Once, long ago, on January 27th, 2006, Cayce and our partner Kame started This is NOT Greatest Site, a handmade website dedicated to making merciless fun of j-rock fan sites, while occasionally bringing English language translations of Buck-Tick's lyrics to the internet.
We're not sure how things ended up. Because life is a journey with no end. But 14 years and many crises, Buck-Tick tours, and rotten bananas later, here we still are. If This is NOT Greatest Site were a person, she'd be in 8th grade. But as we're not people, we're probably not as snotty as the teens we were long ago (we hope).
For your viewing pleasure, a few samples of banners and goodies from our previous layouts in the long-lost aughts.
When we got started, the top banner looked like this:
A little while later, we redid the layout to look like this:
Each section had a different banner. Some samples:
Kame designed most of these graphics. And, as a gifted computer programmer (which Cayce has never been), she also coded some special easter eggs into the site. Click on the wrong part of the page, and you might have ended up on this page:
Or this page.
These days, most of you who write to us are relatively new Buck-Tick fans, and it seems that some of y'all were still small children when This is NOT Greatest Site looked like it did in these snapshots (cue shudders at the swift passage of time). But if there are any of y'all out there who remember these layouts, please do leave a comment! And any of the rest of y'all, please leave a comment and tell us how long you've been reading the site, and what kind of content you might like to see in the future. We're still recovering from our illness, so progress may be slow, but we've put far too much time into this project to quit now! So don't worry, we're not going anywhere.
Also 14 is 7+7, double good luck. So banzai for a wonderful 2020! And wish us some Kotobuki (live long and prosper). It's spelled with the same kanji as Imai Hisashi's name.
(Raise your hand if you think these "candies" should be Imai's member produced goods production for the next tour.)
Happy Anniversary! I've been reading this site for ten years now,as far as I'm concerned it is the greatest and so are you.thanks much.
ReplyDeleteCongrats! I can't wait to see what these next years bring- reading your posts is always entertaining no matter what. I personally love overanalytical rants about almost anything. Thank you for your hard work <3
ReplyDeleteI'm one of those babies- I might have stumbled upon the blog about 3 or 4 years ago. Bad memory.
I remember those banners! And now 10-ish years later my musical knowledge has expanded enough to get that some of them were referencing Guniw Tools. I remember being really frustrated at the time because I couldn't figure out what a hairspring was
ReplyDeleteHappy anniversary! I VIVIDLY remember those banners XD
ReplyDeleteBeen following you for 11/12 years and looking forward to more of your info and amazing humor! ❤️
Happy birthday, the world would have been a much, much more boring place without the website. I remember some of the older layouts, it feels really melancholic to see them again (although i think the'd still work well and would sell out if printed on tote cotton bags) :) cheers, and banzai and here's to many more happy anniversaries.
ReplyDeleteHappy anniversary, I think I have been reading the site for 4 years! I agree we should have 寿candies for next tour Haha. Thanks for being here all this time <3
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