Since Wings of My Heart isn't a part of Feed of Pop at the moment, just letting you all know that I've posted a review of Dir en grey's newest PV, "GRIEF," which can be read here. Do check it out. =D
Let me just say that she does a better backstage random self-introduction than some girls who have been in H!P for years. Maybe it's that whole enthusiasm thing, but damn, Aika's really got a shiny idol spark to her. Tsunku really knew what he was doing when he picked her.
I don't have time for a real entry, so this'll be brief ecstatic rambling:
OMG YAY AIBON IS COMING BACK HOLY CRAP!!!!!!! =D=D=D=D=D=D=D=D=D=D=D =D
=D
AIBON AIBON YAY OMG AIBON!!!! I'VE WAITED FOR THIS DAY FOR SO LONG AND I'D STARTED TO THINK IT WOULD NEVER COME! OMG! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Got my information from this article on Ikimasshoi. Bounceback produced a song for Tsukishima Kirari starring Kusumi Koharu's new album Mitsuboshi!!!
HELL YEAH! THAT'S SO AWESOME! Bounceback, a production and composition duo usually employed by Avex, have not only made songs for people BoA and Ayu, but for the wonderful, amazing, disbanded but still totally musically timeless SweetS at the beginning of their career. Amazing, awesome songs like "LolitA Strawberry in Summer," "Love Raspberry Juice," "Love Like Candy Floss," "Tear Lemon Drop," and "Snow Crystals" were written and/or produced by Bounceback, and SweetS KICKED ASS with these songs. Other great songs done by Bounceback include BoA's "Kimochi wa Tsutawaru" and "Beside You -Boku wo Nobu Koe-."
Conclusion = this song they produced, titled Spaghetti, is going to be freaking AWESOME, and Mitsuboshi is going to be an even better album than I'd anticipated. All of the other songs have great composers and sound like they'll be amazing, too! CAN'T WAIT! <3333333 =D
That reminds me, my copy of SweetS's first mini album just shipped today! =D I'm so happy; can't wait for all that awesome Bounceback-ness to arrive!
I'm having trouble getting myself to fully finish my "review" of the Dir en grey concert I attended yesterday, but I will try my best to finish it and post it tomorrow. Then, at some point, I shall do a write-up on the newly revealed Egao YES Nude PV (which I'm basically liking - go Koharu and Aika!), and who knows what after that. On the good news front, I've been feeling sick for most of the week, but I'm miraculously feeling better now, so even though I'm not in bed yet and it's after 4:30 am, I should be doing pretty well tomorrow. XD That is all.
Why is it that we've got the full PV for a single coming out way later than "Egao YES Nude," and still only an 8-second preview of the latter? Ahh well, I'm not going to complain, as I've been waiting for both rather anxiously, checking for them on Youtube every day for the past week and a half or so.
I'd have blogged about the concert I attended on Friday night sooner, but my weekend has been full of partying and getting sick, then sicker for it. Thus, I am home from school today.
Anyway, I figure I maybe should have mentioned who the opening bands were at the Billy Talent concert: Moneen, Anti-Flag, and Rise Against. I'd heard of them all, but had never listened to any of them. I must express how pleased I was to find that I enjoyed all of their sets, as was not the case with the opening bands at the last concert I went to, the Family Values Tour (ahh, thank god there will only be two English opening bands before Dir en grey at their headlining show which just so happens to be later this week. But more on that later).
And of course, the main event was as sweet as I'd expected it to be for all of the two and a half years that I'd waited for it.
In a few hours, I'll be seeing Billy Talent live! =D
If you've never heard of them, I'm not surprised. They're very famous in Canada, but not so much in the US, and I'm not sure about elsewhere (though they play in Europe a lot, so maybe they're popular somewhere there). Anyway, I've loved them since early to mid-2004, and they mean a lot to me; they were my first real favorite band. Their music just makes me darn happy, I love it so much. There's just a lot of pure brilliance working there, in both their lyrics and instrumentals.
Their second CD, Billy Talent II, came out last June. They did, however, release a CD called "Watoosh!" back when they were called Pezz (they had to change their name because another band had the same name). I've missed them every other time they've played here or nearby since I've been a fan, but finally everything has worked out and I'm getting to see them live. After waiting for two and a half years for this, it feels damn good.
So, that shall keep me busy. Tomorrow I have a lot of partying to attend to (...XD), but I shall blog again ASAP.
P.S. Dir en grey live in a week! My second time seeing them, and it doesn't feel a bit less exciting - just a lot more real. Having been mere feet away from three of them, and seen them all play live, it feels very believable that I'm going to see them, now. And it'll feel familiar to see them again, which is an amazing phrase I can't believe I just got to utter. XD w00t! =D
Their outfits look great, the dance is nothing special but sufficient in that the awesomeness of the song takes away all the attention anyway, and Aika seems like a real performer already. Though this is just a short clip, but I feel like it'll be more of the same when I see the whole performance. Damn, she got ready fast! I can't believe that was even possible.
I was a bit concerned by her recent official photos, since her braces appear to be gone and I wonder if getting rid of braces just for image is really worth it. But her teeth looked pretty straight, so maybe they were due to come off soon, anyway. And she could have gotten those clear braces that fit over your teeth instead of being little glued-on squares...I think I heard of such a think, once. In any case, she looks lovely!
Jinruichi of Hello Non-Pro Hour has been providing some great pics of Aika lately. While her official photos look nice and the magazine photos look really pretty, check out the screencaps of her from the concert! She's totally CELEB already. =D Alas, more on the 10th anniversary concert later. There's lots to cover there.
Yes, so anyway, I'm officially loving Aika right now. If Koharu's the Miracle Ace (which I support, by the way), then Aika's the Miracle Angel.
They look lovely, as pretty as anyone would like them to for their newest official photos. But...imagine how pretty Megumi would look.
It's horrible of me to be just obsessing over that, isn't it? But I can't help it. I miss Megumi, I'm impatient for the Sakura Chirari PV to come out, and while enjoying Sakura Chirari somewhat, I'm not as enthralled by it as I'd hoped to be by their first major single, so I'll obsess over Megumi if I want to. Today, as I listened to their song "ENDLESS LOVE~I Love You More~" on the bus home from my brief, solo, post-Japanese class trip to Chinatown, I began thinking about the guy in the pictures with Megumi, and wondering if they're dating, or if they were dating and the whole thing with the pictures caused any problems in their relationship. I surely hope the latter situation isn't the case, because if that was the reason she left H!P, it would probably be better for her to have him for support during the difficult time she surely had upon leaving.
Yeah, I spend my time thinking about such things.
Also, don't some of the girls kind of look lonely to you, in that picture? Like, a little bit too alone, I mean. Looking at Maimi, I really feel like she needs Megumi beside her, and I get a similar feeling looking at Airi. C-ute just looks kind of sad without Megumi...I'm not saying their faces are showing sadness, but rather, the sight of the group without Megumi is a sad one for a fan such as myself.
And Airi's outfit looks too much like the "Ooki na Ai..." and "Wakkyanai(Z)" outfits combined. Could they not think of something a little different? But there's nothing particularly wrong with it.
Anyway, I apologize for my all too long absence from this blog. My life has been practically incomprehensible recently; things are a little upside-down for me right now. But alas, things shall surely turn out alright. My "sweet sixteen" is approaching, and I plan on having a CD Japan shopping spree with my birthday money. Can you say Bounceback SweetS and AAA? w00t! =)
Gah! It was totally expected to happen eventually, and it definitely felt like "eventually" was drawing nearer...but dammit, right now? Right after the eighth gen joins, someone is announcing her graduation? Wtf is that? Ugh.
And yes, the fact that it's Yossie. The last of the fourth gen members, and the last of the "golden age" or "golden era" members, should you follow that definition of Momusu's "golden age." It's hard to believe that half of the fifth gen is already gone and now the entire fourth gen will be gone. I sort of feel like without Yossie...it just isn't Morning Musume anymore. Despite the fact that the fifth and sixth gens were in the group at the same time as first and second gen members, were coworkers with those members from the past, with original members even - just because they've worked with those members, it doesn't make it feel like they're a part of that "classic" group, now that those first and second gen members are gone. I guess it may have felt like they were part of it while Kaori and Nacchi and Mari were still around, but without them, it's different.
I don't know...maybe our definition of "Morning Musume" should be changed. It's been years since the golden age 10-nin and 9-nin. One should be used to a different group by now. And what the hell, why am I of all people complaining? The first song that got me into Momusu was Sexy Boy, for the love of god! As if that's a golden age song. So why am I talking about the golden age like some bitter old man talking about "the good ol' days"? When did it cast that kind of spell over me? I don't even listen to any of the songs from then half as much as I listen to Sexy Boy! But I guess, maybe these feelings aren't entirely about the music, for me. I love Aibon, Nono, Mari, Maki...hell, I'm even feeling sentimental about Nacchi, and I barely even care about her usually! (But may I mention that she's a really great actress, from what I've seen. Mad love for Pinch Runner.) As much as I like the current Momusus, there are few that I feel real attachment to when I think about it. There's Koharu, who's probably been my favorite member of the current lineup for a variety of reasons - though I'm thinking that being close to her age doesn't have too much to do with it, since I'm actually closer to Reina in age, but don't usually think too much about her. And then, the other current Momusu I'm quite attached to would have to be Yossie, despite not devoting much attention to her. Yossie's just awesome, and she's been around and been awesome with her various groupmates for years, as the group she started out in gradually changed around her until now, at which point she's the only member left from when she joined.
I was left uninspired by the Momusu/GAM Kouhaku performance. And now, Yossie is leaving. I'm feeling kind of uninspired by Morning Musume. Though I'm still rather excited about seeing their first release with Aika in it, and how Aika and Koharu will rival each other in the future - in a friendly manner, of course. Nonetheless, I think I am just now realizing how much more I care about Berryz, C-ute, and even Koharu on her own than Momusu as a whole right now. (And W, though it's hard to just mention them in passing when they're such depressing issue at the moment.) Hell, I also care more about GAM, Aya on her own, and Maki...probably even Nacchi.
So you know what? Dammit, I'm ready to forget about Morning Musume until some Aika-ness comes out, and focus on Morning Musume Tanjou 10nen Kinentai instead. Kaori, Nacchi, Maki, Risa, and Koharu = dream! But more on them later.
In the next week or so, I intend to blog about said anniversary unit, the aforementioned Kouhaku performance, Asian pop culture's presence in my city (the topic I was lead to by the karaoke article), hopefully a PV, and probably Super Junior (because hello, amazingness).
As I've mentioned on the American Wota forum before, there's a good Asian/KTV/karaoke box/noraebang/videoke/whatever you want to call it karaoke place I've taken to going to with my friends over the last few months. (Yeah, I like the word "noraebang" It's located in a very Korean area - as in, everywhere you turn there, there's a group of Korean teens, and often heart-meltingly gorgeous Korean guys - and has the basic features of any Asian karaoke place: a series of separate small rooms with couches, fancy lighting effects, and disco balls that you pay to spend a certain amount of time in with friends, so you're just singing within your group instead of in front of a bunch of strangers. (Although you can always hear the impossibly loud singing of some Korean girl hopelessly butchering a really good song, often "Romantic Cat" by Cherry Filter. I can't sing in Korean, but I could probably hum it better than most girls at that place.) They have a wide selection of songs to sing in Korean, Japanese, Chinese, English, Tagalog, Spanish, Russian, and maybe a couple of other languages (probably Vietnamese, but I can't remember for sure).
While my friends usually opt to sing jrock or kpop songs, I'm in it for the Hello! Project selection. They have almost every Morning Musume single right up to the most recent, and a fair offering of Matsuura Aya, Goto Maki, and incidentals such as popular summer shuffle songs (though they appear to have every shuffle song from 2001, and how popular could "Summer Reggae Rainbow" have possible been? But whatever). The songs I've sung there the most times are Momusu's "Sexy Boy" and DEF DIVA's "Suki Sugite Baka Mitai." On occasion I'll sing something not from the H!P camp, such as ZONE's "Akashi" (which I love completely) or a song W's done a cover of ("Koi no Vacance" or "Samishii Nettaigyo"). Overall, I've been pretty happy with the selection there, aside from the absence of songs by W and Berryz Koubou.
I just realized something while re-reading entries on Cult of Pop from the spring. The summer shuffles really never happened this year. No one's really talked about it, either; they've just kind of been quietly forgotten. H!P shuffles feel like a distant memory - or like just another thing that only existed in H!P before I became an H!P fan, like W actually producing things or Momusu being publically adored, as opposed to ignored. That's not fair! As a new H!P fan, I waited excitedly for summer shuffles. And by September I was pretty ticked, but people told me that "ALL FOR ONE AND ONE FOR ALL" didn't come out until December of 2004, so I felt better. But there's only a couple of days left until 2007 now, and there have been no shuffle units. I was waiting to see more shuffle units with Berryz and C-ute members, or maybe a chance for Nono to release something. But come on, how can this be? The shuffle units have existed every year since 2000; why would Tsunku just not bother this year? That's what it feels like, like he just didn't care enough to do it this year. Gah! So what if the shuffle singles may not sell well anymore? It's tradition, and one I was damn looking forward to. Plus, since when does Tsunku ever decide to not release something just because it's not going to sell well? Doesn't sound like him to me.
Gah, I'm really pissed off now. I guess we can't hold out much hope for there being shuffle units next year, either.
And you know what this is all making me think of? Aibon. T_T Aibon!
Oh god, I've been way too lazy this week. I need to get back into the swing of blogging. Frankly, that giant Happy Birthday entry I made for DBSK's Junsu really wore me out - I was dreading having to make another entry like that for the next birthday, that being Dir en grey's Die on the 20th. I think I'm going to have to scrap the idea of making birthday entries that long for everybody. I'll have to come up with something simpler and easier. That said, I'm still going to make a birthday entry for Die-san. It was inconceivable for me to do it on his actual birthday, since I actually had a really enormous project due on Friday that I, along with most of my classmates, had procrastinated doing for two weeks and left largely for the last few days. I somehow finished it, as did everyone, though I managed to get hours more sleep than most of my classmates and still finish it. Though that required skipping a couple of classes to go to Staples and make copies. But yeah. I can't describe the magnitude of this project to you, so just take my word for it that it was big.
In any case, a belated Merry Christmas to everyone! The adults in my life seem to have taken to the idea of getting me Asian-looking things, but I'm all for it. Why not? A good family friend in Conneticut (who took my mom and I shopping in NYC for a day when we last visited in the summer) gave me a book called "Japanese in MangaLand," that teaches the basics of Japanese through manga examples. I can't find any names of what manga these examples are coming from anywhere...maybe I'm supposed to just recognize them? I don't know, but whatever. I also somehow doubt that "boobie missle" is a "basic" that I'll need to use anytime soon, but I guess you never know what can come in handy.
Aside from this, my best friend got me a very pretty Full Moon wall scroll, so I'm quite pleased.
I'd planned on sharing clips of Momusu and Gackt singing English Christmas songs on Christmas, but Christmas is over now, right? Well, screw it. You've probably seen some clips from this show before, but I hope you enjoy this nonetheless. It's probably one of my favorite Christmas songs, and Gackt and Momusu is a dream combination - there are other people in it, too, but I'm not entirely sure who they all are - so here you go.
By the way, who's the hot shot at 1:10 wearing the fur? He looks familiar, but I can't put my finger on who he is.
Here's the real happy birthday entry. I really needed to get around to it now since there's a hugely important jrock birthday tomorrow. Thus, I am here now, despite the giant project I have to do.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY XIAH JUNSU!!!! <3333333
Your birthday was on the 15th; I hear you got two laptops! Wow o.o. Anyway, 20 is a big birthday! Congratulations! How do you feel? =D I'm talking so retardedly right now, since he's not even going to read this...XD but yeah. Anyway, let's celebrate!
Since I've run out of time for today, I'm going to make my big entry on this tomorrow. But for the time being, HAPPY BIRTHDAY XIAH JUNSU! <3333333333333
CHECK OUT this preview of Berryz Koubou's upcoming Music Fighter appearance, yo! I'd heard they might be having a speaking part, and I'm glad that this was the truth. But it's especially exciting to see that Momoko and Aoki Sayaka have a round 2 to their speed-blinking contest from the last episode the Berryz had a speaking part on. Considering that Momoko herself has said that she doesn't like to lose, it's not too surprising that they're having a rematch. Damn, I can't wait to watch this and see who wins this time around! (Go Momoko!)
Other parts that look amusing include Maasa showing her legs for some reason (what on Earth...haha) and Saki playing something on the recorder. I can't wait for this episode to be subbed! Considering how amusing it was the last time they talked on Music Fighter - I've watched the episode more than once =D - I'm sure that this can only be better. w00t!
I'd be lying if I said that Korikki's appearance at the end in the preview for the Christmas episode isn't the best part of this clip. Seeing him interact with the H!P girls looks far more amusing to me than his antics with Hinoi Team. Korikki and Nono, how did I never think of that combination? Maybe they can do the "W desu!" together, sing a little Robokiss...that's actually sounding like some real good TV to me. I actually want to see that.
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