Aino Minako-chan

I had a pretty good weekend to combat recent work/life stress. On Saturday, johnabe took me to see "Terminator Salvation" (just known as the more logical "Terminator 4" in Japan). It was my first ever Terminator movie, and you know what? I quite liked it. It has lots of fun action and explosions and some pretty amazing shots (there's a helicopter crash in the beginning that I thought was really well done... it really DID remind me of being in my mom's SUV when it flipped, only, obviously, longer). Plus, it has MARCUS WRIGHT (played by Sam Worthington), who was totally awesome and I loved him like an awesomely awesome thing. Anyway, for some non-spoiler fun, the credits to the movie turned out to be accidentally hilarious:

1. One poor actor was accidentally credited as "Soilder". I loled pretty hard. Go go proofreading skillz!

2. At the very end, when they had the "Special Thanks" part of the credits, there was one line that went something like this: "Special Thanks to the Department of Defense and the U.S. Air Force, but especially to the Department of Defense."

No seriously, it mentioned the DOD twice. I couldn't stop laughing. I imagine a meeting with the producers and the guys from the DOD went something like this:

Producer: ...and, of course, we will make sure to credit both you and the Air Force for your cooperation...
DOD: But we're responsible for the Air Force.
Producer: Um, yes, but the planes are actually being flown by the Air Force, so...
DOD: Well, sure, you have to thank them... but it's thanks to us that the Air Force even exists! So you need to, you know, thank us double.
Producer: Oh, well. I guess we could...
DOD: Can you print our name in big letters?
Producer: I suppose...
DOD: Or make it flash or something? Like, one of those scrolling thingamabobs?
Producer: Er...
DOD #2: What about sparkle font?
DOD: Oooooo...
Producer: ...We'll just thank you twice.

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One of my friends invited me to a little livehouse on Sunday night. Her boyfriend is acting as the temporary bassist for this comedic three person rock band. Their music was actually pretty good, and they were also very funny as well. They had songs called things like "My name is Bacteria Man" and "Draemon Ash" (a play on famous cartoon "Doraemon" and rock group "Dragon Ash"). Their lyrics were by turns humorous, surreal, and weird, and I quite liked it. I think my favorite song was one that mainly consisted of instrumental music while the lead singer/guitarist Sugawara-san (I've met him a couple of times) talked, giving a short setup to a joke (about current events, politics, whatever) that lead up to a killer punchline. But after Sugawara-san made a few good jokes, he forced the drummer, Endo,  to take a turn, and his joke went like this:

Endo: You know, you hear people talking about all of the horrible things happening to modern Japan, but I don't think people talk about Japanese eating habits a lot. You know, more and more people are cutting back on rice, and they're eating more and more bread (pan in Japanese). And to me, that's the real PANdemic.
Audience: ............
Endo: [attempt to hide behind drums]

I laughed. It was a pretty entertaining show. ^_^

This has been making its way around the internets, but I just hate to think that anyone would miss the hilarity. Disclaimer: I love Bonnie Tyler's song "Total Eclipse of the Heart". It's one of those big epic over-the-top rock ballads. Little Minako-chan used to turn it up on the radio and watch the video on MTV, that's how much I liked the song. Having said that, the video makes no freaking sense. It's honestly just mind-bogglingly weird. There's fencers and shirtless schoolboys and a very literal take on the lyrics "Turn around bright eyes". It's just SO weird.

Which is why the LITERAL version of the video, in which the original lyrics are replaced by descriptions of the video, is so good. I weep with laughter every time I see this video.

( The Original Version )

( The Literal Version )

In conclusion, it's still a great song, but the video, wtf?

I previously mentioned that Utada's second album is dropping soon. It comes out on March 14th in Japan and March 24th in the States. (The first single is already available.) I'm so excited about the album, however, that I completely forgot to mention the OTHER super-famous Asian singer coming out with a US album: BoA.

Yes, BoA's debut US album hits stores on March 17th. It's supposed to be a hard-hitting dance album, which admittedly makes me blink a bit, because US audiences aren't exactly known for being connoisseurs of dance albums. So far, I've heard two songs from the album: "I Did It for Love" and "Eat You Up".

( See the YouTube videos behind the cut! )

I quite like "I Did It for Love", but "Eat You Up"... Is it just me, or does that song sound like it's running at half speed? It's one of the least danceable dance songs that I've ever heard. Seriously, it's kinda weird.

Long story short, I passed the Level 1 JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test)! I was busy at work and didn't really study for the test (my studying basically invoved cramming kanji on the train ride to the testing location), but I somehow squeaked a win. Hurray!

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In completely (and I mean COMPLETELY) different news, does anyone remember an April Fool's joke on one of the internet gaming magazines sometime around, say 1998? They printed up a fake article about how FFVII, after being ported to the PC, would be enjoying a new port on the Atari (or something like that) taking up only 64 cartridges. They included a "movie" from the game, which was an animated gif of blocky Sephiroth killing blocky Aerith, climaxing with a single green pixel slowly bouncing away. It was horrifying funny, but I can't find it any more. (I can't even remember which online magazine it was... I believe that it changed names since then?) Does anyone remember this?

ETA: FOUND! Or, the animated gif, at least. It was ironically reposted recently. Enjoy!

http://www.gamesniped.com/2009/02/04/final-fantasy-vii-for-the-atari-2600/

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I'm unfortunately having a falling out with the video game Demon's Souls. And it's not because it's too hard or frustrating or anything... it's because it's starting to scare the crap out of me. I finished the first part of the first area, which unlocked all of the other areas, and two of them scare me half to death. I was doing well with one area, killing slow, stupid zombies, but I could hear banging from the next room. "Hm, wonder what that is!", I thought to myself. The answer came quickly when three zombie doggies burst out of the room. I literally turned and sprinted all the way to the exit while screaming, "AHHHH, EVIL PUPPIES!!!". (Note: this is the exact same thing that happens when I play Resident Evil games. I hate zombie doggies!) And then another area? Is the dungeon area, making it dark, narrow, and filled with torture equipment. It's creepy enough, but what makes things worse is the fact that every so often, you can hear a man's voice calling out, "Oh god, please help me! Someone, save me!" I basically ran from that level, too. It reminded me of when I played Silent Hill 2, a task that I was only able to accomplish by playing in full daylight, with all of the curtains open, while my roommate was home. Without a roommate, I honestly don't think I'll be able to play the dungeon area. (T_T) Too scawy!

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And in final news, Utada's second CD will be dropping in a few weeks. Hurray! You can check out the first single from the album here. On one hand, it's a bit too mellow for my tastes, but on the other hand, I have a tendancy to start singing it to myself at odd times, suggesting that it's surprisingly catchy. Not that I'm sure how people become famous for music these days, outside of T&A or American Idol.

I'm attempting to set a record for "topics that you will never ever see together in any other blog post." (^_^)v

High School Musical 3
John and I went to see the High School Musical movie in the theater on Sunday. I thought it would at least be unintentionally entertaining like past HSM movies, but it was also more intentionally entertaining than I thought it would be. Long story short, they apparently spent all of their money on big set pieces and dance boot camp. The choreography was very well done (not a single scene involved running over a golf course!!), so my dancer heart loved it. Plus, it's always fun when you can play "predict the choreography". (Like, "You know what? In this scene, I'd totally do a back roll into the splits. ...And they did it! AWESOME!") My biggest problem had to be one of the new characters, who was so annoying that I had to restrain the urge to leap into the screen and strangle him (possibly while screaming, "And cut your hair, you shaggy freak!!"). Seriously, don't even talk to me about whatshisname.

Demon's Souls
John's video game came out last week! John works for From Software, which put out the surprise hit Demon's Souls last week, so I picked it up. Look! Those wavy effects from my screaming dead soul? John did that!! I keep hearing that it's a horrendously difficult game, but it's really not that bad. I mean, I'm a HORRIBLE action gamer (I need cheats to beat all Resident Evil games, although this is partially because I jump at the drop of a hat and have a tendancy to start screaming when zombie doggies chase after me, at which point Mako-chan tends to start shouting, "You're immortal, Minako-chan! Just shoot them!"), so I was expecting to die right away, but I'm actually doing okay for the first runthrough. I've died twice so far; once I fell down a hole (I assumed that it was the right way to go, so I flung myself over the edge; whoops), and once I just accidentally ran into an enemy at the wrong time. But still! That's pretty awesome for me. I've only played about half of the first level, but I'm enjoying the game so far. Plus, you can customize your character by selecting one of 10 classes, and then using complicated Sims-esque controls to tweek your character's look. Therefore, my character Minako is a sexy, dark-skinned, white-haired holy knight. Go go Minako! (I also put away my shield so that I could just use my halberd two-handed... I'm not very good at blocking or parrying, so I'm just putting my money on strong offense to save the day. The halberd has a long reach, which can get dangerous in close quarters, but it means that I can kill things before they get within their own sword range.) I may change my mind later on, but so far, I honestly recommend it. Nothing like hacking at baddies to lower your stress.

Teriyaki Boyz
I watched the video for their song "Work That" while at the gym on Saturday, and I still can't decide what I feel about it. On one hand, it's a rather catchy song that I've had stuck in my head since then. On the other hand it's, well... See the video for yourself. Warning: Not safe for work. Or children. Or possibly your parents.

Okay, see what I mean? I vacillate between honestly insulted and genuinely amused depending on the time of day. As insulting as I find it, it's SO over the top that it starts to get pretty tongue-in-cheek funny after a while. Plus, the song is pretty catchy. I don't know. Decide for me!

Poll #1347201 More choices than you can shake an ass at!
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

So, what do you think?

Two of my recent obsessions:

1. Little Big Planet
   I bought myself a PS3 and Little Big Planet this weekend. ^_^ Little Big Planet is pretty darned fun; I've been playing it nonstop and I like to amuse myself by creating hideously tacky Sackpeople. It's easy enough that I can beat levels (eventually), but tough enough that I spend time trying not to scream and throw my controller at the screen as my stupid little Sackgirl gets herself blown up AGAIN. But I'm having a blast and I may actually need to try multiplayer in order to get some of the extras... Anyway, it's really fun and I give it two thumbs up. b(^_^)d
2. セレブと貧乏太郎 (Celeb & Poor)
   This is a silly romance/comedy show running right now in Japan about Alice, a super-rich super-celebrity who grew up with ultimate wealth and now runs her own fashion brand. (She's also the daughter of a rich hotel magnate. Any similarities to current celebrities living or dead is, er, totally implied.) When she needs a new driver, she ends up hiring Taro, an unlucky, working-poor stiff who's trying to raise three young kids by himself after his high school sweetheart dies. And when Alice needs a fake boyfriend to piss off her ex, who better to play the part than Taro! It's a very stereotypical "pretending to be together" romantic comedy mixed with a "the poor, but kind and happy person teaches the rich, but cold and miserable person how to be a decent human being" heart-warming tale, but it's really fun and surprisingly addicting. WILL ALICE AND TARO HOOK UP AND HAVE A WACKY OPPOSITES ATTRACT ROMANCE!? (Probably. I mean, this IS just a cheesy J-drama after all.) I'm sooper excited to see the next episode tonight. Seriously, it makes my week.

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And in completely different news, the big story in Japan is that Komuro Tetsuya was arrested. Yes, THAT Komuro Tetsuya. Long story short, KT has apparently had debt problems, so he offered to sell the rights to his songs to an investor for about $10 million (USD). He got half up front, but then it turned out that he doesn't actually own the rights to his songs. The rights all belong to AVEX, and KT gets paid yearly royalties. But KT either couldn't or wouldn't pay back the $5 million advance, so he was arrested today for fraud. It's a HUGE scandal, as you might imagine.

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And on a very side note, I'm currently proofreading a document translated by an outsourced translator. He's American and therefore my proofreading should theoretically only be for technical terms and adherence to basic style, but it's simply so hideous that I almost want to print it out, rip it to shreds, and then rewrite the whole thing. It's simply HIDEOUS. The document is release notes for an updated version, so there's lots of information about new features and bug-fixes, stuff like that. It should be a simple translation, but it reads horribly. I mean, every SINGLE sentence reads like, "It is now compatible to the Web function" or "It is possible to communicate between multiple points" or "It makes possible to input a 720p format video." Every SINGLE last freaking sentence; out of a list of 11 additional functions, a 9 of the descriptions started with "It is" (and a 10th was completely wrong due to an addition of the word "not"). I'm going to kill someone. I've proofread this guy's translations before, and it all smacks of the same horrible writing. He's either the world's most incompetent writer, or he's outsourcing the outsourcing work. >_< Seriously, it shouldn't be this hard to find good translators. Help me Obi-wan Kenobi! You're my only hope!

Three videos that I've gotten hooked on recently:

• Carry On Wayward Son, as performed by a Japanese girl on Electone. It's pretty awesome. Bonus points for the hysterically dry Japanese MC and audience.
• Where the Hell is Matt? is just a happy-making video. I possibly got a bit verklempt while watching. [sniff sniff] Shut up! So I'm a leetle girl!
• Kiwi is an animated web video that I'm sure many people have already seen, but it never fails to make me sqeak a bit. It's phenomenal... it's like a Pixar story written by Japanese screenwriters.

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So I went to Roppongi two weeks ago to watch Indiana Jones with a friend. I loved it, of course (I'll keep watching until Indy's hobbling along on his walker). Here are a few of my spoilery thoughts for anyone who's actually managed to miss it:

( Indy Jones, how are you so awesome? )

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In other news, I possibly accidentally bought myself a big new TV last weekend. Ummm.... yeah. It was just one of those things where I had just received my summer bonus and I was thinking about how my current TV is failing me and there was a sale, and before I knew it, I had made a snap decision to buy a TV. I mean, I never budget for bonuses so it's not like I can't afford it, but still. I'm usually fiscally responsible (except when it comes to electronics)! I swear!! [sigh] I feel weak. I seriously need to stay away from the freaking electronics store. It's dangerous.

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Finally, I almost wish that I had a video iPod now, because Square-Enix just released a new game called Song Summoner. From what I can tell, it looks like Square's version of Monster Rancher, but with music straight from your playlist. It looks pretty awesome. Who can resist the urge to see what kind of fighter Mini-Moni's Hamuzu no Uta will produce? It's relatively cheap, so if anyone has a video-compatible iPod, download it and tell me how it is!

• Have other people seen this? http://www.dothetest.co.uk/ It's a really great video that works best when you don't know what it's about. Just follow the instructions and count carefully. If you do this right, you'll be pleasantly surprised by the results.


• Infinite Undiscovery is an RPG being published by Square Enix for the Xbox 360. It looks like a fairly standard RPG so far, but the reason why I already adore it is the title. It's like the developers went, "We need to make an RPG for the Xbox that is totally not like Final Fantasy. So not 'final'.. It'll be... infinite! Infinite Fantasy! No, Infinite Unfantasy!! No no, I've got it, Infinite UNDISCOVERY!" Seriously, doesn't the title sound like something that was the result of a late night meeting involving way too much beer and someone repeating the phrase "Final Fantasy" one too many times?


• Sakamoto Maaya's latest single Triangular (the "Macross F" anime theme song) has been doing surprisingly well on the single charts, but the reason why I bring it up is because on my morning TV show, they said something about how she's become more and more famous thanks to her musical roles. So I looked it up quickly... Turns out she was one of the actresses who played the roll of Eponine in Les Mis from 2003-2007. Huh, go Sakamoto Maaya! And you mean I missed a chance to hear her as Eponine? Damn.


• As mentioned on kinomakoto's LJ, THEY'RE MAKING A HERE IS GREENWOOD TV DRAMA. Oh be still my beating heart. Greenwood is one of my favorite anime and manga of all time, so I am super-de-duper excited. Having said that... I already disagree with the casting of Shun, and I seriously doubt that anything can change my mind. I honestly think that they should have cast a female actress (for those who don't know the series, the entire joke about Shun is that he looks (and acts, for the most part) exactly like a really cute girl; the lead character Suka-chan rooms with Shun for several days before figuring it out, and that's only because he finally walks in on Shun at a urinal). I'm sure that the guy playing Shun is perfectly nice, but it's tough when you think that they cast a character as the wrong SEX. But the guy playing Suka-chan is cute like a bunny, so we'll see.


• Just when I think that I'm starting to get used to living in Japan... Without talking too much about the show, I was watching this normally funny "talk with celebrities" program, and they were discussing "kawaii" and women being cute. Anyway, they had three examples (sent in from actual viewers) on the topic "Things that I do to make myself seem cuter": Purposely walking slow behind a guy and complaining, before jogging up and tugging on his sleeve; pretending to get caught in clothing while taking off sweaters or whatever; making expressive little hand gestures to emphasize emotions like sadness or shock.
  
  I would just like to say that these are not only all actions that annoy me, these are all actions that actually make me raging mad. Every. Single. One. I was ready to hit something just after watching the little reenactment videos. That, or start screaming, "OMG, it's your fault that women can't advance in the workplace!" My rage almost overwhelmed my desire to start sobbing on behalf of double-X chromosomes everywhere. I felt ill after watching this little comedy program. Honestly ill. Don't make me smack a bitch, Japan! I'll do it! I totally totally will! Minako-chan smash!!


• In better news, Superfly's new album hit #1 on the charts. I adore Superfly. She's this teeny girl with massive vocal power who reminds you more of Janis Joplin or Grace Slick or some other 60's powerhouse vocalist. I quite like her; I have a soft spot for teeny powerhouses (see: TMR). Go go Superfly!

I'm actually caught up on work and shopping and holiday planning, so I thought I'd share some songs and videos that have made me happy recently.

( 1. Japanese reggae rules. )

( 2. Surrealist dancers + box-like set = Awesome dance video )

( 3. Surrealist dancers + box-like set = Awesome dance video (Part Two) )

( 4. OMG, I remember when you were in high school. )

I had major carpal tunnel at the beginning of the week, and the inability to type with my left hand nearly killed me. (Seriously, have you realized how many important letters are located on the left side of your keyboard?) After a lot of pondering, I tried taking a Bufferin, but I couldn't really tell if the anti-inflammatory action helped. Anyway, what I really want to share is the story of my awesome Bufferin holder. See, when I first bought the Bufferin a year to two ago, it came with a convenient carrying case good for just 4-5 doses. But the carrying case? It's a Cookie Monster carrying case. No joke. I call it my "Cookie Monster Candy". I have no freaking idea who thought it would be a good idea to store pain pills in an easy-to-open, colorful, plastic Seasame Street package, especially not one adorned with a character known for eating yummy things. "C'mon kids! See how many you can down before your mommy catches you!" It's fairly bizarre, but that's why I love it. Even though I rarely resort to painkillers, my Cookie Monster Candy never leaves my side.

In other news, as I'm sure some have already heard, X Japan is officially back together. Their latest single is going to be the theme for "Saw 4", and for those who live in Tokyo, they're filming the music video in Odaiba next Monday. To be entirely honest, I'm not quite sure how I feel about it. Does this mean that Toshi is no longer communing with Mother Earth? Can X Japan really be X Japan without Hide? But then again, they played a clip of the song on the morning news on Wednesday... and it's good, really good, just like old X Japan, I can tell you that much. I'll reserve final judgment until I see them perform again, but until then, I'm cautiously excited.

Four words to explain my shrieking at breakfast this morning:

LUNA SEA REUNION CONCERT

That's right, Luna Sea is holding a concert at Tokyo Dome on December 24th.... AND I CAN'T GO!!! I've been planning to go home for Christmas for the first time since 2003, so all of my sisters have planned to come down, too, for a reunion with all of the kids. B-but... LUNA SEA!!!! (Although, technically, I could still fly out on the 25th and make it in time for Christmas dinner... and isn't it somewhat sad that I'm considering it? But... LUNA SEA.) On a side note, I was also in Japan seven years ago when Luna Sea held their final concert tour, and I missed the final concert due to going home for Christmas. Stupid Christmas concerts...

By coincidence, I've received a few comments recently talking about Gackt and Yoshiki doing a project. Now, I've been unfortunately out of the loop in terms of Japanese music for several months now, so I have no idea what anyone is doing. So I did a quick web search during lunch today, and it turns out yes, Gackt and Yoshiki are apparently forming a "super band". But that's not what made me sit up and stare at my computer screen. It was a recent Sponichi article about how SUGIZO was joining the band as the guitarist. Sugizo!!! [wave brightly] It's like the late-90's exploded in revival-band format. (lol)

In other music news, I jumped on the bandwagon and bought an iPod nano. (Actually, can you even call it "jumping on the bandwagon"? It's more like, I finally noticed that there was a bandwagon tottering off into the sunset and I decided, what the hell, maybe I'll ride my mule after it.) Anyway, I didn't technically want an iPod, but it was the only one that had the search function that I wanted, so now I'm "cool" and "hip to the groove" or whatever. In any case, it's a massive step up from the capacity of my old 1 GB Sony, so I'm pretty excited about the space. I spent the weekend burning a stack of CDs that I brought from the States, but haven't listened to in a few years thanks to [point back a sentence] 1 GB. There were songs that I had seriously forgotten about. Oh, Macross 7! How I missed thee!

I've been extremely busy lately doing, well, absolutely nothing. It's basically been a mix of eating, sleeping, working, playing video games, shopping, and watching movies. That's it. Surprisingly, it's been strangely satisfying: busy, but relaxing at the same time. Unfortunately, it's also really quite dull to write about in livejournal. Therefore, I have decided to summarize the past 2 weeks or so in the following manner:

( The Minako-chan Countdown!! )

Those wacky wacky idols. When will they every learn? With two of the original eight members on probation for underaged drinking, NEWS will go on indefinite hiatus after their tour is over, and the members will go on to do solo projects. In other words, Yama-p will continue to do decent work, and the poor other guys will flounder in the background of Johnny's musicals. But it's not just Johnny's anymore. The morning news announced that a Hello Project girl has been put on probation when she was caught smoking in public. The news didn't release a name since she's a minor, but they said the girl was underaged, used to be in Morning Musume, and is currently working in another Hello Project group. Now, unless I missed something, that leaves... Kago or Tsuji in W, right? Poor things. They're really cute, in an annoying sort of way.

Anyway, there've been a lot of songs that I'm loving right now, so I thought I'd share:

I believe is an incredible debut song by the young singer/songwriter Ayaka. It's gained a lot of attention partially because it's the theme song to a popular TV drama, and partially because Ayaka has amazing talent. Her voice is very powerful and she does an amazing job performing this powerhouse ballad. HIGHLY recommended.

Yui is an excellent young singer/songwriter of a different brand. While Ayaka's voice is powerful, Yui's voice is pure and sweet. Yui is almost always pictured with an acoustic guitar, and many of her songs have a simple guitar base. You can imagine Yui practicing on street corners or in small clubs. I'm personally a huge fan on her single Tokyo.

ENDLICHERI*ENDLICHERI is the name of the new project by KinKi Kids' Dohmoto Tsuyoshi. (FYI, it's the name of a fish, a very very ugly fish.) Tsuyoshi-kun said that the name change comes from a desire to do different types of songs, with focus on the lyrics. I love Tsuyoshi-kun, so I pick up most everything he produces, so of course I rushed to rent Someiyoshino (a type of cherry blossom). But the real reason I adored the song was the adorable story Tsuyoshi-kun told before his performance last week on Music Station. He commented that this is a song to (about) his mother. Every year, he goes on a hanami with his mother, and he says it's a time to reflect on life. He starts thinking, "Wow, my mom looks older", which leads him to think "Huh, I've gotten older, too". Tsuyoshi-kun went on to describe how it was the middle of the night at the recording studio when he was going to record this song, and he decided to quickly email his mom first. He just sent her a note saying, "That you for giving me life; thank you for giving birth to me." It was quite touching and serious. So much so, that the Music Station host Tamori looked like he didn't know what to do next. Long story short, sweet song.

Finally, the first major Japanese mash-up has me addicted. Combine the theme song from "Kill Bill" and a fairly mellow rap song and what do you get? Battle Funktastic from Hotei vs Rip Slyme. I'm actually not a huge fan of Rip Slyme as far as Japanese rap goes. Their melodies are a bit too mellow for me, and I always feel like they end up sounding like kiddie songs with the repetition and simple tunes. (Although, I will admit that these are the exact qualities that make the songs crack candy that simply won't leave your head.) So what better way to jazz up a Rip Slyme song, than to infuse it with some Hotei Tomoyasu-brand electric guitar? Turns out, this is the perfect solution.

Just a collection of some random entertainment thoughts and tidbits.

Kawamura Ryuichi (former lead singer of Luna Sea and current lead singer of Tourbillion) got married about a week ago to a former Miss Japan. That's right, Ryuichi-san is finally off the market. And with a Miss Japan... that's just such a wonderfully appropriate ending (or beginning) to the Ryuichi-san story. I plan on celebrating his marriage by buying the Tourbillion CD. Because it's Ryuichi-san! And Inoran! And... Hayama-kun!

NEWS has lost yet another member due to underage drinking. No, seriously. The first incident was a rather big deal, with everyone talking about how an older female news announcer got an underaged member of NEWS plastered (oh, like you've never thought of it...). Now, apparently, a completely different member got himself wasted in public. I'm not sure which member it is (not that it matters, because I don't know the NEWS members anyway), but in the past week, about three NEWS members had big press conferences announcing that they were accepted into prestigious private universities, and the news article I read implied that it was one of them. Well... now he can concentrate on his studies. And, er... yeah.

In completely unrelated news, KAT-TUN is finally making their CD debut, 5 years of sold-out concert tours and best-selling concert DVDs after they were first formed. Yes, I'll be buying their debut album. Yes, you are all allowed to mock at will. In my own defense, at least none of THEM have been stupid enough to wander around pissed in public.

Finally, the Oscars are coming up, and I'm feeling rather blase about it. On one hand, this is the first Oscars in YEARS where I haven't felt seething hatred for one of the nominees. (Ah, I still fondly remember the year of "You people don't want to know what I'll do if Russell Crowe wins another freaking Oscar.") On the other hand, I've also seen a whopping 0 of the films nominated for the big awards, and actually scarily few even including the minor ones, so I really have nothing to root for. Having said that, I'm rather proud of the nominees for best animated film: Corpse Bride, Wallace & Gromitt, and Howl's Moving Castle. Puppet stop-motion animation, clay stop-motion animation, and hand drawing. Take that, Madagascar! Bite me, Chicken Little! To all those morons who mistakenly believe that old-school animation is dead and computer animation is the only way to go, I laugh in your faces. People didn't start liking Pixar better than Disney because Pixar was computer animated. People liked Pixar better because the stories were good, the characters were engaging, and none of the plots ever involved a prince getting turned into a llama. Anyway, I'm personally cheering for all three of the animated films and I look forward to seeing all of the other nominated films some day before I die.

Takizawa Hideaki of Tackey & Tsubasa can sing. He can dance. He can act, draw crowds, complete any physical task set before him, and do it all while looking ridiculously good. So, is there anything he can't do? Apparently, yes. As seen on tonight's episode of "Hey Hey Hey Music Champ", Tackey cannot draw to save his life.

( Here is Tackey's rendition of a lion. )
I honestly laughed so hard that I cried.

Okay, so I decided to get a paid account, just to try it out. In any case, I scanned and uploaded the amazing shots of the diva version T.M.Revolution and posted scans in a gallery here. Slightly scary, actually. Anyway, one of the pictures got me thinking, so I thought I'd put it to a poll vote. Look at the following images and decide for yourself:

1. 2.

Poll #652110 Winter Diva
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Who makes the better winter diva?

Howl's Moving Castle: Last weekend, I picked up the DVD version of Howl in order to break up the long hours spent at KHII. It was just as good as I remembered, and made surprisingly more sense when I had English subtitles to help me with the parts I missed the first two times around. ^_^ The DVD also included the vocal tracks in French and English. The English version stars Emily Mortimer and CHRISTIAN BALE, so I thought I'd try out the English language version first, and I think that my entire option can be summed up in three words:

Blame the director.

Holy crap, it was horribly horrible in a horrifying way. Christian Bale sounds half-drunk the entire time, and obviously the only direction he was given was "Howl is a lothario. Act slimier!"I nearly bust into tears the first time Howl appeared, and my favorite scene of the entire movie (Howl having a complete tantrum because Sophie made his bleached hair return to black) was RUINED when you have Bale doing a wooden reading in his "huskiest" voice. Add in Billy Crystal as Calcifer in the background, and I switched back to the Japanese track within minutes.

For the love of god, if you're going to see Howl, watch the Japanese track with subtitles. KimuTaku rules as Howl. Hell, watch the French version if you need to. Just stay the hell away from the English language version. [shiver]

AAA: Pronounced "Triple A". If you haven't heard of them, don't feel bad. Since September, they released four singles, one album, and won the Japanese equivalent of a Grammy for Best New Artist. They're a five guy three girl pop group produced by Avex, and since I had barely heard of them before they won their award, I decided to rent their album at Tsutaya today. They're not spectacular, but they're quite good. And if anything, their debut "BLOOD on FIRE" (Initial D movie theme song) is an absolutely perfect Avex track: Eurobeat techno rhythm, excellent balance between male and female singers, driving rap. I'm addicted to that song.

T.M.Revolution's Under Cover: TMR's "self-cover" album is part of his 10th year anniversary celebration. These are completely different remixes of some of his biggest hits. Some versions work better than others. None are... bad persay, but they're simply not as much of a creative leap. The rock version of "High Pressure", for example, barely feels different, while the remix of "Hot Limit" featuring rap by Heartsdale is lots of fun. And I love the classical version of TMR's hit ballad "Thunderbird" for one big reason: Arranged by Kanno Yoko. Excuse me while I scream just a bit.

But the best reason to pick up this album? The photo inserts. Oh god, the photo inserts. It's TMR dressed to the nines and doing his best diva impression. And I do mean divA; we're talking smokey eyeliner, hiphuggers, and falsies here. And he looks GOOD. The guy at Tsutaya when I rented the album was hysterical. He's required to look through all of the random inserts to make sure that nothing's missing. So he started flipping through the first stack of photo inserts, when he suddenly stopped, paused, and started flipping through from the beginning again, much more slowly. It's honestly that shocking.

I spent New Year's Eve with johnabe, eating dinner and watching music programs on TV. We started with the annual Kouhaku music battle, and went into the Johnny's countdown special.

Since kinomakoto asked, the white team (men's team) won the Kouhaku. It was the usual mix of pop songs, enka, and random tributes that made no sense whatsoever. (For example, they did a series of famous 80's idol tunes, then ended the montage with SMAP coming on stage while O-Zone's "Dragostea Din Tei" played in the background. I've never seen KimuTaku so confused. SMAP obviously had no idea what the hell was going on, either. The Gorie performance was simple amazing; the entire stage was covered in about 100 cheerleaders in glittery, colorful uniforms, dancing in perfect unison. (Gorie competed for the red (women's) team, btw.) The vocal performances of the night were, as could probably be expected, from Dreams Come True and Porno Graffitti. I got a little bit choked up listened to Miwa-san and Akihito-san. But my personal favorite performance had to go to T.M.Revolution, who showed up in a white furry outfit on top of a crane, belting "White Breath" with Darth Vader and a bunch of Stormtroopers wandering in the background. He sounded great, he looked great, and Darth Vader just made me laugh. "What's with the Star Wars theme!?" I thought to myself. And then I remembered that TMR has multiple Stormtrooper-esque outfits and also has an entire album entitled "The Force". "Oh, right, he's a big fan."

And although John was slightly less than amused, I liked the Johnny's countdown special. 101 Johnny's all on one stage! They just kept on coming out of the woodwork.

John: [watching V6 perform] Wow, I actually know all of these songs. This is all your fault.

Can't get enough Johnny's.

But the true highlight of my New Year's was this morning. Four words for you: New Year's Day Sales. I admittedly went a little nuts buying all sorts of stuff, but the sales were amazing! Plus, basically every store had a grab bag deal going on. You had no idea what you were going to get, but you were guaranteed a huge deal. Probably the smartest move I made was limiting the amount of money that I was carrying with me. I gave myself a set limit and went off for the day at 10:00, with the goal of buying a long skirt, some socks, and maybe some boots or a hat. I came back three hours later with the following:

- A long brown velvet and lace skirt.
- A long tan faux suede-y skirt.
- A black top.
- Two pairs of tights and a pair of socks.
- A white hat.
- White boots.
- Pretty pink bra.
- Rose shaped earrings.
- Jewelry grab bag (filled with a ring, a necklace, a charm bracelet, an extra charm, and a pair of earrings).
- A clothing grab bag (filled with short purple pants [too small, but I figured they would be], a fluffy blue top [too not my style], a jean jacket [tad snug, but works well open], a dark gray tube top [perfect!], and a black shirt [also great!].
- 547 yen.

(lol) Seriously, I had to bring out the calculator to work out if I could afford the underwear AND the boots. Luckily, I didn't have to choose. ^_^

I got this off of childdoll's journal. Not surprisingly, she turned out to be nice. Surprisingly, this is what I got...

Dear Santa... Dear Santa, This year I've been busy! In October cloudlessnights and I donated clothes to the needy (11 points). In June I put gum in aquahouse's hair (-12 points). Last Thursday I donated bone marrow to johnabe in a life-saving procedure (300 points). In March I helped kyonomiko see the light (8 points). In February I ruled Canada as a cruel and heartless dictator (-700 points). Overall, I've been naughty (-393 points). For Christmas I deserve a spanking! Sincerely, minakokouchou

Write your letter to Santa! Enter your LJ username:

(T_T) B-but, I saved johnabe!! I totally think that should make up for the whole Canada thing...

Anyway, it's December, which means end-of-the-year music specials all month. Hurray~! It's my favorite time of year in Japan! (^_^) Last night-ish, V6 apparently appeared at a big end-of-the-year concert in South Korea. The morning news had a pretty long segment showing them with their screaming hordes of Korean fans. Tonight, V6 and many many other guests are going to appear in the FNS music special. I still have fond memories of the FNS special from last year, when Destiny's Child was confronted with the horror that is "Matsuken Samba II". The post-performance talk was wonderful:

Host: So, what did you think of this performance?
DC: [forced smiles] Oh, excellent. Truly amazing. There was the dancee and... And the costumes... WOW.
MatsuKen: [seriously] Yes, well I have to thank all of my wonderful dancers. And the costumes, actually, were made by a designer in New York.
Hostess: Wow, so you could all get your OWN copies of these outfits for yourself!!
DC: [abject horror]
Beyonce: [FORCED SMILE] WOW, that would be... WOW.

I couldn't stop laughing. But anyway, poor V6. Korea yesterday, Tokyo today... I almost feel bad that they'll be forced to sing for me on Saturday when I see them in concert. ALMOST.