Dark Knightingale’s Neighbors

Smells like Miya...

nobody@vox.com(MorningBerryz) — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 02:12:07 -0700

...and just when you thought it couldn't get any stranger it does! ^-^ Just the thought of a H!P member air freshener (I love how they spelled it "FRESHNER" =D ) is giddy in its own sense! When I saw this I had to have one! ^-^ Has me now wondering....okay....if Miya smells like "tropical" as indicated above on the label then what do the other members of H!P smell like? :P Well I'll be honest, I really just want to know what Kamei smells like....no no no not in the way that you may be thinking!! :O, but as an essence. I'm thinking strawberries...or maybe pineapple, or could she smell like papaya? Definitely not lemon or sauerkraut or even pickles. :P Then again why would anyone smell like a pickle?! :P But it would have to be the sweetest because she's so adorable so I'm sticking with strawberries for sure! ^-^

Natsuyaki Miyabi air freshener (back)

I love the warnings on the back!!...what not to do with a Miya air freshener!! :O Just imagine how bizarre it would sound to go like that!....."what happened officer?"....."Looks like the Miya air freshener took another one tonight." :O

But what this all gets me to wondering is, what is the most unusual H!P merchandise item out there? I ♥ collecting odd things well because I'm odd :P....and it seems that new ones keep popping up every so often. Still waiting for UFA's release of the "Riiferigerator" due out some time I'm certain but in the meanwhile I have just three to choose from so far that I think qualify as a going beyone the call of oddness and perhaps that's an understatement in itself. =D

♥♥Kamei♥♥ Italian parsley :)

You probaby remember the Kamei Italian parsley that Paul @ Hello!Blog got for me! :).......

Nacchi linen box :)

.......and then there's of course the Nacchi linen box! :) Who would've thunk it?!!! :O So what's stranger here?

And if you have something odd H!P related pleeeaaaaase share!!!! \(^o^)/ Oh and while you decide...here's my favorite H!P song of 2008 so far to listen to...the year's not over yet so this may change but It's going to take something really awesome to overtake.........

02 じゃなきゃもったいないっ！

Buono!

^ ^

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Homewood Patriot Football - Homewood vs. Pelham - 9/26/08

nobody@vox.com(8gurl) — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 09:37:03 -0700

I guess some of you may have been wondering what became of me (or maybe nobody has even noticed that I've been missing on VOX). I've just had a lot going on and had some serious problems with my computer and high-speed connection which, after several troubleshooting sessions and a lot of work done on my own...it is FINALLY working normally again....

So, I'll make this short and sweet...Pelham blanked us and blanked us good! They are extremely good this year and we knew it would be a tough battle going into the game. Our guys played hard and we had a lot of 'almosts' but almosts don't count in football. I don't remember the score but the only part that matters to me is the big fat 'zero' on our side of the board. Pelham has a nice, big band that is absolutely comparable to ours. I got some good pictures and a couple of videos having solved my lack of battery problem from the week before. The most exciting part of the night for us was when a very popular local sportscaster named Rick Karle made his way into the stands and played snare with our band. He did a pretty darn good job. He's especially popular with the kids because he does the local high school football show that airs on FOX every Friday night during the season. I also filmed the 3rd song of our band-s show...Big Noise...So here's the goods...and we're home again to play Bob Jones next week!

Homewood Band playing with Rick Karle

Homewood Band - Big Noise 2008

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William post surgery update - 11th October

nobody@vox.com(Chezz - C'Tack!) — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 22:50:03 -0700

William ended up arriving at the children's hospital at about 9pm last night where Andrew was waiting for William and Linda to arrive by NETS ambulance. There was a delay in transport due to William's blood sugar level (BSL) dropping and they needed to get that up before he could be transported. He was over due for a feed due to the possibility of surgery last night, so he needed to be put on an IV drip of glucose to get his BSL back up to a normal level . So once he was stable he was then right to be transported.

The poor little fella was worn out with all of the needless traveling - four trips (30 minutes each) in the NETS within 24 hrs plus the immense preparation that goes into preparing a prem baby for transport and co-ordinating when a NETS team (vehicle, driver, doctor and nurse) will be available . Naturally his parents were rather worn out by this stage too.

In the end William was scheduled for his op mid to late morning today.

William is out of surgery and is slowly waking up and seems to be doing well. He is responding to touch and grabbing his parent's fingers and not wanting to let go. They only operated on one of the hernias (L testicle) as the other one was more of a fluid sack which should take care of itself and surgery is not required. His umbilical hernia should right itself in time as he grows.

He is currently on paracetamol IV for pain, with back up morphine if he needs it. They are hoping he doesn't need the morphine so that he can come off the ventilator and back onto the CPAP a bit quicker (morphine suppresses breathing).

So that is about all I can tell you.

At the moment all is relatively good and routine.

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Still shopping for a 2009 H!P calendar for next year?...this may help. :)

nobody@vox.com(MorningBerryz) — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 21:00:20 -0700

Momusu, Berryz Koubou and C-ute 2009 calenders.

Okay it's true one doesn't really need 3 calendars to know what day it is! :P But being that there's amazingly still room on my bedroom walls for 3 poster sized hang ups I just couldn't resist! All 3 of these were released on October 11th (tomorrow here but today in Japan..I hope that makes sense! :P ) so CdJapan must have sent these out a bit early as they arrived already today! :) Please return to the top here afterward to pick your favorite. ^-^ I think you may agree that 2009 represents without a doubt the very best H!P group calendars to date!! All 3 are impressive and don't let even BK's cover fool you, as what's inside will quickly change everything. ^-^

Japanese 2009 calendars can be purchased here from Cdjapan and here from YesAsia. What's interesting is that YesAsia is offering a 10% discount on their calendars but the original starting price is $27-$32 whereas CdJapan doesn't have them discounted yet but their starting prices are between 2200-2300 円. So what it really comes down to is shipping charges and how speedy you want the delivery to be. From my past experience CdJapan is second to none when it comes to prompt delivery whereas YesAsia may sometimes take a bit of a while. But everyone's personal experience with these online sellers is most certainly different and quick delivery may not be an issue at all. :)

2009 C-ute calendar (cover)

Last year C-ute used the theme of music genres very effectively and being that this group's long term goal is global domination ^-^, 2009 holds a world tour theme. The countries chosen to be represented in the varied shots through the year are France, China, Switzerland, Japan (hmmmm...interesting), India, and Spain. Okay that would explain the dot on Erikachan's forehead as seen above. And doesn't Airiin look like she just walked of the set off a new Jane Austin movie?!! ^-^

C-ute calendar 2009 January & February

Instead of sets we have backdrops here but the look works really well...Airiin & Maimichan in French dressing...all that's missing is some red wine. :) Something new and great for 2009 is that each of the groups members' birthdates are marked on each of these calendars in different ways...if I remember correctly only BK's was marked last year but in any case the styling used for next years' calendars are much cuter. Here the members of C-ute have their birthdays marked by cute hearts....hmmm I never realized that Maimichan and Maimai share the same birthdate! Lucky 7! Same as me but um different month. :P

C-ute calendar 2009 March & April

March & April show China some love...no wonder they all look like Chun Li from Street Fighter. =D

C-ute calendar 2009 May & June

The Swiss miss look is in for May & June. Somehow I think Tsunku could make a new unit out of these three...not that we need any more mini units running wild in H!P as there are plenty enough right now.

Cute calendar 2009 July & August

Yep you guessed it! It's Japan! Funny they chose Japan as they've already conquered that region of the planet and are from there. :P But seriously though....this shot is by far one of the best for 2009!!! I mean how beautiful are these summer yukata! Sooo c-ute! Pun intended too!

Cute calendar 2009 September & October

I appologize for the tops of some of these images being obscured as the calendars weren't given quite enough time to flatten out properly when I took these shots all one after the other so the tops are rolling up a bit. Although "India" may not be readable at the top as it's a bit cut off I think the image says it all. The light pastels work nicely here too.

C-ute calendar 2009 November & December

Hey watch that bull in the back!! :P Absolutely love these dresses!! And it won't be long before "little" Maimai is taller than everyone else in C-ute and H!P for that matter....only the giant Kumachan will stand in her way!!! :P

C-ute calendar 2009 (extra page)

And as has been the trend recently, all three calendars presented here have the wonderful extra page....some suitable for framing if removed. Isn't Airiin the most darling here?

Berryz Koubou calendar 2009 (cover)

As many have been brought up to believe...never judge anything or anyone by it's or their exterior. I can't emphasize enough just how much this applies to BK's 2009 release! At first glance truly the cover looks like somewhat of a repeat of last year's design. Simple and perhaps even a bit homely dare I say. But in truth it's nothing like that at all. Just one thing puzzles me about their cover though...they left out the two "U's" in Koubou. Nandeshouka?

Berryz Koubou calendar 2009 January & February

I know I'm right smack in the middle of this post but I have to argue right now that BK's may just be the best of the three here. Take this image of January & February. Each member has written a character spelling out "Kotoshi mo yoroshiku" ("Please be kind/ stand by us again this year"). An idiomatic phrase used at years start. The personality of this photo itself is built upon through the coming months and each does a great job at making BK's 2009 calendar the most personable here.

Berryz Koubou calendar 2009 March & April

Birthdays are marked by cute little pink birthday cakes and I know they're difficult to make out here but trust me their cute! ^-^ This one's like a scene right out of Buono! pv! :) The only thing missing is Momo being...uh "tormented." :P

Berryz Koubou calendar 2009 May & June

Once again the charm of BK's 2009 calender lies in the personality of these shots and the settings themselves play a large role in this. Cafe Berryz!

Berryz Koubou calendar 2009 July & August

Summer Sanpo...and sometimes casual non costume like clothing works best.

Berryz Koubou calendar 2009 September & October

Love this library shot and Maasa's shirt reads something like...."I HAVE GOT EVERYTHING THAT YOU WANT"...it's almost as if she's speaking to Shirow directly. :O

Berryz Koubou calendar 2009 November & December

November & December are great!..returning to the class room setting. Now if only those three in the back would stop kidding around and actually clean the classroom! XD Chiichan I'm talking to you... :P

Berryz Koubou calendar 2009 (extra page)

And here is the extra page and with a group shot beginning and ending this calendar...just perfect! In particular I love Miya and Kumachan's styling the best throughout this release...and of course Momo but that's just a given all the time. :)

Momusu calendar 2009 (cover)

Not to be outdone though...Momusu's release is every bit as well produced as C-ute and BK's...so it really comes down to personal taste I think. Please don't forget to vote for your favorite at the top of this post. :) To begin with Momusu's cover is immaculately beautiful. I think it's their best looking calendar cover thus far...the poses, arrangement of the members and the scenery all pure ♥.

Momusu calendar 2009 (January & February)

What sets Momusu's design apart from C-ute & BK's are the wonderful wonderful!! off shots included at the bottom of each page which are taken from the same photo shoot as the featured months. This adds so much already and then you have the member birthdates creatively and personally marked with flair by each member. Names and little doodles really add to the birthdates and for these two reasons alone this may have you heavily favoring Momusu's release over the previous two....hmm but we'll just have to see the results first to determine that. :)

Momusu calendar 2009 (March & April)

This one's got a Hawaiian inspiration behind it!! Ah Gakisan & Kamei!! The cutest month ever!! ^-^ Okay I'm biased...it's Kamei! :P Kamei Kamei kamei...

Momusu calendar 2009 (May & June)

It's just soooooooo nice to finally see Momusu out of a studio in the real world with nature and things for once! They've been cooped up far too long on sets with plain backgrounds when it comes to their calendar shoots.....at least UFA gave them a budget to work with this year and the results speak volumes and volumes! ^o^ "Singin' in the rain?"...adore those bright colored boots! =D

Momusu calendar 2009 (July & August)

Reinachan & Mitsii....Momusu's odd couple. It's amazing how Reinachan's sex appeal continues to rise every time I see her but I guess if one has legs like those they should definitely use them! ^-^

Momusu calendar 2009 (September & October)

This fall design is another one of my favorites out of all the shots here...the softness of the brown and orange blend together perfectly in their outfits and their surroundings. Mentor and student reunited...Sayu poses with a case of Amp energy drink! :P Definitely not sugar free either!! Kohachan 好き！

Momusu calendar 2009 (November & December)

Dreamin' of a white Christmas?...cozy and cuddly is this shot...hmmmmmm....

Yoda

............why do I suddenly sound like Yoda...only not as wise? :P And with no light saber skills...

Momusu calendar 2009 (extra page)

This final group shot would make one of the most beautiful Momusu posters ever!!!! Just imagine this one framed and matted in white! ^o^ If you remove this page carefully surely it can be done. Everyone looks gorgeous and the overhead shot makes for an ideal angle. Aichan...serious.....Reinachan....confident....Kohachan.....Amp Energy embodied....Mitsii....waiting for a chance to steal Junjun's banana....Sayu....adorable as ever nyan nyan!...Gakisan...picturesque....Junjun....guarding her banana like Fort Knox....Linlin....lighthearted....and Kamei.....♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.

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Hay Thieves Strike Again!

nobody@vox.com(Chezz - C'Tack!) — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 19:07:31 -0700

I read this piece of satire and I immediately thought of an old family photo which I refer to as "Beware of the Hay Rustlers" The photo is under this clip.

Hay Thieves Strike Again - The Onion

Clip taken from - The Onion

Old Family Photo taken in the mid 1920s - Beware of the Hay Rustlers!

We are not entirely sure of who is in this picture, we think one of the men was my grandfather's younger brother and the other man was someone who came to help with the hay carting. The photo was taken on my great grandparent's farm in Nth Eastern Victoria, Australia in the 1920s.

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What are your thoughts on "where does a band find the time?"

nobody@vox.com(Greymatter) — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 08:44:29 -0700

I'm pondering the ever growing list of places to keep up-to-date re Greymatter... is anyone else having this problem with their band? How do you cope?

Here's a little go at explaining the problem...

there's MySpace
it's where the whole music/social networking thing started and it's still geared towards that, so in jumped Greymatter, and have since built up a pretty respectable friends list

then there's Facebook pages
Facebook is massive and growing, so we had to have one of those (and before somenoe else nabbed it), and we're building up a fan base there too (albeit more slowly because people's real identities are exposed)

then there's iLike
because it plugs into Facebook and allows people to play the music on Facebook, so it's handy, but events can't be edited, they can only be deleted and recreated (which would lose all the already subscribed attendees)

then there's YouTube
biggest site in the world, so well worth our effort, and easily plugged into other sites (if you're techie), which is a bonus

then Google are developing APIs
i'm not even going there, but I'm thinking about analytics maps, calendar feeds, docs, picasa, etc

then there's last.fm
which has an interesting history, is well known, so we went for it, but doesn't allow artist differentiation so people see a Brighton based DJ instead of us and our music has had to be filed elsewhere (no disrespect to DJ Greymatter who has every right to the space having got there first)

and now promoters/competitions are at it
so if we want them to get us gigs, we have to create profiles on their sites (why can't they just have an index of MySpace pages?!)

and lately we've got Vox
which is important from an industry/A&R point of view, so it should be prioritised, but that would mean letting the fans down elsewhere (and we really can't ask them to keep joining more and more sites)

So... do we concentrate on the fans? the industry? writing and playing music? keeping our jobs to fund the music? my head hurts.

your thoughts...?

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William update - 10th October 2008

nobody@vox.com(Chezz - C'Tack!) — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 21:34:10 -0700

******** Updated 5.15pm AEST daylight savings*************

Arrrggghhhhh

Oh how things change, looks like I posted this update a little bit too soon!

Basically scrub everything I said in the update below as it is all about to change.

There are some very pissed off head doctors at William's hospital, as he DOES need the surgery ASAP as the hernia is about to rupture. So at this point in time Andrew is not sure if mother and baby are back at the children's hosp or still at his regular hospital, but where ever they are William's doctor is demanding that surgery be performed tonight.

I am sure he will be fine, just another hurdle to get over and another dance with the healthcare system.

-----------------

William now weighs a massive 1910g. Nearly 2kg – what a milestone that will be.

William had a bit of an outing yesterday. He got to ride in a NETS ambulance (newborn emergency transport service) to the children's hospital; they were going to do a small operation on him but decided not to just yet. He has a few hernias which may be making him rather irritable and this may be wearing him out. By now he should be back in his old digs at his hospital.

Andrew and Linda had to endure yet another nursing fiasco! All three survived to tell the tale.

Prior to his visit to the children’s hospital William was feeding extremely well, hence the massive increase in weight and he was also doing very well.

Things may have changed since his little excursion, however prior to his trip the last report was that he was on 39 ml of milk every 3 hours with 2 ml being delivered into his mouth. He is now on a nasogastric tube (feeding tube via the nose to the stomach) this way he can suck on a dummy to help him drink sooner (The previous feeding tube was inserted through the mouth).

He was taken off the CPAP bubble device and put back on the respirator version as it has alarms that will go off when he pulls it apart or pulls in off. CPAP was down to 5 mbar pressure.

He was in an open crib.with the heating turned off. As you can see he is nicely tucked away under his own little doona which his Dad made for him. Andrew would have made him some clothes too, but he really hasn’t had the time for that.

William with the doona his Dad made for him

William with his eyes wide open

I am not sure if I have mentioned this before. One of the problems with the CPAP machine is that because of its design and because a baby's skull is not hardened yet, the side tubing tends to mis-shape the heads of the little tackers. Luckily this is not a permanent disfigurement and once the CPAP is removed with time the head will return to a normal shape.

William with his Dad

William, Mum and Beanie Baby

It won't be long before William will be bigger than his little Beanie Baby which his cousins Dylan and Willow gave him.

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The New Tourism Australia Ads by Baz Luhrmann - Billabong and Boab

nobody@vox.com(Chezz - C'Tack!) — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 16:49:35 -0700

Sometimes we have to get lost to find ourselves, sometimes we have to go Walkabout.

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Blend...our Wandsworth gig November 9th!

nobody@vox.com(emmacantons) — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 04:08:33 -0700

Hello, it has been a while, Summer was not good for lots of boring grown-up reasons that I won't go into here. ANYWAY.. The boys and I are playing at Blend on Wandsworth High Street on the 9th of November. Two 45 minute sets, so we can really get our teeth into that. Also, rather wonderfully, the venue doubles as an art space, and their current exhibition is my beloved's paintings. Anthony likes looking for beauty in dark places, so these large canvases (some over 6'!) are images of volcanic eruptions, nuclear tests and at the other end of the size scale, microscopic images of viruses. They are both disturbing and beautiful. Oh yes, and Blend also has a cracking menu and very friendly staff (they made me tea the other day, bless them). I don't know how you can resist. In fact I'm rather hoping you won't resist, but simply give in to the urge and come join us. Can't say fairer than that can I?

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