Love&Peace

I had a dream last night. Mai Kuraki was in the dream, along with Yuri Nakamura from GARNET CROW. From what little I remember, they were performing in a school auditorium. After their performances, I smiled at Kuraki and she smiled back. Then I gave Nakamura a thumbs up, and she grinned and gave a thumbs up back.

Now I need to dream of Nana AZUKI. :D

Love&Peace

I often receive friend requests on Facebook, and there are often new followers on Twitter who stop following because I don’t reciprocate. To make things easier for everyone, I am posting my Twitter/Facebook policy.

For anyone currently following or planning to follow me on Twitter, first think about why you are following. If the only reason is to increase your numbers by my return follow, then don’t. Currently, I am following over 400 people, and that makes it difficult to read all of the tweets. If you follow, and I notice we have several things in common, I will probably return follow. If you follow me because you think my content is interesting, then welcome.:)

For anyone planning to add me as a Facebook friend, think about why you wish to do so. If we’re friends elsewhere, then feel free to send a request. If we don’t know each other well, or don’t have much in common, consider joining my Facebook page.

Love&Peace

Sometimes when I’m about to drift into Dreamland at night, I think of story ideas. A few nights ago, I was thinking of the Apple/Lodsys situation, and thought about how things would be in an alternate universe. This is what might happen in the Kingdom of Apple:

King Steve is sitting on his throne, deciding on laws and running his kingdom. Suddenly, one of his advisors breathlessly runs in. Of course, Steve is annoyed by the distraction. “What do you want?”

The advisor catches his breath as best he can. “Sire, trolls from the island of Lodsys are harassing the people!”

“Oh? What are they doing?”

“They are demanding payment for the right to use hammers in building their houses!”

“WHAT? Those fools sold us those hammers! My people have a right to use them.”

“We told them that, but they laughed in our faces and continued to bother the people.”

King Steve was furious. “They did, did they? In that case, these trolls must be taught a lesson!”

“You don’t mean…”

The King nodded. “Yes. Release the Kraken!”

—–

OK, not a very good story, but I do think of weird things before I sleep.

Love&Peace

I haven’t had much time for updating the blog as originally planned, so I will give a brief rundown on my latest music obsessions. Hopefully I will expand on the list at a later date.

My current favorite music (Top 5)
1.) Mai Kuraki
2.) GARNET CROW
3.) Ai Takaoka
4.) YUI
5.) Younha

Love&Peac

During the past several months, my music-listening went through a few changes. My idol music listening continued to decrease, and I listened to Korean pop less. My Mai Kuraki fandom solidified, making her my favorite soloist.

In a previous post, I briefly mentioned a new music discovery: GARNET CROW. Within a month, my interest in their music increased significantly. During that time, I bought all seven full-length studio albums. The more I listened, the more I became a fan, until they became my favorite (active) group. I currently own eight full-length studio albums, their mini-album, and six of their singles.

One of my favorites is the song “Mysterious Eyes”, which was one of the Detective Conan openings.

Another favorite is the song “もう一度 笑って” (Mou Ichido Waratte).

(I’ve also developed a mini-crush on Nana AZUKI, one of the keyboardists. She is wearing a striped shirt in the second video.)

Mai Kuraki and GARNET CROW are my top music obsessions now. In a later post, I will write about some other recent music discoveries from Japan.

Love&Peace

I’ve had a busy schedule lately, so I haven’t had much time to update lately. I’m hoping to update more often soon.

Love&Peace

Twitter can be quite annoying much of the time. Bugs and other annoyances often appear on the site. The most visible has been called the Fail Whale. After all the time Twitter has been around, it seems Twitter continues to crash from heavy loads. Other bugs that occasionally appear are disappearing follower counts, disappearing lists, and probably others I haven’t noticed.

The primary reason for this post, however, is the addition of new features on Twitter. While I don’t have a problem with the site adding features, I do have a problem with them adding the features without giving the users an option. Whenever a new feature is added, I often see complaints in my Twitter stream about it.

The main feature that is a huge thorn in my side is the “hovercard” feature. Whenever the mouse is over a username link, a small popup box appears. This always annoys me, because I’m not interested in this. When I move the mouse to a link, my intention is to click it. Unfortunately, when I try to click, the hovercard appears and my click does not register. So I must double-click the link just to get where I want to go. That is not how the web is supposed to work.

Sadly, Twitter will not allow this feature to be disabled. When I search in their help section, I eventually find this:

Can I turn them off?

Hovercards are a permanent feature added to enhance each user’s experience of Twitter. It may take a few minutes to learn how they work, but once you get the hang of hovering and taking action without leaving your home timeline, you’ll save so many clicks that you’ll never want to come back down to Earth!

I have two things to say about this.

1.) Save clicks? HA! My clicks increase just to get where I want to go. I want to come back to Earth, but I can’t. I’ve been abducted by Twitter’s UFO, er, hovercard.

2.) Notice how it’s worded. It’s a permanent feature to enhance the experience. It’s like the Twitter folks know better than us. A better translation would be:

Can I turn them off?

No, you can’t. Deal with it. HA HA HA

There is one feature that was actually useful to me, though. When I visit another user’s page, it would show other users that we both follow. Sometimes when a person follows me, I become curious about the reason. Knowing if we follow similar people is useful because it’s possible we share similar interests. But GUESS WHAT? Twitter removed that feature! Way to go, Twitter!

Some of you are probable wondering, “Why doesn’t she just leave Twitter?” Well, it often crosses my mind. Believe me, if I find a decent alternative, I’m jumping ship without hesitation.

Seriously, Twitter. Concentrate on fixing all your bugs before you force new features down everyone’s throats. Else, your users will leave when the competition appears.

Love&Peace

I discovered the group GARNET CROW this week. They’ve done several of the opening and ending themes for Detective Conan.

I like this song “As the Dew”:

Love&Peace