Thursday 28 April 2011

A story of a charmless man

The para scene kicks back into action this week with a big. Starfire on Saturday, and Magical Rave on Sunday.

YES!!!

And of course that means THE Starfire DVD as well, I'm so nervous to see it...

There has been two B-1 Dynamite's since my last post, always the savior of my midweek in Tokyo. Which also means two lessons, or does it? Well no it doesn't because this week for some reason there were only a handfull of people at B-1 so they just didn't bother. It did mean the techno sets were almost everything I wanted though... I think maybe people are saving money for Golden Week holiday that starts in Japan tomorrow, most people go away for that. Personally I plan parks, mountains and lots of booze, with the main aim of rolling down a mountain blind drunk. Should be spicy!

But I digress... there was a lesson last week, a rather good techno lesson. It was 'My Load', a song and routine I didn't much care for until I heard it a million times at the Starfire filming. Yeah it's on the Starfire DVD.... who dances it is the more interesting thing. Just wait until Sunday when I upload it XD

Here's the lesson:

My Load



9loveJ vol 8 and 9 DVDRIPS....

Vol 08 - http://www.sendspace.com/file/x1dn72

Vol 09 - http://www.sendspace.com/file/0fdi9l

Enjoy!!!

Coming soon... a review of this weekends para bonanza, Starfire 20 rip, Magical Rave rips, and my unoficial highly subjective para dancers ranking for Tokyo.

Tuesday 19 April 2011

Electric Love

Konichiwa from the land of Para and fish

There's been some para over the past few week here in Tokyo, not that much, and may Hanami had something to do with that.... YOU BASTARD!!! I so wanted to hit up Chiba Rave, The Throb, and Magical Rave, but Hanami had other plans. First Magical Rave I've missed in over a year. WOAH!!! But there has been a couple of B-1 Dynamites and SEF Deluxe. I don't really go to Disco 90s anymore because I find 2nd boom euro and old techno boring as fuck. Although saying that I am tempted to go tonight.

NO!! It's boring. Not that any para is on around Tokyo this weekend. I thought Starfire was this weekend but I got punked, it's next Saturday. Booooooo!!!! Need to see how shit I look on the DVD!!!!!!!! But B-1 Dynamite on Wednesday fuels my para needs for a few days at least.

So B-1 has had two lessons since I last posted any videos. Both are the lessons from Starfire. Do people want to see B-1 lessons if they are repeats?? I think it's worth it just to see Ke-tan dancing, she's so my favorite euro dancer now. Her style is so perfect.

B-1 Dynamite lessons -

Luna Matada / DJ Energy




Baby Come Back / Virginelle



SEF Deluxe was awesome as always. It's such an older crowd there these days but it's all good, love what they play, superb mix of Starfire and SEF techno, and that barman.... strong mother fucking cocktails, I'm talking pints of tequila with a splash of orange. What a cunt master!! Love him!

But I digress...

Lessons were pretty shit I thought and good old already uploaded them. But I'll upload mine anyway, multiple angles and all that...

SEF Deluxe April Lessons -

Passport to Dance / Eurodudes




Give Me Another Chance / Rave Force



Here are two videos I randomly took at SEF when everyone was pretty drunk, good times!





Finally here are DVD rips of Starfire Vol 17 and 18 -

Starfire Vol 17 - http://www.sendspace.com/file/i6trew

Starfire Vol 18 - http://www.sendspace.com/file/5sxgd4

ENJOY!!!

Next rips, 9loveJ vol 8 and 9.

You can see me and Jasmine at the beginning of both DVDs....

Tuesday 12 April 2011

Kanpai'd the shit out of the world!!

Well it's been one busy mother fucker of a week, and what took up most of it?

HANAMI!!!!!!

Hanami has become one week in the year I now dread but love oh so much. A week of getting into amazing drunken gonzo adventures whilst pretending to appreciate the beauty of the sakura trees, which are oh so beautiful.




The tradition in Japan is to have a picnic under the sakura trees, but this always turns into one massive party in the park. This year.... the past week I managed to go to four Hanami parties, two were planned, two really weren't... I'm gonna recall these adventures starting with the least brutal, that would be:

HANAMI THURSDAY!

This started out with me meeting up with a friend from England, Sat, in Harujuku, with the plan to have a few quiet beers in Yoyogi Park. WRONG!! CHIGAU!!!! We'd sat on the grass for a few minutes before we'd been engulfed into a Hanami party, a Docomo work Hanami lol. These guys were top gonzo action and drinks and laughs were had.


Alas they left before we were really hitting our stride, but after a piss in the bushes I returned to find Sat with another group. After sometime the plan was to hit zn izakaya, but alas, two of the girls could barely walk, so that never happened. Instead me and Sat hooked up with a friend and hit a 100 yen izakaya.



Brutal Hanami rating = 3/10

HANAMI SUNDAY!

Another Hanami that wasn't a Hanami. I headed to Yoyogi on Sunday with a blinding hangover from Hanami Saturday (hold on) to meet Jasmine, Ylva, Heather and a few others. A small weekend wind down was the plan, but do bring the 50% Mintu booze with you, and beers and chu-hi. I hit Yoyogi to find the biggest sea of people I'd ever seen in my life, so big the Softbank phone network was in meltdown, so it took me ages to find my group. But great spot by the lake!


Drinks were had, drinking games were had, bumped into a million people we know (small world), Heather and Amber found us, and then we really started cracking on. Especially when it started getting dark. We decided to go and join Heathers original group, while waiting for people to finish pissing and chundering we were delighted by sights such as a naked guy on a bike in the lake being attacked by bats.

Serious bat country!!

We finally made our way over to Heather to find her group had left but Heather and Amber had joined a gal circle hanami lol. One or two of them knew me and Heather from the para world lol. Drinking games, more drinking games, before me and Jasmine lost most people and decided to join an otaku hanami at abound 11pm.



So very drunken AKB48 dancing and para was had before we couldn't stand up anymore, Jasmine chundered on a tree and that was the signal to try and find our way home....

Brutal Hanami rating = 8.5/10

HANAMI SATURDAY!!!

Godamn they just keep coming!!

This was a planned one... but one I thought would be a fun warmup to Saturday night. How wrong I was!! It was my mate Naoyuki's Hanami, and boy do the Japanese knpow how to plan!! He got like THE perfect spot under the tree's, even had to spend the night there to protect it. What a legend!

By the time I arrived there were at least 30 people there, maybe 50. Big Hanami times!! I knew a handful of people there but everyone was awesome and up for a laugh. Needless to say the booze was flowing. Found booze from the previous week was flowing. Herpes, a legend of a guy who's comedy knows no bounds... or pants, it wasn't long before he had cock out doing his comedy routine. We ended up having a bit of a comedy face off... Booze booze booze....



I was kinda setup with a girl there by this legend of a guy, I forget his name. For some strange reason she liked my drunken comedy antics and we're going out later this week. Hurrah!! Infact Hanami turned me into quiet the ladies man lol. Well for some reason I had many Japanese girls hitting on me. I guess Hanami does turn up my comedy factor by at least 10.

Park done with everyone got in taxis and headed to an izakaya in Shibuya for a big party. That was pretty brutal I have to say, pitchers were being downed at an incredible rate! I sat down at a random table and the girl next to me was like 'MAKKUSU!!' It was Kanako from the para scene who I haven't seen for a long time.




MESSY!!!

Izakaya done with one of the guys I'd met who's name I forget... he invited to carry on at a bar with his mates, and who was I to say no??!! A few chunders down Shibuya Center Gai later we joined his mates. They were boring as shit so I lost them and ended up at a table with two girls drinking spiritus (96% death juice). The next thing I remember I woke up in Ikebukuro with next to know vision and no clue what was going on. FUCK IT!! I am no way attempting to walk home, I could barely walk at all. So with trains finished I did the thing sober Max hates the next day, and that's take the beast of a taxi home.

I woke up the next day with a top 10 hangover, so many sent messages on my phone, and McDonalds wrappers in my bed.

Brutal Hanami rating = 9/10

On to the last Hanami you'll be happy to hear, and that is:

SUNDAY HANAMI AKA THUNDERDOME HANAMI!!!!

This was the Hanami that myself and Jasmine planned as our house Hanami. It was actually the first of the four I went to, and one I learnt from my mistakes at....

We headed out to meet people in Harujuku at midday armed with mountains of booze and a packet of crisps. Food is not needed!!! A few early people gathered we hit Yoyogi to set up camps and kanpai the shit out of the world. Drinking games started, more people arrived, more boozing, then Satomi arrived and the spiritus was introduced. Two minutes later...








Well I have to say after this I have like zero memory of anything. I was told I joined a baseball game. I do kinda remember swimming in a lake of leaves trying to find my glasses.

TOTAL BLACKOUT!!!!

I awake... it's pitch black and almost midnight, the park is deserted. WAIT!! I have no glasses...

SHIT!!!!

WAIT!!!! I have no shoes...

TRIPLE FUCKING SHIT!!!

It goes without saying I am drunk as a fucking fuck that has fucked the shit out of a fuck. I have zero vision, bad times when a lake is infront of me. Wait... why are my clothes wet... who can say...

I have two options for the way to the station, it's a 50% blind as a bat chance. I pick the wrong one.... but end up flowing a yellow brick road (seriously) that leads to the promised land of the train station. Where the fuck are my shoes??????

I wake up the next day having sent many offensive phone messages to people with half the park on my clothes. I have to laugh I messaged my mate Ryohei saying 'you pussy motherfucker!!' Haha!!

So....

Brutal Hanami Rating = 10/10 TEN OUT OF A MOTHER FUCKING TEN!


..............

Top Hanami gonzing there, I'm pretty sure I saw maybe one sakura tree. Who can say? After the Thunderdome Hanami I always tied my glasses to my head. SMART!! And asked someone to take care of my shoes for me. All in all it's going to take a lot of beating next year.

HANAMIIIII!!!!!!!!!

Wednesday 6 April 2011

Just some useless words...

Just a quickie to say is just fantastic at the minute, I'm just beaming with a lust for life. Everyday is a joy.

I've spent the last few days getting to know the new kids at my school, I already love everyone of them to death. I have a bunch of favorites already, Mai-chan, Akari-chan, Leon-kun. Legends they are!! The other two years come back to school next week, it'll be good to have them back!

B-1 was awesome as ever last night. Will write about that tomorrow and also post the lesson and Starfire DVD vol 17 and 18 while I'm at it.

Hanami needs a massive gonzo write up as well before hanami part two starts on Saturday...

Anyway, I'm off to catch some sun in Yoyogi Park and grab a few sneaky beers in the process.

Laters yo <3

Monday 4 April 2011

Starfire DVD vol 20 filming!

What a weekend, to say the least. Starfire DVD filming and Hanami the next day. Dreams and ambitions were met and then body's were broken the very next day.

If you know me at all you know parapara makes up a good 90% of my life and by brain power, it's what I live for to tell you the truth. The other 10% is made up of kids and playing tag... And if you've ever spoken to me you probably know that my big ambition in life has always been to be on a major parapara DVD. It just so happens Starfire is my favorite club and they are the one's who asked me and my para partner, Jasmine, to be on their next DVD. This past Saturday was the day of the filming...

AMBITION MET!!!

The studio was the one used for the B-1 Dynamite anime DVD, Stafire vol 15.



We all met up at 4pm and got everything set up, all very professional, Ryohei was acting as the director and had a schedule up on the wall.



I'd love to put the tracklist up, but I don't think I should, so you'll have to wait until Starfire this month to find out, sorry. I will say that our track was New Horizon and there's a bunch of tracks you'd expect and some you wouldn't.

It was so awesome being with all these awesome dancers that everyone learns from and consider the best, and just being part of them, not a guest or there as a favor, actually part of it. It felt like, yeah, this is right where I should be.

P.S... fuck off K-Gami seriously...

The dancers were:

Ke-tan
T-Rexx
Negi-chan (Starfire dancer but her first DVD)
Satomi
Harumi (their kids are old enough to bring to events now XD)
Ryuichi
Yoshi-B
Tomoki
Lakshimi
Take
Random techno girl team
Random techno girl team 2
Max
Jasmine
Heather

The techno boys were up first and nailed there song pretty quick, they rock it as ever.


Up second..... Team Thunderdome, my team.



Me, Jasmine and Heather had practiced New Horizon a million times, and speaking for myself I'd got it down in my sleep, every move was exactly how I wanted. BUT.... then Ryohei, who choreographed the routine, he watched us dance through it once and then showed us a bunch of sections he's decided to change. Man alive does he want every single move exactly perfect.

So after a bit of practice we were ready to go, FILMING TIME!! I was so SO SOOOOOOOO nervous. I never thought I would be, I mean I've been partying with these people for what seems like forever. But when we had to get into our starting postions my hands were shacking and my head was all over the place. It's soooooooo much harder to film infront of everyone than you'd think, so different to filming para for youtube or vimeo or whatever.

I was the first person to mess up, and mess up again, and again, and again. In the end I was just thinking 'dance it like you would in the clubs, try not to get everything perfect'. But it's easier said than done. There's going to be a lot of me swearing on the credits and joking about I'll tell you that. We got it on our 8th attempt... Tomoki and Bancho were making me smile so much, I'm sure it'll look like I'm laughing. We got to see the playback but it was hard to take in, but I think it's ok. We could have done way better but everyone always says that. I know it'll probably spark a lot of drama in the western para community when this DVD comes out, with people saying we're not good enough, but man alive, it's so nerve racking. Funnily enough I think the Japanese para community won't think that at all, seeing how they see us every week in the clubs and know we're better than this DVD.

Maybe we were good... I really can't say until I see it again....

That was our song done, after that we got to chill out with everyone and watch everyone else mess up lol. At least we weren't the one's that messed up the most, that honour goes to the team of Ke-tan, Ryohei, and Negi-chan. 9 attempts XD




We left with a few songs still to film. I can't wait to see the finished DVD, just whatever happens I will always have that ambition ticked off. Hopefully we'll be on the next Starfire DVD, I'm confident we will be, I think we're pretty much part of the team now, and with this experience under the belt we can only be better and better.

Just.... YES!!!!!!

I have a bunch of videos I filmed but I feel it would be a bit wrong of me to post those before the actual DVD is out. Sorry, you'll have to wait!

Dirty Hanami report to come... and man was it one dirty adventure!!