2025 Family Hawaii Trip: Part I (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday)
Dec. 25th, 2025 11:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dorchadas
We spent the week leading up to the new year in Hawai'i this year! We've been planning this for months, though originally we didn't know if it was going to happen at all. My sister ![[instagram.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/profile_icons/instagram.png){kind=icon}
wanderluster_kp lives in Honolulu and has for a few years now, but I've never gotten to go before--my family has been going to Hawai'i on and off for decades at this point, ever since Poppa and Gramma Kay would rent a house there, but for various reasons I've never gotten to go. Now's my chance.( Tuesday )
( Wednesday )
( Thursday )
Amahl and the Night Visitors, 1955
Dec. 25th, 2025 04:36 pmdandylover1(Catchup - 28 December 2025)
Hello, Dear Readers, and happy Christmas. Here is a little treat for you. It's a review of a children's opera that relates directly to Christmas!
( Amahl and the Night Visitors, 1955 )
Hello, Dear Readers, and happy Christmas. Here is a little treat for you. It's a review of a children's opera that relates directly to Christmas!
( Amahl and the Night Visitors, 1955 )
Yuletide!!!
Dec. 27th, 2025 09:25 pmsnickficYou guys, I love Yuletide. So many things I can read, I got great gifts, people are reading what I wrote... incredible. Here, have some recs.
First, my gifts:
Endless Night, True Detective: Night Country, Danvers/Navarro, 4.6k. My author took my prompt "what if the sun didn't come back" and ran with it. Great apostalyptic vibe here, and my shiiiiip. <3
The Inheritance of Imogen Dearborn, Kyle Murchison Booth Stories, Booth/Ratcliffe, 13!!!!!k. Booth needs Ratcliffe's help with an acquisition at a decaying house in the country, and things get weird, as they so often do around Booth. I freaking love this fandom's dedication to casefic*, and this is a wonderful example of a case that's great on its own merits and all the better because the relationship growing around the edges. <3 <3 <3
(*I'm developing the theory that the KMB stories are basically the perfect canon for producing casefic: the canon is already a series of casefics, already in prose, and they're nearly all pretty short. Put that all together, and writers have the perfect model to work from.)
And now for the other fics I've loved so far:
boot error, Companion (2025), Iris gen, 2.6k. Iris confronts life without an operating system. It was great to see Iris here, trying to figure out exactly what it means to be a person when one's whole personality is made of code.
Written in squid ink, Kraken - China Mieville, Billy/Dane, 3k. Not everyone in the Church of the Kraken was blessed with a tattoo in squid ink, but Dane was one of the lucky few, and at a young age too. I loved seeing an interpretation of soulmate marks specifically for this canon, and I loved all of Dane's weird fantasies and fetishes and imagined acts of religious devotion, and how they all got tangled up together.
Touching the Moon, My Sister and the Prince, Marie gen, 4k. This is how it happened; and what happened, after. The canon is a short film that is incredibly compelling considering it's two actors on one set for a single scene. You should watch it and then read this structurally creative and heartwrenching answer to the question of what came next.
Hunger, Dragonriders of Pern, Kylara/Lessa, 2.7k. Both Lessa and Kylara are Searched for Nemorth's final clutch. This Kylara feels exactly right to me: scheming, focused on her own desires and ambitions, fully aware of her own strengths and at least some of the weaknesses of others, and above all with an eye for opportunity. And the actual events, brief though they, promise a very interesting future for this version of canon. :D
The day the riders came, Dragonriders of Pern, OC gen, 1.8k. What if the dragons of Pern and the Impression bond were anything *but* benevolent? Or, alternately: what if the dragons were Lovecraftian horrors? This gets so dark in the best way, and the last line is a knockout punch.
First, my gifts:
Endless Night, True Detective: Night Country, Danvers/Navarro, 4.6k. My author took my prompt "what if the sun didn't come back" and ran with it. Great apostalyptic vibe here, and my shiiiiip. <3
The Inheritance of Imogen Dearborn, Kyle Murchison Booth Stories, Booth/Ratcliffe, 13!!!!!k. Booth needs Ratcliffe's help with an acquisition at a decaying house in the country, and things get weird, as they so often do around Booth. I freaking love this fandom's dedication to casefic*, and this is a wonderful example of a case that's great on its own merits and all the better because the relationship growing around the edges. <3 <3 <3
(*I'm developing the theory that the KMB stories are basically the perfect canon for producing casefic: the canon is already a series of casefics, already in prose, and they're nearly all pretty short. Put that all together, and writers have the perfect model to work from.)
And now for the other fics I've loved so far:
boot error, Companion (2025), Iris gen, 2.6k. Iris confronts life without an operating system. It was great to see Iris here, trying to figure out exactly what it means to be a person when one's whole personality is made of code.
Written in squid ink, Kraken - China Mieville, Billy/Dane, 3k. Not everyone in the Church of the Kraken was blessed with a tattoo in squid ink, but Dane was one of the lucky few, and at a young age too. I loved seeing an interpretation of soulmate marks specifically for this canon, and I loved all of Dane's weird fantasies and fetishes and imagined acts of religious devotion, and how they all got tangled up together.
Touching the Moon, My Sister and the Prince, Marie gen, 4k. This is how it happened; and what happened, after. The canon is a short film that is incredibly compelling considering it's two actors on one set for a single scene. You should watch it and then read this structurally creative and heartwrenching answer to the question of what came next.
Hunger, Dragonriders of Pern, Kylara/Lessa, 2.7k. Both Lessa and Kylara are Searched for Nemorth's final clutch. This Kylara feels exactly right to me: scheming, focused on her own desires and ambitions, fully aware of her own strengths and at least some of the weaknesses of others, and above all with an eye for opportunity. And the actual events, brief though they, promise a very interesting future for this version of canon. :D
The day the riders came, Dragonriders of Pern, OC gen, 1.8k. What if the dragons of Pern and the Impression bond were anything *but* benevolent? Or, alternately: what if the dragons were Lovecraftian horrors? This gets so dark in the best way, and the last line is a knockout punch.
Birb!
Dec. 28th, 2025 05:08 amvriddyTo PROVE that I am able to make a post without a single mention of K-9 (oh no I already failed), please enjoy pictures of the bird friends I made at the park yesterday :D
I call them magpies because that's what the black and white and beautiful blue-tinted tail colouring makes me think of, but I don't actually know. They are birb. And they are friendly!
One of them came to hang out with us when we took a little break, just sitting there, all puffy and chirping whenever we stopped paying attention to it. Really, surprisingly chill and friendly! I guess people around there are not jerks to them too much.
I know the quality of my pictures is terrible, but that's to encourage everyone to use their Power Of Imagination! I'm actually providing a great public service 😌
( Picture of a not a bird friend, at the same park )
Also I'm no longer the only person posting for K-9 out there :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D And they write a PoV I'm less comfortable with (FOR NOW) and that is just AWESOME. Happy times!!! 🥳🥳
I call them magpies because that's what the black and white and beautiful blue-tinted tail colouring makes me think of, but I don't actually know. They are birb. And they are friendly!
One of them came to hang out with us when we took a little break, just sitting there, all puffy and chirping whenever we stopped paying attention to it. Really, surprisingly chill and friendly! I guess people around there are not jerks to them too much.
I know the quality of my pictures is terrible, but that's to encourage everyone to use their Power Of Imagination! I'm actually providing a great public service 😌
( Picture of a not a bird friend, at the same park )
Also I'm no longer the only person posting for K-9 out there :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D And they write a PoV I'm less comfortable with (FOR NOW) and that is just AWESOME. Happy times!!! 🥳🥳
Birthday of Tito Schipa and an Update
Dec. 27th, 2025 11:46 pmdandylover1Hello, Dear Readers. Let's start with a lovely post that I made tonight on Reddit.
Birthday of Tito Schipa
https://www.reddit.com/r/OldOpera/comments/1pxhits/birthday_of_tito_schipa/
( Read More Here )
As for my own life, there isn't really much to say. Christmas was fairly quiet, as usual. A and D have been coming down for breakfast, since they're off until the first week in January. They came and we exchanged gifts. Mostly, we got clothing and money. Mom gave me a few little things later, but that's our tradition, since I love stocking stuffers. Everyone has been doing well, and life is pretty much back to normal, albeit different now. At first, I just joined them out of sympathy and empathy, since M died and I wanted them not to feel alone. As a forty-two year old, I certainly have every right to eat by myself, and also to eat my own food, if I wish. But both the food and the company have been so good that I haven't chosen to do so. I am guaranteed to laugh at leat once with them, and usually several times. My parents are really pulling out all the stops with food. We've had so many interesting things lately that I'm beginning to lose track! Some are from Omaha Steaks, which I very highly recommend for their excellent foods. Tonight, for instance, Mom made Beef Bourguignon (Beef Burgundy). I had never had it before and I loved it. This morning, she made her delicious eggs, which I have always enjoyed, and they were wonderful! Joanie's been making her French toast, spair ribs, rib eye steak, quesadillas, and pepperoni bread. The other night, after ourmeal, we had caramel apple tarts. I thought I wouldn't like them, since I don't like caramel in chocolate, but they were extremely good! I am almost finished with my usual little bottles of wine, so I am going to try the ones in the Advent calendar.
Joanie didn't get as much snow as she wanted after Christmas, but we did get a few inches. Mom doesn't like it at all, since it means ice, and she's afraid to walk on it for good reason, having fallen a few times in her life on it. I'm not crazy about it, but I don't fear it. Alli, on the other hand, decided that snow is the enemy and must be barked into submission!
I finally made the switch back to IOS. I don't hate Android, but honestly, the Galaxy A15 was just too big, and I like the home button and a few other things inIOS, plus the fact that my Orbit Writer keyboard works beautifully with it and is small. The battery in my iPhone SE 2020 is only at eighty percent capacity, so I was planning on getting a newer phone. I found an iPhone SE 2022 with 100% battery for $112 and simply had to get it! Joanie tried to put the sim card into it, butshe couldn't get it to fit, and she didn't want to push it in and break it, so we're taking it to TMobile. I'm with Mint, whichis owned by them, and my parents are with TMobile, so I doubt it will be a problem. I'll still use my A15 for various things, but for phone calls, Seeing AI, and other instances where I need to hold the phone, I am very glad to return to a small form factor. And yes, I did consider the blueFox NX1, which is similarly priced. I might get it in the future. But I don't know much about the company or anything about their updates. The SE 2022 will be updated for several more years.
I have a few filler entries to write for this month, so I will probably do that tomorrow. At least one will be an opera review.
Birthday of Tito Schipa
https://www.reddit.com/r/OldOpera/comments/1pxhits/birthday_of_tito_schipa/
( Read More Here )
As for my own life, there isn't really much to say. Christmas was fairly quiet, as usual. A and D have been coming down for breakfast, since they're off until the first week in January. They came and we exchanged gifts. Mostly, we got clothing and money. Mom gave me a few little things later, but that's our tradition, since I love stocking stuffers. Everyone has been doing well, and life is pretty much back to normal, albeit different now. At first, I just joined them out of sympathy and empathy, since M died and I wanted them not to feel alone. As a forty-two year old, I certainly have every right to eat by myself, and also to eat my own food, if I wish. But both the food and the company have been so good that I haven't chosen to do so. I am guaranteed to laugh at leat once with them, and usually several times. My parents are really pulling out all the stops with food. We've had so many interesting things lately that I'm beginning to lose track! Some are from Omaha Steaks, which I very highly recommend for their excellent foods. Tonight, for instance, Mom made Beef Bourguignon (Beef Burgundy). I had never had it before and I loved it. This morning, she made her delicious eggs, which I have always enjoyed, and they were wonderful! Joanie's been making her French toast, spair ribs, rib eye steak, quesadillas, and pepperoni bread. The other night, after ourmeal, we had caramel apple tarts. I thought I wouldn't like them, since I don't like caramel in chocolate, but they were extremely good! I am almost finished with my usual little bottles of wine, so I am going to try the ones in the Advent calendar.
Joanie didn't get as much snow as she wanted after Christmas, but we did get a few inches. Mom doesn't like it at all, since it means ice, and she's afraid to walk on it for good reason, having fallen a few times in her life on it. I'm not crazy about it, but I don't fear it. Alli, on the other hand, decided that snow is the enemy and must be barked into submission!
I finally made the switch back to IOS. I don't hate Android, but honestly, the Galaxy A15 was just too big, and I like the home button and a few other things inIOS, plus the fact that my Orbit Writer keyboard works beautifully with it and is small. The battery in my iPhone SE 2020 is only at eighty percent capacity, so I was planning on getting a newer phone. I found an iPhone SE 2022 with 100% battery for $112 and simply had to get it! Joanie tried to put the sim card into it, butshe couldn't get it to fit, and she didn't want to push it in and break it, so we're taking it to TMobile. I'm with Mint, whichis owned by them, and my parents are with TMobile, so I doubt it will be a problem. I'll still use my A15 for various things, but for phone calls, Seeing AI, and other instances where I need to hold the phone, I am very glad to return to a small form factor. And yes, I did consider the blueFox NX1, which is similarly priced. I might get it in the future. But I don't know much about the company or anything about their updates. The SE 2022 will be updated for several more years.
I have a few filler entries to write for this month, so I will probably do that tomorrow. At least one will be an opera review.
Belated Gifts (part 1 of 1, complete)
Dec. 27th, 2025 08:26 pmdialecticdreamerBelated Gifts
By Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 1 of 1, complete
Word count (story only): 1274
:: Judy promised Torrin to visit the Tulls at their home. Two days after Christmas, she makes good on that promise, and takes another step toward changing her relationship with each of them. Written for the December prompt fest, from a suggestion bymama_kestrel, with my thanks for a lovely opportunity. ::
Judy paused at the gate separating the Tulls’ front yard from the sidewalk. Scaffolding and teenagers, at least a dozen of them, covered the exterior of the house like ants working to deconstruct a forgotten morsel of food from a human’s picnic.
It took Judy a moment to realize that they were priming and spackling. Stacked, new tarps still in their plastic bags and five-gallon pails of paint, though with no identifiable labels in plain white buckets, waited for the group to finish.
( Read more... )
By Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 1 of 1, complete
Word count (story only): 1274
:: Judy promised Torrin to visit the Tulls at their home. Two days after Christmas, she makes good on that promise, and takes another step toward changing her relationship with each of them. Written for the December prompt fest, from a suggestion by
mama_kestrel, with my thanks for a lovely opportunity. ::Judy paused at the gate separating the Tulls’ front yard from the sidewalk. Scaffolding and teenagers, at least a dozen of them, covered the exterior of the house like ants working to deconstruct a forgotten morsel of food from a human’s picnic.
It took Judy a moment to realize that they were priming and spackling. Stacked, new tarps still in their plastic bags and five-gallon pails of paint, though with no identifiable labels in plain white buckets, waited for the group to finish.
( Read more... )
IV saline without infusion pump; childhood fevers
Dec. 27th, 2025 06:49 pmmichelel72 posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
little_detailsI'm hoping these are straightforward questions, but I couldn't find a way to word the first to get any relevant results in web searches, and the second got weird on me.
The context is a civilian with extensive field-medic-style training providing off-the-books, in-home medical/supportive care to a preteen who is ill with a viral* fever-inducing illness. (* Viral seems easier; but bacterial is possible if necessary.) The setting is the modern-day (or at least vaguely post-2010) United States.
1. Is it feasible to administer intravenous (IV) saline without an infusion pump? (I've been assuming it is but want to double-check.)
( cut for IV details )
2. Is there a point at which a childhood (viral) fever is dangerous?
( Read more... )
Many thanks!
The context is a civilian with extensive field-medic-style training providing off-the-books, in-home medical/supportive care to a preteen who is ill with a viral* fever-inducing illness. (* Viral seems easier; but bacterial is possible if necessary.) The setting is the modern-day (or at least vaguely post-2010) United States.
1. Is it feasible to administer intravenous (IV) saline without an infusion pump? (I've been assuming it is but want to double-check.)
( cut for IV details )
2. Is there a point at which a childhood (viral) fever is dangerous?
( Read more... )
Many thanks!
Gap Week: December Holidays, 2025
Dec. 28th, 2025 12:10 am![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
acoup_feedHey folks! Apologies for this coming out late – alas the pedant household has been struck by a nasty cold that has made keeping up with work this week quite challenging. No post this week, on account of it being Christmas time. May you all have a Merry Christmas or a Happy Holidays or simply Friendly Season’s Greetings, whichever is your preference!
We’ll be back next week with some Tolkien (I am planning to post up the text of my keynote, “Tolkien and Éowyn Between Two Wars” which I delivered this past week at the 2025 Prancing Pony Podcast Moot) and then we’ll be back to finishing out our discussion of hoplites in the New Year.
In the meantime, this is normally the spot in the calendar where I do a bit of ‘year in review’ so let me indulge in that. 2025 set a new record for traffic on the blog – it looks like we’ll end up around 4.25m page views, at last dethroning 2022 which had held the record.1 The most popular post this year by far was “Why Archers Didn’t Volley Fire” with more than 140,000 views. The distant-runners-up (but still doing quite well) were “Coinage and the Tyranny of Fantasy ‘Gold,'” and “How Gandalf Proved Mightiest.” Meanwhile I was pleasantly surprised that the series on “Life, Work, Death and the Peasant” also pulled in a decent number of readers despite being a pretty technical-in-the-weeds series without a strong ‘pop-culture’ hook. It ended up the year a bit short of 300,000 page views split over its 10 parts and subparts.
In the New Year, my plan is to get to a lot of lingering Patron requests, including the winners of the ACOUP Senate poll. We’re going to get some discussion of the Late Bronze Age Collapse, some on of how ancient polytheism interacts with ancient states and some of mercenaries and other things. I think 2026 is probably also the year for the nearly inevitable Teaching Paradox: Hearts of Iron IV (in which you can look forward to some praise but perhaps some sharper criticism of the Paradox approach; HoI4 is a remarkable game but it has some remarkable problems too).
Riding the rails again
Dec. 27th, 2025 11:48 pmloganberrybunnyPublic
330/365: Hagley Hall, Bewdley
Click for a larger, sharper image
It was off to the Severn Valley Railway today for a few hours on the trains. The rain just about held off, although it became very murky and gloomy by mid-afternoon. The trains were pretty busy, and I had to stand for half my first journey. Bridgnorth town centre was also packed, but fortunately the station refreshment room had space for me to have a coffee and a beef and veg pasty. Quite a relaxed day overall, certainly compared to the big gala events I'm more used to attending, but that was part of its appeal. Here's my first train of the day, 4930 Hagley Hall (which turns 97 in May) arriving at Bewdley station.
330/365: Hagley Hall, Bewdley
Click for a larger, sharper image
It was off to the Severn Valley Railway today for a few hours on the trains. The rain just about held off, although it became very murky and gloomy by mid-afternoon. The trains were pretty busy, and I had to stand for half my first journey. Bridgnorth town centre was also packed, but fortunately the station refreshment room had space for me to have a coffee and a beef and veg pasty. Quite a relaxed day overall, certainly compared to the big gala events I'm more used to attending, but that was part of its appeal. Here's my first train of the day, 4930 Hagley Hall (which turns 97 in May) arriving at Bewdley station.
misc. updates
Dec. 27th, 2025 06:02 pmaethel1. Fanlore: I was looking over new pages and saw one for Gerard Way/Patrick Stump. I thought I would add some livejournal links, but couldn't find much: gerard_patrick, which turned out to be a barely-used slash community for a different Gerard and Patrick, and two purged usernames not on the Wayback Machine so I can't verify whether they are Bandom communities (patrickxgerard and gerardpatrick). Were there ever any communities, primers, or reclists for this pairing?
Someone also created a new page for KJ Charles fandom and included a discord invite.
2. 2025 reading progress: 112 books.
Since my last post, I've finished four more novels, including one by a new-to-me author: The Lies of the Ajungo by Moses Ose Utomi. It's a fantasy novella set in a desert, brutal, anti-authoritarian, possibly Marxist. I need to get my hands on the sequels. Most recently I finished After Hours at Dooryard Books, Cat Sebastian's latest novel. It is set in New York City 1968, but resonates with the present political moment. Nothing dramatic happens to any of the characters, at least not once they are introduced--they all have tragic backstories. Just 300+ pages of people minding a bookstore and not talking about their feelings while American history happens around them. I was genuinely riveted.
Currently reading: Native Nations and Slippery Creatures.
3. I read a new Starsky & Hutch fanfic: Cal's Lounge, Two Thirty-Six AM by triedunture. Highly recommend. It does feature the characters' very dated understanding of sexuality that I've seen mentioned on Fanlore pages--I don't know how accurate it is for real-life 1970s, but it is probably very in character for Starsky & Hutch.
Someone also created a new page for KJ Charles fandom and included a discord invite.
2. 2025 reading progress: 112 books.
Since my last post, I've finished four more novels, including one by a new-to-me author: The Lies of the Ajungo by Moses Ose Utomi. It's a fantasy novella set in a desert, brutal, anti-authoritarian, possibly Marxist. I need to get my hands on the sequels. Most recently I finished After Hours at Dooryard Books, Cat Sebastian's latest novel. It is set in New York City 1968, but resonates with the present political moment. Nothing dramatic happens to any of the characters, at least not once they are introduced--they all have tragic backstories. Just 300+ pages of people minding a bookstore and not talking about their feelings while American history happens around them. I was genuinely riveted.
Currently reading: Native Nations and Slippery Creatures.
3. I read a new Starsky & Hutch fanfic: Cal's Lounge, Two Thirty-Six AM by triedunture. Highly recommend. It does feature the characters' very dated understanding of sexuality that I've seen mentioned on Fanlore pages--I don't know how accurate it is for real-life 1970s, but it is probably very in character for Starsky & Hutch.
(no subject)
Dec. 27th, 2025 04:41 pmsouthernmedicineTomorrow, we have to go to sleep at around 7-7:30pm, because we have to leave for Minneapolis at like 2:30-3:00am Monday morning to make sure we reach the airport, park, get through security and make it to our gate for a 6:30am boarding.
However, I keep getting winter storm warning alerts. Apparently beginning tomorrow evening and lasting until noon or so on Monday, there's supposed to be tons of snow, a blizzard, really, and white-out conditions on the highways.
Blair is at her grandma's house for Second Christmas (I couldn't go because I worked until 3pm today and the party began at noon) so when she gets back, I will ask what her opinion is. Strongly leaning toward the idea of setting out for Minneapolis tomorrow afternoon and staying in a hotel near the airport. I don't think she wants to, because we'd discussed that originally just for the convenience, weather aside. But I'm already concerned about making it with enough time to feel comfortable, and we'll have to drive even slower if the weather is as bad as it sounds like it's going to be.
Bleh.
However, I keep getting winter storm warning alerts. Apparently beginning tomorrow evening and lasting until noon or so on Monday, there's supposed to be tons of snow, a blizzard, really, and white-out conditions on the highways.
Blair is at her grandma's house for Second Christmas (I couldn't go because I worked until 3pm today and the party began at noon) so when she gets back, I will ask what her opinion is. Strongly leaning toward the idea of setting out for Minneapolis tomorrow afternoon and staying in a hotel near the airport. I don't think she wants to, because we'd discussed that originally just for the convenience, weather aside. But I'm already concerned about making it with enough time to feel comfortable, and we'll have to drive even slower if the weather is as bad as it sounds like it's going to be.
Bleh.
Finally saw Zootopia 2!
Dec. 27th, 2025 04:00 pmconulyBefore I say anything, A would like you to know how extremely annoying it is that they played those "Arabian Nights" riffs every time the snake (Barry) appeared, and it would be annoying even if the plot ( Read more... )
They wouldn't shut up about it, so there we go. They're not wrong.
( Read more... )
They wouldn't shut up about it, so there we go. They're not wrong.
( Read more... )
WWTHYWC! the Column #4: Girl's Box (2005)
Dec. 27th, 2025 08:35 amsonofgodzillaIn 2005, I was terribly invested in pop music, it was the thing that was keeping me afloat. I had first encountered Morning Musume few years earlier, and Toei's hero shows followed shortly after, first Gaoranger, then Ninpuu Sentai Hurricanger featuring Nagasawa Nao in the role of Nono Nanami. Being so far away from Japan, we had no real understanding of idol culture save for how we approximated what we came to know from magazines and websites. Anyway, long story short, I became an idol fan, and I started following both Nagasawa Nao and Yamamoto Azusa from Hurricanger. By the time 2005 had rolled around, we were five singles into Nagasawa's solo career, two on King Records, the rest on avex trax, whom she signed with in early 2004. I can't recommend her music to you, but at the same time, I have a cabinet full of records, and I was sad when, after 2007, the well dried up and the most we got was a "best of" record the year later, something that led to me feeling somewhat shortchanged by avex. Having said that though, it was also a relief as the material the label was giving her was pretty awful. Despite my resentment, avex were very proactive in the mid '00s, having launched the career of Hamasaki Ayumi and having a clear vision of the kind of idols they believed sold best—Hi-NRG songs and gravure photoshoots were the order of the day, and a lot of avex's acts did really well within the parameters of that milieu, dream were especially popular, if I remember rightly, as were PARADISE GO!! GO!!. To use an analogy that might be a little too niche, avex's idols felt like they were all from Ginza, and I think that was an approach that dominated the idol industry until AKB48's "idols you can meet" really blew the lid off everything.
In amidst all those pounding Eurobeat drums, the scent of excessive baby oil used in every gravure shoot, as you were beginning to feel a little lightheaded from all the hairspray used, there was always one thing that avex was good at doing, however, and that was promotion. If you were on avex, you were on billboards.
( ~Yujo ni Ribbon~ )
In amidst all those pounding Eurobeat drums, the scent of excessive baby oil used in every gravure shoot, as you were beginning to feel a little lightheaded from all the hairspray used, there was always one thing that avex was good at doing, however, and that was promotion. If you were on avex, you were on billboards.
( ~Yujo ni Ribbon~ )
