Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Picture of Gackt from New Movie





DO WE REALLY HAVE TO WAIT TILL 2009 TO SEE THIS!?

Gackt looks very hot. This movie is going to rock!! And you all know me. I'm not the typical screaming, drooling fangirl. But dude... Gackt looks really ultra hot in this pic to me for some reason. He looks like he's 10 years younger...
like back in his Malice Mizer days.

Ok, rabid fangirl rant over. Lets hope I never do that again! LOL!!

This picture came from barks.jp.co

This seems to be a picture of Gackt as Yoshi, the partner in crime of the good guy played by whoever else is in that picture.

And who cares who it is? Look at Gackt! I mean, Man... its like I'm just noticing how cute he is or something. Lol!

(oops. Rabid fan girl slipped in again. Not to mention, I'm exhausted. So I'm getting loopy. heheh. Sry. Won't happen again.)


Tuesday, April 22, 2008

MAJOR GACKT NEWS!!!!

ZOMG! Major Gackt news!!

no, we're not getting married. (Only in my dreams. ) just kidding. just kidding.

It seems our Gackt has gone Hollywood.

Be still my heart!!!!

Gackt is set to star in an American made movie which is rumored to be starring Demi Moore and Ron Pearlman called Bunraku.

the tag line is: A lone drifter comes to town seeking revenge, but soon finds himself up against a bigger challenge than he originally planned

While Ron Pearlman and Demi Moore are listed as "Rumored", Gackt is confirmed to play a character named Yoshi.

Ok... on the count of 3

1

2

3

**FAINT**

WAY TO GO GACKT!!! THREE CHEERS FOR GACKT!!

BANZAI !! BANZAI !! BANZAI !!


More info can be found below.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1181795/

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/entertainment/news/20080423-OHT1T00074.htm

http://www.daily.co.jp/gossip/2008/04/23/0000969111.shtml

Bunraku is set to be released in 2009.

On a side note, Bunraku is a form of traditional Japanese puppet theater that originated in Osaka in 1684

Monday, April 21, 2008

Back from Vacation - No Gackt news

Konnichiwa watashi no Gackto Otaku! I'm back from Vacation! And guess what? I was on the set of the new Johnny Depp movie! SQUEE! (well, kind of. lol. You can read it in my personal blog.)

but I'm home and raring to go. Unfortunately, it seems nothing has happened since I've been away.

I've been watching the official Vocaloid sites like a hawk and still have found no Gackt-formation.

All is quiet on Gackt's new myspace blog.

And Joost is once again avoiding the whole "Giving Gackt credit" thing all together. Even now that Gackt has an official myspace site, you'd think he'd be promoting, pushing or at least crediting Gackt.

Especially in light of all but admitting he may have crossed that fine line between inspiration and plagerism.

However, nothing.

I have played Joost's music for several people who do not listen to Jrock and do not know Gackt, and compared them to Gackt songs. They all agree the songs sound dangerously alike.

Yet this MAJOR Gackt fan doesn't even give credit to the person he claims is his major inspiration. He doesn't push Gackt on his fans who may not know Gackt, trying to get Gackt new fans.

You'd think that's what a real fan would do but eh, I guess that's just me.

What else, what else...

well I guess nothing.

But now that I'm back, I'll keep you up to date on the goings ons.

if nothing comes up tomorrow, I have a letter written to me by a Gackt fan who'd like me to address my thoughts on DEARS, and Gackt touring the US. So watch for that tomorrow. It could be interesting.

And also if you haven't listened to my station -
go here and check it out. Not only is there awesome J-rock, and Japanese Entertainment, but I try to promote Gackt as best I can by playing his music (And *Gasp, the horror, I actually PAY royalties when I use his music, AND give him credit!!)

And I always have some blurb of Gackt news during Saturday's Japanese Curry. Not to mention Gackt is my 1 most requested artist 4 weeks running. So stay tuned to that station!

Shameless plug finished.

I'm exhausted from the long car ride home (I left for home at 4am.)

so I'm going to crawl into bed and have lovely dreams of my upcoming trip to Japan.

Ta for now.

Ara

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

GACKT IS OFFICIALLY OFFICIAL

After many false starts by fans posing as Gackt or Nippon Crown or Dears, Gackt has finally and officially opened his myspace page ala YOSHIKI!

My heart, I think, has just stopped. Lol.

His official page is
http://myspace.com/gackt

for those who are not Japanese or do not read Japanese, it seems as if Gackt, or whoever will be maintaining the site for him, will be doing so in Japanese.

I'll try to keep you updated on what blogs he posts to the best of my translation abilities.

The first blog entry thus far is...

GacktのオフィシャルMySpaceが誕生!フレンド登録お待ちしています。

Gackt's myspace site has finally been born! I wait for your friend requests.

for those who wonder if this is another false start - it was announced officially on
http://gackt.com

Thank you to Yan who gave me the heads up.

I feel happy, yet sad at the same time.

Gackt making an official myspace site is great for fans like myself...

but it makes me feel less relevant. Now that there's an official blog, if they start posting in English, this news blog may no longer be necessary T_T

Oh well. This is a happy day so I'm not going to spoil it. ^_^

Besides, it seems it'll be run in Japanese, so there's hope that I may still be useful yet!!

In other news...

no new news on the Joost stealing Gackt's music front.

He is no longer speaking on the subject, and he has not returned any of my messages for comments. However, he does continue to push the album that he admits as at least 2 songs that are either rip offs of Gackt's or "Gackt inspired" with no mention of Gackt in the credits.

So that's where we stand on that.

And as for the vocaloid project, I sent an email again and once again got back a "you'll have to wait and see" reply. GAH So frustrating! LOL

also, as promised, I do have a fan story to cover about his disappointment with the lack of an international Dears fanclub, but in light of the recent excellent news on Gackt's officially going official on myspace... I thought I'd hold off.

It also seems that Gackt is starting or participating in a "Love our planet" environmental movement. Which is awesome. I still have to work on translating the site.

I've fallen behind due to writing my book and working on my radio station... so until I have the translation, you can read more here -

http://news01.net/news/2008/04/20080414142208.php

till next time all...

Ja mata

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Some Gackt updates

Surprisingly quiet on the Gackt font.

Unfortunatly - despite my prying using my charm, no one is talking about the vocaloid project.

The only thing I can think of, is that they are in TALKS with Gackt, but since nothing is in writing, they're trying to keep it under wraps. but if I can get one of them to spill the beans, I'll let you know.

-----

I'm still getting angry mail about Joost and his selling of Gackt's music as his own.

He still does not credit Gackt on the CD he's been recently pushing... even though he finally admits they are "Gackt inspired." So much so that he doesn't feel the need to mention Gackt for those who may not know Gackt? A true Gackt fan would use it as an opportunity to turn new fans onto his "idol".

If you want to lay in the heat - visit
http://joostmaglev.com and let him know your dissatisfaction with how he's conducting himself as a supposed "artist" or go straight to http://gackt.com and let Dears and Gackt know.

-----

Yes it is true. Gackt does have a new dog. He has long haired white Chihuahua he has named Eneru, who is reportedly 1 year old.

I do know know what the name represents. As it stands from what I've found online, he has not "officially" introduced the J-Rock world to Eneru, thus has not given an explination as to his name.

Someone has told me that he had officially talked about Eneru, but I can not verify the source, nor find the video on youtube where he does so.

But whichever way you look at it...

lucky dog!!

^_^

I've looked Eneru up and I've only found a few references to anime characters named Eneru - most notably from the anime One Peice,

and I found the world Enerugi in my English/Japanese dictionary - which means "Energy".

No pictures are currently available with the acception of this:




this is a sticker that fans get if they sign up for the Dears or Save our Dears credit cards.

I believe the credit cards are for Japanese residents only? You'll have to look into that at
http://Gackt.com

Save our Dears is a charity Gackt origionally posted to help victims of the major Niigata Prefecture earthquake last year.


He continues his efforts for victims of Natural Disasters.

(Thanks to http://gackt.com for the above pic.)

Monday, April 7, 2008

Gackt Updates

1. There is still no word on Vocaloid other than... its been a week and no one has popped out saying "APRIL FOOL’s".
So if this were an april fool’s joke, it would be in the running for the world record of longest running April Fool’s Prank.

However, that doesn’t mean he IS doing Vocaloid. For all I know, they may have just been in talks with him to do it, but it doesn’t mean he’s agreed to it.

I’m going to keep pressing and let you know when I do. The third of the vocaloid series is due to hit the shelves in May, so we should know soon.


2. There’s not much on the Joost front other than he’s starting to push his CD now.

This album includes:

Artemis - Dybbuk/Lu:na rip off
and Caramel - The note for note Vanilla rip off that is suppose to be an OBVIOUS satire of Gackt’s vanilla according to the 2 joost fans that exist. (Hi Joost’s mom and dad!)

(Not so obvious if you’re not a Gackt fan. How are they suppose to know if Gackt isn’t credited, that this is a spoof of an existing song?)

but Gackt is not credited, and Vanilla is not mentioned on the discography page. He credits a bunch of other no names... "With the help of."

Well, if Gackt "influenced" this music, didn’t he get Gackt’s help? Why isn’t he credited in the list of names that appears after "With the help of"?

I’m ready to start another letter campaign to Dears.
Probably today I’ll write them again. They need to either tell him to stop, or tell us to let it go.
Until I get official word, I’m going to keep up the fight. This just bites me to no end.

as was mentioned on his forum

Rembrant, Monet, Piccasso - they didn’t live off the coat tails of other painters -
they were artists because they had a vision, something uniquely them, and gave it to the world.
Those who copy those styles of paintings aren’t considered artists... their art is considered "Forgeries" or "In the style of"...
But they’re not considered to be true visonaries. Just copycat painters living in the shadow of real, great artists.

He’s nothing but a fraud living in Gackt’s shadow.

Feel free to go to http://dears.com and write another letter to Gackt and DEARS.
Send him to Joost’s YOUTUBE page and tell him and dears to listen to Artemis and think of Dybbuk and Luna.
Let him know about Caramel being a Rip off of Vanilla down to the last note - without crediting Gackt...

and that above all else, he’s SELLING these songs, and that he use to sell albums with actual Gackt songs on them. (Like his Snowflakes 2003 and 2005).
Even admittingly using Gackt songs, just writing his own lyrics, then selling them for his own profit without permission.

and above all else... BOYCOTT JOOST!!

If he sells these albums, its just going to add to his delusion that what he’s doing isn’t wrong. A TRUE gackt fan supports GACKT... not someone who would steal from him.

Even out of curiosity... DO NOT DOWNLOAD OR BUY JOOST’S Albums!!!

Also, if you join his forum on his official site , Don’t resort to low tactics, like name calling, threats or making derogitory statemtents.

Stick to the facts, and try to show Gackt fans in a positive light.

but more people need to start posting there and telling him this won’t be stood for!!


3. Whew, yes there is finally a 3.

There are some really cute videos posted on the internet of recent Gackt stuff.

My faves are...

From Gackt’s Platinum Box - All I can say is poor Jun-Ji!!! (especially starting at 1:40)

Also from Gackt’s Platinum Box - All I can say is - Poor Gackt.
This is where they pull a fan’s name out of a fishbowl to drop in on them and surprise them.
(Not seen in the vid, they tried one other fan who wasn’t at home, left her a note and autograph, then moved on to this fan).

This particular fan seems to be a YOU fan. Gackt seems to be a bit jealous that she likes YOU over him.
I don’t think he’s use to playing Second Fiddle to the violinist. Lol!

And this video - Has A Quick clip of Gackt with his CURRENT hairdo. (Or don’t.) I think he needs to get a haircut personally.
I like his hairdo from the Platinum Box vids myself. Lol. This was from 4-4-08.
Thank you so much!
All the youtubers who bring this to those of us around the world who may not otherwise be in the know. This includes, Moimana97, to924, and Marajaa who posted the videos I used above.

and of course to our Gackt himself for making these vids for our enjoyment.

Friday, April 4, 2008

Gackt Updates

Hey all! Time for some quick updates.

First off, everyone wants to know about the Joost Maglev saga. Good news / Bad news situation here.

First the bad news just to get it out of the way. The "Fraud exposed" video was removed by Gordie entertainment due to copyright infringement.

It seems that the Gordie entertainment corp. is somehow linked to NHK which we all know is where Gackt is linked due to Fuurin Kazan.

So it looks like Gackt’s people may have been the ones who it down.

My only theory as to why is because They see... "Gackt Fraud" in the title and thought it was a video that was a video smearing Gackt or discrediting Gackt using his material, not fully understanding the meaning of the video.

Being the trouble maker that I am, I suggested to the creator of the vid to make alternate email accounts and re-post it a few different times. Kind of how when Cruise tried to shut down the scientology video fiasco, it kept popping up 2 fold.

I also told him he should title it something like "Protecting Gackt’s interests" or something that will immediately show this isn’t going against Gackt, but FOR Gackt.

I’m also trying to find a way to contact the Gordie Company who seems fairly elusive to discuss the situation. I’ve written a letter to NHK requesting their contact information, since their name was linked to Gordie Entertainment.

However, Keith on my myspace blog had a good point... the video was removed by a third party. It IS possible it really was Gordie entertainment, its also possible it was someone POSING as Gordie Entertainment.


That's what is so weird. Gordie entertainment (which in itself is fairly elusive) I can only find that it is linked to NHK, which is the company that released Fuurin Kazan.

Nippon Crown and Gackt owns the rights to his music, so if anyone would pull it for copyright issues, it would be DEARS or Nippon Crown. that's the only thing I can think of.



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

Now the kind of good news. It appears the pressure is getting to Joost.

On Artemis I noticed he FINALLY gave Gackt Credit (Somewhat.)

However, he still wasn’t being completely honest. He said he wrote the base of this song in 1994, even though the beginning rifts are note for note dybbuk...

and if it was written in ’94, why did it take till 2008 to release the song when he’s had so many albums prior to the one he is selling it on? 16 previous albums to be exact.

It took him 16 albums to release this song written in 94... this song that sounds surprisingly like Dybbuk in the beginning especially?

Come on. He’s getting more honest, but he’s not quite there.

I’ve also been noticing more and more on previous albums, he wasn’t just copying Gackt songs, he was actually selling Gackt songs on his album, admittedly so.

for example:

On his "Snowflakes 2005" he has - Track 2 composed in 2001 by Gackt C, lyrics written in 2003 by Joost D

It does NOT say, "Used with permission" or "royalties paid".

it is ILLEGAL to SELL an album with someone else’s music, or to change lyrics to an existing song that is copyrighted.

Even if you give credit, you still have to BUY THE RIGHTS or pay royalties everytime an album is sold, and you HAVE TO get permission either way. You can’t just do it and hope your good intentions have been noted.

But the good thing is it looks as if these albums are no longer for sale.

So, we’ve gotten to him... however, he’s still not being honest enough. The more pressure, the more he’ll wittle down till the full truth is exposed and he stops selling Gackt’s tunes as his own.


I have been asked...

"Ara, what if Joost has permission from Gackt to write these songs?"

My answer is... why wouldn’t he just say so at this point after being repeatedly attacked?

Its as simple as writing "Used with permission" Or "royalties paid for". Even if it were a privacy issue (As in Gackt doesn't want ten million people asking for permission to use his music for personal works), he would still insist on some kind of compensation/credit given. So I firmly believe this is all done without Gackt's concent.


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

moving on from Joost for a while.

The information I previously gave about Gackt voicing for Vocaloid... well, I started doing some digging to find out if it was true or not, since the news was released on April first, and even the articles had to ask if it was an april fool’s joke..

So I emailed the official Crypton Vocaloid site. (It was a test of my Japanese writing skills. I wrote in all japanese since it is a japanese site, so it was interesting to see if I wrote it properly enough for them to understand.)

They did! yay my writing skills are improving!

Anyhoo. The Crypton vocaloid site said regrettably they had no information or knowledge of the news, and directed me to another site who may know.

So I re-wrote the message to this site and they told me, regrettably they are not releasing any information on that currently other than the 3rd Vocaliod is being released in ’08, and to keep checking back with the site for news.

So in otherwords, no one’s talking, and everyone’s saying they don’t know anything.
However, no one will recant the information and say "its not true" either. And usually after an april fool’s joke, right on April 2nd, people will say "Yes if you figured it out, it was an april fool’s joke"

Kind of like the April Fool’s "Legend’s of Zelda" elaborate movie trailer hoax.
However, while no one is saying anything, no one has released an "April Fool’s" recant of the information either.

So it is still up in the air. As it stands, it is still possible that Gackt will be voicing in Vocaloid.

I’ll keep you all updated on all the news.

that’s it for now.

Ara




Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Make Gackt Sing for you!! Maybe...

ok, first thing’s first cause I’m sure you’re all going to ask.

No there hasn’t been a Joost Update as of yet. I left my address, email address, phone number and website with DEARS, and I haven’t personally heard anything.

Those of you who did email dears through
http://gackt.com please let me know if you get a reply.

Remember they get high volumes of emails a day - so If you’ve sent one email and you’re still concerned about the Joost copies... write one more letter.

If you haven’t written at all, make sure you drop them and/or Gackt a line. And as always, keep it civil to show Gackt fans in a non-rabid fan girl/boy kind of way ^_^

Otherwise, Joost is still getting Gackt fans who are upset about what he did, posting messages on the "Fraud exposed" vid, and on Joost’s personal vids, especially artemis. His official page has not changed for a few days.

And while he thanks his "fans" for standing up for him, and does apologize to people who "feel" he may have taken too many liberties with Gackt’s music..

but he does also state he will continue to make music depsite the recent "negativity"

No credit to Gackt has yet been given on either his Discography page where he lists the songs and ablums for sale (where he also credits himself as the composer), nor in the descriptions of his youtube videos.

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

moving on...

Do you want to compose music or write lyrics (that don’t rip off any of Gackt’s music...) but that Gackt will personally SING for you?

Well... look no further... Maybe.

There is a product called Vocaloid that’s been on the market since 2004 Vocaloid is a singing synthesizer application software developed by the Yamaha Corporation that enables users to synthesize singing by just typing in lyrics and melody.

In the second release (Vocaloid 2) Once you compose the music or lyrics you want sung... a synthesized voice provided by voice actors.

The rumor
HERE is that Gackt has been asked to provide one of the Vocaloid voices.

However, in the article they even ask the question, being that this information was released on April first, it begs to wonder if it is an April Fool’s Joke.

It will remain to be seen when the 3rd in the Vocaloid series is said to be released (tentatively) in May.

If it turns out to be true... I, for one, will get it! LOL!

There is no word on the
official site, (and here) tho there has been rumored news there is a 3rd vocaloid being developed to be released sometime in 2008.

Time will tell ^_^