Saturday, May 31, 2008
Was watching mtv channel 51's jap-korean music ranking. At the end of the programme, X Japan's "I.V." PV was shown. I knew this song existed and really wanted to find out about it when i first got to know about it when trailers of the movie Saw IV came out. But somehow along the way i got distracted and strayed away, you know by what else. Okay this is the theme song of this movie. Love this song. Not only because its the new material released by X Japan ever since... well as far as i know, ever since X Japan had their 'farewell' concert. That was when hide, the guitarist, was still alive. The pv had some effect on me, like it made the song more dramatic and emo, and the fact that they left the lead guitarist position empty, placing only a guitar on the guitar stand, and showing snippets from footages of hide in their past concerts made the song even more emo. Oh but i didnt realize it was a song with entirely english lyrics and was wondering why Saw IV would use a japanese song as the theme song. I am right when i say i dont pay attention to the lyrics of a song on first listen ahha. But the lyrics fit the melody very well. Depressing. Here's the video. http://youtube.com/watch?v=u0-Q25w9si0

Finally got round to listening to the short subaru cm that L'Arc~en~Ciel's upcoming single, "NEXUS 4 / SHINE" is tied up with. The song used is "NEXUS 4". I like the feel of the song. Its along the same style as "Link", but i like it more than "Link". Dont know why, it just feels more... energetic since both "Link" and "NEXUS 4" are supposed to give the energetic vibe. The short preview, i wish i can tell the commentator to shush. http://youtube.com/watch?v=OE3_NH6h_JE

And finally to HYDE's new project with K.A.Z - VAMPS's upcoming single, "LOVE ADDICT". "LOVE ADDICT" sounds like "MADE IN HEAVEN" from the "FAITH" album, not in the melody sense, but rather the way HYDE sings. He kind of screams (eh what's the more profound word to use), okay erm he uses that kind of technique in the chorus. I dont know about the rest of the song since the preview only showed the chorus. I didnt want to put the video link here initially, coz HYDE's girly image freaks me out a little. I was like WOW, he's... pretty. Too pretty its disturbing. Haha. And another reason why i didnt want to put it here is because i dont want people to be 'mistaken' about HYDE or hyde (he's hyde in lower case letters in laruku and HYDE in caps as a solo artiste). Haha. But to get my point across about the song, i guess i need to. I wouldnt mind if he goes the "FAITH" album way, but since he went to the extent of using a new name (VAMPS) and that K.A.Z is now officially part of VAMPS, i hope to see something more. Haha i know i said before that i didnt want something too radical. Im fickle-minded haha. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxsAH1LFMg4&feature=related

Full versions of KAT-TUN's new album tracks can be heard online now.Will get round to them when i feel like it. Haha. Im currently tired of getting too wordy.

--
"I.V." by X Japan. (theme song of Saw IV the movie)


| 5:30 PM|

------ Friday, May 30, 2008
Last Friends episode 8. Ratings was 18.8%. I like this episode, because of how things flowed in this episode. The past episodes, the individual characters' stories were kind of detached from each other, as you can see i always talked about individual characters and their development. There seems to be a central theme that the episode follows, i wont define the theme, not because i cant a word to describe it, but because its more like a subconscious realization thing when you come to the end of the episode. I love the last part of the episode, because you see how Takeru really really feels towards Ruka, and when i was watching Takeru voice his thoughts, i was going "finally!". He mentioned to Ruka his feelings for her before, but we didnt see much development from there, apart from the fact that Ruka shut him out of her life for a while. This time there's development, and you can tell Takeru is very important to Ruka as well, as a friend or just as someone who knows her and she is able to trust and confide in. It was a "finally!" kind of feeling when i saw Ruka just let out her pent-up frustrations. Michiru somewhat becomes a backdrop in this episode, but she is just this plain and simple girl in this drama, its not a bad thing though. Her feelings are kind of outright, or rather she doesnt have complexes like Ruka or Takeru. Next episode's preview: oh dear. I worry about what's going to happen. In the beginning of episode 1, Michiru was mentioning a 'death'. And most of us who are following the drama are still guessing who's that person. I thought it'll be Sousuke definitely, since its probably the only way everyone else leads a more peaceful life. But who knows. =S Sheesh.

--
I've been having weird dreams again. Its not the scary, disturbing, weird kind, but rather the HAH?! kind of dreams which will never happen in reality. Its amusing ahah.

--
I hang out with different people for different things. I mean, i do different stuff when i hang out with different people. I mentioned to my sis before, that the kind of friends we make are very different. She has her band friends whom she does alot of stuff with (talking nonsense, sharing thoughts, just hanging around, dinner, cca, school time etc.). But for me, its kind of delineated haha. Not that its a bad thing. I just suddenly thought about it. Maybe that explains why i dont go out often haha.

--
"12 o'clock" by KAT-TUN.


| 10:20 AM|

------
Okay about kat-tun's radio previews. Yesterday's "DISTANCE" preview pushed me to the realms of hell. But today's "12 o'clock" preview is OMGGGGGG.

It has a very very interesting intro, with a few words of exchange and some laughter (between nakamaru and koki), and i already went omg. Because its different! And i have an obsession with songs that try different stuff. Then nakamaru's beatboxing started and jin started talking. 1 o'clock... blah blah 12 o'clock. And i went omgomg. And then koki's rap starts as the 1970s disco music started and a girl's voice says "say what?" and i went OMG. That music sequence before kamenashi started his solo lines reminds me of Scissors Sisters. Nice. And jin's voice in the second verse is adfjashdfld freaking good. This person never fails to amaze with his voice. This song uses voice distortion/voice manipulation, and it just has a very upbeat feel. I cant describe it to the point, its just a very addictive song. I can put this song on repeat and NEVER get sick of it at all. The amazing thing about this song is that the arrangement of vocals is very tight, it leaves none of them out at all, and i dont really want to delineate which are whose solo lines already (besides jin and kamenashi's solo lines, the rest actually need some careful listening to differentiate initially), because everyone sounds good. There's alot of kamenashi, and alot of distortion used for jin's lines towards the end of the song when he does those background freestyle kind of erm, singing? i dont know what word to use to describe.). JIN'S VOICE IS LOVE ahha. I like this kind of feeling, when everyone is involved. The other song which gave me this feeling is "SHOT!" from the new album too, because everyone sounds good. But "12 o'clock" is 1000000X better. Beats "AFFECTION - Mo Modorenai -" hands down. This is a bonus track on the limited edition only. Dammit. Later i end up buying it (its freaking expensive) if i see it in hmv. Okay i want a live performance of this song in their concert and i want it in the dvd, if there's going to be a dvd. Please like totally.

--


| 1:55 AM|

------ Thursday, May 29, 2008
I am so tired today. Okay i slept at 3am but i woke up at 9am, and for the past week ive been sticking to this routine. But when i woke up today, i was literally dead and collapsed on the dining table even before i had breakfast. I just had a small four leaves bun (note: small bun) and finished my milo and i collapsed on the dining table again. Then i dragged myself to the study room to get my laptop. And then for these few hours i was kept awake. I had lunch, and then i collapsed on the dining table again. For a good half an hour.

It feels terrible. Im going to take a short nap before i leave for training later. But then again, i might not want to wake up for training once i fall into deep sleep, which is a torture to awake from, making my condition worse than originally. Arrrgh.

Listened to another preview, "DISTANCE". I dont like this song. Period. Haha except for jin's solo line which is THE saving grace of this song. It sounds like the theme song of a 1970s soap drama, and a CHINESE soap drama to be exact. It really reminds me of that era, you know when actors and actresses have that distinctive hairstyle (puffed up or combed back fringes and lots of hair gel which makes their hair really glossy in the black and white film). Hai. This song made me appreciate "MOTHER/FATHER" more and decide that its not bad a song, just that its not my cup of tea. If they used only jin's voice and probably nakamaru's voice in this song, then maybe this song wont be sent to the last of the list. Because its obviously a song that you dont have to scream your lungs out and lose all control over volume and pitch to nail it down. Jin and nakamaru didnt scream. You dont have to scream to sound emo. Referring to taguchi and ueda and koki in this case. More of taguchi actually, coz i still cant confirm who sang the first verse. But second verse with taguchi was quite disturbing.

Three more previews.

--
Despite the many times i face such a situation,

i can never find the right words to say.

What can i say?

Its just like this? There's nothing to do about it? It'll pass? Its alright?

I wont say anything, because nothing like the above sentences occur to me at all.

Because you decide where and how you are placed in a circle.

We ourselves decide.

Its got nothing to do with anyone else.

--
"SHOT!" by KAT-TUN.


| 1:50 PM|

------ Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Had training yesterday and i really wanted to tear my right arm off for a short period of time during training coz it was freaking hurting like mad. I'm now officially handicapped in my both my right arm and left leg.

Came back at around 12.30am, then after i showered, i went to listen to the preview of two new tracks of KAT-TUN's album. "un-" sounds like a fusion of NEWS's and ARASHI's songs. I kinda dont like the starting music, and when i first heard it, i was going "shit, hell no please.", because it sounded very teeny boppy! When the verse started, the doom kind of feeling diminished quite a bit, because i can totally imagine news or arashi singing this song, but somehow kat-tun singing it makes me feel better. The verse and bridge sound quite okay, but the chorus... okay i will leave my comments for later when the cd version comes out. As i mentioned before, news has this low energy thing going on, so the song would be too plain if they sing it. Arashi, i cant comment coz i only listened to one and a half albums and a few recent singles, but i like the combined voice of kat-tun more than arashi.

"HELL, NO" preview started off with koki's rap and noisy music and i was going "oh shucks" coz there was alot of rap and i dont want it to become another "PARASITE" (koki's solo song). Verse started with jin and it calmed me down alot. Haha. Verses have quite a bit of english (if what i heard was english). Somehow jin's pronounciation doesnt sound very good again (like in his solo "LOVEJUICE"'s radio preview). Kamenashi's english also isnt very good haha. I hope its just because of the fact that this is a radio preview. The verses sound a little awkward right now because of the english, or maybe because the melody is a little flat by itself. But i like the bridge though the main voices in the bridge are kamenashi's and taguchi's. Chorus has quite a lot of energy (in the "DON'T U EVER STOP" sense) and quite a bit of english. End of chorus has a solo line by jin! Difficult line to sing haha. (anticipates live performance if there will be any). If i compare with their recent singles, basically this song feels a little like "Keep the faith" in terms of arrangement of vocals, but the noise level and extent of disorganization (kat-tun sounds pretty messy when they sing together) of this song feels like the chorus of "Yorokobi no Uta" and "DON'T U EVER STOP" (ie. quite noisy lah, but a nice listen nonetheless).

What i mean by kat-tun sounding pretty messy when they sing together. They dont sound like one combined voice, because their individual voices AND singing styles differ quite alot (example, ueda's singing style and taguchi's voice) so they dont really blend in super nicely. You can still hear their individual voices (usually kamenashi's voice is the most prominent when it comes to combined, for the end notes its jin's voice), and the funny thing is, there's always one person singing the last note for an extra beat, so you hear that person's voice haha (in other words, jin's voice. expecially in live haha.) Its not a bad thing at all, Kanjani8 also doesnt sound that synchronised (just listen to subaru's voice and think about how it can ever blend together and sound like one with ryo's voice, and i dont mean harmonising.). News and arashi sound synchronised, their combined voices sound too... smooth and kind of... okay not my cup of tea.

The ranking so far. Shall exclude "LIPS", "Keep the faith" and "Yorokobi no Uta", the singles which have already been released but will be in the album. AFFECTION - Mo Modorenai - > SHOT > TABOO/ HELL, NO > OUR STORY ~Prolog~/ "un-" > MOTHER/FATHER.

I've already explained why i like "AFFECTION" so much, and i want to clear some ambiguity in my previous comment ahah. Jin and kamenashi are not having a conversation in the song, but judging from the melody itself in the bridge and chorus, how they sing after one another and the way their solo lines sound complementary to each other's, it feels like a conversation. As usual since i dont understand japanese lyrics, i listen only to the melody and not the content of the song haha. "SHOT" is because its just weird and fun and different and jin's solo line is super damn nice, though lasting only for a few seconds. "TABOO" is because the style suits kat-tun alot, and jin's starting verse is nice. I can imagine the choreography they will have for this song. Haha im like judging in terms of jin's contribution to the songs. "HELL, NO" is because of the bridge (specifically the third line of the bridge and kamenashi's voice is the voice which is most suitable for that line) and chorus. "OUR STORY" and "un-" are on par for now, coz the verse of "OUR STORY" is nice but i dont like the part in the chorus where they go "our story~~~~~~" -> solo line. Haha actually "AFFECTION"'s chorus uses this arrangement too, but still. "un-" is an okay listen. I might like it more (just like i like "OUR STORY" more now) after a few more listens. The verse is also the nicer part of the song ahah. These two songs have a weird intro music ahah. "MOTHER/FATHER" is... just not as nice the rest ahah, but the melody is quite soothing lah, though in a more negative sense, it sounds a little sappy ahah.

Going to kbox later!

--
"Promise of A Lifetime" by Kutless.

--
I read an online story of the same title. Watched a fanvideo of this title which was dedicated to this story. The song in the fanvideo was this same titled song. Its a nice song, and i kept it on repeat mode until i heard "AFFECTION - Mo Modorenai". I seem to like english songs of this kind of style, where the lyrics are simple, the arrangement of the music is simple, guitar (electric or classical its okay), a mild rock kind of feeling, and the vocalist's voice becomes the focus, with nice harmonising in the background.

--


| 9:44 AM|

------ Tuesday, May 27, 2008
I really wanted to hold back till a healthier time (like 10am?) to post. But.

Just listened to the radio preview of another song in KAT-TUN's upcoming album. "AFFECTION - Mo Modorenai -". I LOVE THIS SONG. Lots of jin and kamenashi solo. LOTS. More than another other song in kat-tun history. And nice solo lines. Im flailing over jin's voice, and yes kamenashi's solo lines too. Its on repeat mode now. Haha. It kinda won "SHOT" already haha.

Okay i need to say something more constructive haha. There are a lot of high notes at the ends of the lines in the verse. Its a very... lounge kind of feel. The solo lines are the plus plus PLUS points in this song, and i dont mean only in the verses. There are solo lines in the chorus too. It goes like this: everyone sings -> one solo line -> everyone sings -> one solo line. In a way the arrangement is like "I Like It", but the melody totally wins. And the song would be a totally perfect song for flailing over for akame (jin and kamenashi) if they were the only ones singing thw whole of this song. Coz the preview covered the first verse, chorus, second verse, half of second chorus. And its full of akame haha. If it goes on for the whole song... akame fans go crazy now. But obviously it doesnt (second chorus has solo lines by the rest of the members) coz its still a kat-tun song haha. But i hope the bridge to the last chorus is jin and kamenashi too.

Im getting a little carried away. Haha too high. Usually we'll only hear jin solo, then kamenashi solo (with jin harmonizing) or jin and kamenashi both singing the melody (no harmonizing at that part). The formula in their songs is kinda fixed when it comes to arrangement of vocals. This song works a little like "I Like It". I cant hear properly who's doing the freaking amazing harmonizing in the second verse, for the first verse and chorus, there's not really harmonizing between jin and kamenashi. I dont understand the lyrics yet, but its like a to-and-back thing, like a conversation, the way the melodies of their lines sound. And Taguchi's and Ueda's voices are quite loud haha. But im not faulting them. This song is nice.

But this song is super damn difficult to sing in live. But please do sing it in the concert anyway, and i want it in the dvd, and i want a semi-dance choreography style like "I Like It".

--


| 12:55 AM|

------ Monday, May 26, 2008
The pain twitches on and off in my right arm. Again. Feels like pre-SRRR. And the weather sucks too. It seems every sunday, the sun will be shining ever TOO brightly. Yesterday we were initially quite happy that we could have an extra hour of water training because only one junior guy turned up. But there was lightning at around 2pm and subsequent sightings of lightning after 2pm so we couldnt go down to the water for that one hour. So much for the extra hour huh. And we did pull-ups. Okay we did assisted pull-ups, most of us. Pull-ups are terrible because my terribly weak arms cant pull my heavy weight up ahah. I was thinking i should either strengthen my arms much more or lose weight, which in both ways seem impossible for me haha. After training we actually wanted to go to like, clementi or holland village for lunch, but eventually we ended up at YIH again, eating instant noodles or subway at the canteen upstairs and talking and laughing so loudly. Seriously the longest mass conversation we ever had for nine people. Wow haha.

Stomach's not feeling well too. Speaking of which i ate alot after dinner last night. Note: AFTER dinner. I ate like two buns from four leaves, two shou4 tao2 just one over hour after dinner. Why am i eating so much ahah.

Suddenly chanced upon some kat-tun shounen club clips which i dont think i watched before (or rather i just dragged the playbar and skimmed through the video). They sang a song titled "DESTINY" and its nice. Im like looking for a particular 2003 Dream Boys Show Time clip in which they performed this song, i found another version (a different performance but nonetheless the same event) but i want that specific freaking version grrrr, for reasons haha. Im in the middle of watching Kurosagi the movie, in the middle because i only watch it when i have nothing to watch, and im like halfway through only. The movie is really... unmotivating? Okay it lacks the punch and the 'whoa' factor. Not that the drama had the whoa factor, but the skeleton of the plot works fine with a drama, coz an episode is only 45 minutes, which means 45 minutes to cover a story. This time we're talking about 120 over minutes of screentime, and its hard to draw an episode for that long a period of time, which explains the lack of momentum. And Yamashita Tomohisa looked really skinny and overworked in the movie. Well, he really was overworked at that time. He's gonna be overworked again coz there's a new summer drama coming up for him, with co-stars Aragaki Yui and Toda Erika. Another second-time collaboration. He worked with Aragaki Yui in Dragon Zakura before. With Horikita Maki in Nobuta wo Produce and Kurosagi. With Nagasawa Masami in Proposal Daisakusen and Dragon Zakura. The plot. Okay i might watch it for Toda Erika... and a little bit of Yamashita since i still cant picture him as a medical personnel (i had to check if the spelling was 'personel' omg my brain is super rusty).

These two nights i've been having dreams haha. I forgot what i exactly dreamt about the night before, but last night's dream was weird when i recall it. I dreamt that i had a GEOGRAPHY exam on tuesday and that day was monday, and i havent studied a single bit and i was only left with the night to do so. So of course i was damn flustered because the next day's paper is a freaking 10am paper and this means i have very little time to study. And the funny bit is, part of me refused to believe that i have an exam (because goodness in reality i really dont have exams during my uni term breaks) so in my dream i even went to check my calender and it says "geography exam" on tuesday. Wth. Haha. So i became flustered and appalled at the fact that i have an exam and i forgot/didnt know about it. But i emphasise, i still had that 'awake' part in me telling me that all this isnt true ahah. This is what i call psychological torture. And then i woke up to see my sister getting her school uniform from the wardrobe and i was like "chey".

My sister has a chemistry remedial lesson at 10am today, and a geography exam this friday. And these few days i've been nagging at her to STUDY, because she really lags around (but she does study, just at a worrying pace) so i told her she has to study until she goes crazy like me (like i started naming the lobes of the brain when i saw a tree with a similarly-shaped crown on the morning of my human anatomy exam). This sounds sadistic and really pressurizing but she knows im just telling her to study seriously and properly haha. I guess the nagging has gone to my brain as well, coz i dreamt i was the one having the exam. Haha. Retribution for nagging at her too much.

Okay that was something interesting that happened in my mundane life. Haha. Gonna listen to more music. Speaking of that, i want a new kanjani8 single, i need some 'their kind of' music to crack me up again.

--
"DESTINY" by KAT-TUN.

--
edit: the performance of "DESTINY" im looking for is actually Shounen Club 14 dec 2003. Managing to find the audio rip of this particular performance makes me even more grrr that i cant seem to find the video. Though i found it on tudou.com, i dont want to download the iTudou programme to download the video ahah. The performance: http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/Un7DXiCpwTk/ . I love jin's voice in it. And the short dance sequence haha.

And freak. I have some problem backing up media in my external drive. Says there's not enough memory to perform the operation. I think the problem lies with my laptop coz i cant view the magazine scans in the picture viewer. Pissed. Something like this happened before, so i hope the problem resolves itself when i use the laptop again tomorrow. Or i'll just have to hope that my laptop will be fine and dont ever die on me.

--


| 10:44 AM|

------ Friday, May 23, 2008
Arms are aching like crazy after doing gym for the first time after two months. And there's this particular spot in my back that when i bent backwards or bend forward, it aches like crazy. Its like i have a stiff back.

L'Arc~en~Ciel's going on a "hiatus" till 2011. =( The members would be having their solo projects, and would probably only gather to release material such as singles. It feels like 2000 - 2003 and 2003 - 2005 and 2005 - 2007 again haha. Though i didnt experience the first two time periods, i did experience the last break and it was really boring without new music to listen to but at least its confirmed that they'll resume laruku activities in 2007. This time some fans are saying that it might be their last break since they might really disband after 2011. Omg please dont. Laruku can have this kind of breaks for all they like, but please dont disband. At least break Southern All Stars' record of 30 years. (then again Southern All Stars is rumoured to be disbanding soon?? =S) Hai, the effects of time.

Listened to one minute plus radio previews of some of the songs on KAT-TUN's upcoming album. "SHOT" is my favourite so far, and i like this song alot. Anticipating the cd version. Might end up as the favourite song on the album (yes i can say that so early already.) "TABOO" (okay the 'A' is supposed to be inverted) sounds pirate-ish (title of album is KAT-TUN III -Queen of Pirates-) but its kinda acceptable, might grow to like it more when the cd version surfaces. "OUR STORY ~Prolog~" sounds very young, quite teeny boppy haha, and you know i dont particularly like this kind of songs, but well i have to give it a chance first, wait for the full version. "MOTHER/FATHER". Yes you didnt read the title wrongly. When i saw the title, i figured it'll only have 2 possibilities - one, an uptempo number which goes the erm... mischievous way? and two, the sappy slow kind of song which will have erm... mushy lyrics? (well maybe if i understand japanese, the japanese lyrics wouldnt be mushy but you know translated lyrics will most likely turn out to be mushy.). And hearing the preview, the song has gone the second way.

Watched "Last Friends" episode 7. Haha report on the ratings again. Episode 5 was 19.9%, episode 6 was 17.2%, this episode was 16.0%. Been reading discussions on forums and sometimes reading it makes me feel unjust for the cast of the drama, and sometimes the director/scriptwriter of the drama. There arent many comments on Eita's role as Takeru and Nagasawa Masami's role as Michiru anymore, somehow the viewers have settled with the fact that for these two characters, events will unfold in a more natural manner and so they arent criticised/commented on that much anymore. But Ueno Juri's role as Ruka and Nishikido Ryo's role as Sousuke are in a different situation haha.

There's lots of stuff going on for Ruka (actually there's alot of stuff going on for Takeru as well but somehow watching Takeru doesnt make me feel as 'affected' as watching Ruka), and what i mean by affected isnt the pity sort of feeling towards Ruka. Its just the "i dont know what to do with you anymore" kind of feeling. Maybe thats what the scriptwriter is trying to achieve, because now Ruka has no one and nowhere to run to, or rather, in a way, she herself shut the doors to any outlets she could have. Not that she wants to, thats why the feeling of helplessness comes in.

As for Sousuke, many people are commenting that he's one-dimensional and watching him is a really boring thing now, since the DV (domestic violence) stuff and michiru-sousuke keeps appearing and he should either take a BIG step and do something radical and out of his mind or just disappear. Haha firstly, there are no more dv scenes from episode 6 onwards already, its no longer dv, its psychological harassment and its not michiru-sousuke anymore, its sousuke-ruka because sousuke dislikes ruka. Secondly, how radical can Sousuke get at this point? A drama has to proceed at a certain pace, the scriptwriter knows this and knows that this worked with past dramas (current dramas too), that things cannot be too rushed, because really, if they are, there aint any stories left to tell already. People have commented the first episode's dv was too abrupt (yes it was, it would have been better if its in the second episode with more events building up to it), so wouldnt it be weird if sousuke does something out of his mind right now? It'll be like at attempt to write off the character immediately. Haha oh and poor ryo, he's getting criticised for being one dimensional in acting. Im not biased towards ryo in this case (when it comes to dramas, i'll see even my favourite singers as actors. its like i can say jin can't act, but he can sing. hyde cant act, ps. he really cant act. but he can sing damn well. Yamashita Tomohisa and Matsumoto Jun cant really sing, but they did some drama roles very very well.), but its not his acting that is one-dimensional, its the character that the scriptwriter has 'failed to' or rather 'yet to' develop (hopefully they develop it in time).

And there was this one comment about how the drama could have worked out if the dv plot wasnt brought in at all, meaning focusing on just michiru, takeru and ruka. The dv plot IS needed, because if not there wouldnt be anything to force michiru to seek help or force ruka or takeru to offer help. It would have turned out like a normal love triangle kind of story, which abit of some gender issue thrown into it. And the dv plot is needed, in my honest opinion, for the ratings too. Its what viewers would want, like a bait to lure people into starting on the drama. Its not a good thing to use such a bait, but sadly, it really was needed. The drop in ratings from 19.9% to the current 16.0% (episode 4 ratings was 15.9%) is probably really due to one, sousuke's part of the storyline (episode 5 was the one which had the provoking factor, and in episode 6 and 7, that factor is gone) and two, the fact that people have grown tired of the pace because they want the individual stories of the characters to be fleshed out more quickly.

Anyway episode 7 was more narrative then action. The transition from action-centered to narration-centered has started, and in way its good, coz as i mentioned before, they cannot do provocative previews and lure viewers into watching the next episode anymore. Its good that this episode's preview wasnt anything very exciting, because we will see the number of people who support this drama for what it is from the ratings next week.

Waiting for "Osen" episode 5 to be subbed. Gahhhh "Osen" rocks. But i wont give a every-episode comment like what i've been doing for "Last Friends" (this is the first drama by the way ahha), coz "Osen" is just really... very normal, very peaceful, very 'unexciting' (in that sense), but very very nice to watch. And "Zettai Kareshi" is meant for killing time haha.

--
"Promise of A Lifetime" by Kutless.


| 1:57 PM|

------ Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Sweet Rain 死神の精度. Accuracy of Death.

死神千叶说，他从来没见过蓝天，那种没有下着雨，天气晴朗的蓝天。那当然，因为他出现时，天空必定下着大雨。

死神会与对方相处，然后决定认可（死亡）或放行（继续活着）。

这样形容，很沉重对吧。

所以喜欢电影中微妙的处理方式。有时候会让你会心一笑，有时候会让你平静地思考着。好像没了沉重的感觉。

三个将接受＂审判＂，存在于不同时代的人，似乎乍看之下，因为是三个不同时代，所以没有关连，只是死神的三个分隔的任务。

需要专心，耐心地看着，才会被那些小小的线索和微妙的贯穿的手法惊喜，感动到。

如果专心地看着，思考着，自己在脑海里把细节串起来，会比电影的最后一幕更早得到领悟。更早发觉，而是自行发觉，感触更是良多。

最后一幕是个让那些在三个故事的叙述中不小心迷路，找不回头绪的观众感受到电影所准备的感动，也是让那些已收到感动的观众看到一个更漂亮的句点。

怎么说呢。雨停了。

--
Cast: Kaneshiro Takeshi, Konishi Manami (Tentai Kanzoku, Orange Days) , Fuji Sumiko.
Adapted from novel "Shinigami no Seido" by Isaka Kotaro.

--
"Sunny Day" by Fujiki Kazue (Konishi Manami's character in the movie). (theme song of "死神の精度" movie)


| 3:13 PM|

------
It was an eventful day. I mean yesterday, which just ended an hour or so ago.

I suddenly realized what it means to talk your way through, to get the point across. Today was the first time i realized what i can do, and the kind of responsibility i have to shoulder and can shoulder when the occasion arises. This wasnt meant to be a lesson for me, for it turned out to be a great lesson for me. I guess this is what it means by when people are cornered by certain circumstances, they display attributes that they never knew they themselves possessed before. What i discovered might not be a big thing, but it was significant enough to me.

Back to usual business. Haha yes usual business equals to my obsessions. KAT-TUN's holding a summer concert tour starting from 21 June and ending on 5 August in tokyo dome. DVD please. DVD. I think they'll have a dvd of this concert since its likely that it'll be the only concert they'll have this year. Include mc (talk section) please and dont make the dvd like the "Live of KAT-TUN 'Real Face'" dvd which was such a pity since the concert was good but wayyyy too edited in terms of cutting out the talk sections and too short in terms of the length of parts of the songs they performed. "TOUR 2007 cartoon KAT-TUN II you" dvd was too long haha. This concert would be the most interesting to watch since with the new album, they will have a greater repertoire of songs. Nice. 2 solos per person too please. Haha okay i just want to watch jin perform both "PINKY" and "LOVEJUICE". Or "LOVEJUICE" and "care" or "Murasaki".

I just saw the small icon-sized pics of their new album, "KAT-TUN III -Queen of Pirates-". I like the cover, finally not six faces/six figures plastered on the cover, taking up more than 90% of the space on the album sleeve (cues "DON'T U EVER STOP" single cover which didnt do justice to the song, but jin looked good in it nonetheless ahah, and "Best of KAT-TUN" album, "Real Face" single, "SIGNAL" single) or five faces/figures plastered on the cover (cues "LIPS" single, "Bokura no Machi de" single, "cartoon KAT-TUN II you" album). Omg isnt that almost everything? Haha, "Yorokobi no Uta" single and "Keep the faith" single covers were not bad. But the new album cover is nice in the sense that their faces/figures take up less than 60% of the album sleeve. Haha its weird, i dont really like to see faces on a cd cover. Maybe im too used to laruku's style of cover design ahah. They dont show their faces (except for the "AWAKE" album, which was a surprise) or they show some blonde girl with a very surreal feeling haha.

I shall listen to some drama OSTs before i sleep bcoz im still too awake ahah.

--


| 1:09 AM|

------ Monday, May 19, 2008
Bruises on my knees due to practising of handrolls. Biggest bruise i've ever encountered. Muscle ache in my right upper arm. Backache from handrolls. Yesterday's weather was so freaking hot and im sunburnt.

Went to meet hcanoe teammates for dinner. Second weekend in a row. Haha spent quite alot, and i actually ate dessert (like last week). I seldom have desserts ahha, bcoz im not really fond of ice cream or sweet stuff (except chocolate). Then we went to the rooftop at esplanade again ahah. I shall not go out the next few days, save money.

Watched KAT-TUN's performance on Shounen Club Premium. "DON'T U EVER STOP", no comments. I'm immune to their live performances of this song already, except for the first music station live which they did and the recent cartoon KAT-TUN episode in which all of them sang live. They performed the bonus track in their upcoming album too, its found only on the limited edition, "SHOT". First impression from the title itself, either something like a strong, uptempo track (like "DON'T U EVER STOP") or something mid-tempo like "SIGNAL". And it came out big band style. Nice. "SHOT" doesnt sound like any of their previous songs at all, and thats good. If the other songs on the new album go along such lines (i mean just trying out different styles), it'll be an album that i would definitely want to own, but since im waiting till it gets to s'pore and not pre-ordering the limited edition, i'll probably only be able to get my hands on the regular edition, but its okay ahah. The album that was slightly close to trying out different styles was "cartoon KAT-TUN II you", it had songs like "Movin' On", "FREEDOM" which were slightly more interesting but werent that impactful on the first listen. I like "SHOT", the tune in the bridge sounds a little weird, but i like the solo lines by most of the members, especially jin's solo lines. I like his voice in that solo line after the strange bridge haha, it sounds good (i think jin and kame were definitely singing live, im not sure about the rest and i'll explain later ahha) live so i think it'll sound even better on cd.

Okay backtrack a little to their third music station live for the promotion of this new single. They lipsynched "DON'T U EVER STOP" first chorus, then went into their solo songs. They really sang their solo songs, though its just the choruses. Super short, like just when you get into the mood of the song, the song ends ahah. Kamenashi's solo, "w/o notice??". He sounded quite shaky, i guess its the first time he's performing it live, and that the song actually has very light background music, so it relies heavily on his vocal stability to carry it off. But this song sounded abit more interesting when performed live, like what i said before. Taguchi's solo "Natsu no Basho". The image i had of him dancing enthusiastically to the song was correct afterall, he moved the most (danced the most) and beat kamenashi in terms of the amount of movement in the song ahah. His voice was quivering though, the dance steps were abit too energetic though i know this is supposed to an energetic song haha, but taguchi is looking good recently, its the hairstyle. It does wonders. Koki's solo "PARASITE". Shouting and screeching. He needs to tone down his gangster image, really. I think 2006 'gangster' koki is just right, but not too overboard. When he does this kind of shouting screeching songs, you forget that he's a singer and that sometimes, he really does sound good when he sings seriously. Ueda's "Ai no Hana". Nice song, but vocals really couldnt carry it off. I was worrying he'll go terribly offtune at the high notes, but he didnt go that super off, but still. Nakamaru's solo "SMACK". I mentioned this song really sounds good on cd, but in live it didnt sound that good due to nakamaru's quivering voice. He sounded extremely nervous, well i realized in most studio performances when kat-tun performs live and he has a solo line, he always sounds soft compared to koki, taguchi and ueda. I wont compare him to jin or kamenashi coz they're the lead vocalists in the group. But in terms of stage confidence, the impression i have is nakamaru has less than the other three. Haha but the amazing thing is after he finished the singing part in the chorus, there was this short transition before all of them got together to sing the title track of the single again. He did some beatboxing at that part, and the sttitude and confidence was at the other extreme end. If only he could be as confident in his vocals as that in his beatboxing, then it'll be good coz he can sing. Jin's solo "LOVEJUICE". Haha he didnt dance much, but i guess the chorus was too short (come to think of it, his chorus is the shortest out of all of the solos, so he has the least screen time in the solo section ahah) to break into a real dance. His live was good in this part, i hope they choreograph a good dance with this song because the effect in live will be good.

Anyway was saying that in studio performances, the rest of kat-tun sound less stable in their vocals, not that jin sounds very stable bcoz when he starts off badly, he usually ends off badly too, in other words, not very consistent (i wont use inconsistent because im biased ahah). Kamenashi is actually the most stable in terms of vocal performance. But jin and kamenashi both are very confident on stage, so it gives a more stable feeling. I guess its because the rest of kat-tun (taguchi, koki, ueda, nakamaru) have less solo lines in the first place (they used to have even less before jin's hiatus), thats why they have less chances to perform in solo. Thats why when it comes to real solo songs, they sound shaky. Nakamaru and ueda sound shaky, koki, well covers it up a little with his gangster attitude, but taguchi - although he sounds shaky, he just gives off a not very nervous kind of vibe, which is good.

Okay this is becoming a long entry. Shall end off soon. Watch "Osen"! I like this drama haha - uchi and aoi omg what a pleasant sight.

--
"SHOT" by KAT-TUN.


| 11:31 AM|

------ Saturday, May 17, 2008
And i shouted.

And i ranted.

And i lost my cool.

And i said so much, i think i never said that much before.

I dont want this to go to waste.

I hope this gets into your head.

--


| 10:26 PM|

------ Friday, May 16, 2008
A large blister formed between my thumb and index finger, where a callus now resides. Damn painful. Irritating, coz i cant do anything to the blister because the callus is there, and it doesnt help that my right hand is the one i use to fix my grip on the paddle shaft. Pain.

Yesterday's training was nice. Its actually the first time i played so freely, without caring about following a certain attacking strategy, without dividing our roles in the game so clearly. Having caiwang (year 1 coach) play with the four of us helped alot, in terms of holding the ball in possession, but what he did was to give us chances to get into good positions to shoot, and to react on the spot. We'll have to make a transition from there, and be able to hold the ball in possession properly and be the ones to pass the ball to our teammates who have gotten into favourable positions. But the feeling is nice, because the gameplay was more flexible. But my stamina sucks omg. Just 2 over weeks of nua-ing at home with my books and laptop during the exam break kinda degraded some part of me.

Yesterday. Watched the Making of Yukan Club, and then i suddenly had the urge to rewatch Yukan Club haha. And i did, but not in sequence lah, kinda picked the episodes i like more and started watching from them (i refuse to rewatch the episode which Mike He guest-starred in haha). It really IS an entertaining drama haha, despite its lack of substance. Plus jin was damn good-looking in it.

Watched the last part of the fancam of kat-tun's Real Face concert in Osaka this morning. They had this long part in which they dressed as characters in dramas they're starred in (jin as kurosawa akihiko in "anego" and kamenashi as shuji in "Nobuta wo Produce" and blah blah, the rest werent drama characters). That part wasnt in the dvd, or maybe that part was only showcased in the osaka leg, haha i dont know.

Watched episode 6 of "Last Friends" too. Ratings dropped from 19.9% to 17.2%. Ouch. Last week's high ratings was most likely because the audience thought something interesting would cause a significant turn of events haha. I hope it doesnt drop further, though i have to say the rollercoaster ratings is reflective of the pace of the story, fast and slow, sometimes plodding, sometimes interestingly appalling (and makes the audience go "omg!"). From the preview of the next episode, here's what i gather: Sosuke's (ryo's character) story will be given more insight, because the boy (whom i think is the one who appeared in this episode and is the one linked to sosuke in the character chart in the official website) will appear in the next episode, though i dont know how much more they'll reveal about sosuke (coz the producers might plan to SLOWLY reveal sosuke's story and keep him in the story). Takeru's (Eita's character) story too, will be given more insight, though i dont know how much more. His side of the story is going at snail pace right now, its like doing a jigsaw puzzle and putting in one piece per episode (who knows how many pieces there are to the jigsaw puzzle). Ruka (Ueno Juri's character) will have more emotional outbursts, Michiru (Nagasawa Masami)... there isnt much to develop about her anymore, so she'll be more like the one threading everything together (instead of takeru in the previous episodes).

And Utada Hikaru's gonna release a single titled "Prisoner of Love". Haha cashing in on the last friends wave now. Checked the tracklist and its like... okay there's the original version that she already has in her "HEART STATION" album (yes this song is a track of her already released album ie. a recut single. her first recut single was "First Love"), which is the theme song of this drama. There's the quiet version which is the insert theme of the drama. Japanese singers really know how to make money ahah.

Gonna go all the way to clementi and have my 'personal hairdresser' cut my hair. She's the only one i trust with my hair and EARS. I still cannot get over the trauma of having my earlobes cut. I need to... look for an alternative, because there'll be a day when she'll decide to stop cutting hair and go back to malaysia and be a full-time housewife and take care of her daughter =S. Gonna tighten my specs too, you have no idea how often my specs slip down my nose bridge haha. For the sake of keeping my specs on properly during a game too.

--
Things can change within a day. Within hours. Within an hour.

Something which you've been resting your laurels on, brushing it off, procrastinating,

suddenly seems like a sign to tell you to START moving.

--
But the question is

where to?

--
"爱人动物" by 苏打绿.


| 12:37 PM|

------ Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Training yesterday was a nice feeling.

Watched SUMMARY 2004 and the performance part of Dream Boys 2006 today. I actually watched SUMMARY 2004 (starring KAT-TUN and NEWS + other undebuted groups + Johnnys juniors) last time, but didnt really pay attention to the songs in the musical. Second time watching, i found it to be slightly more entertaining. I was looking out for Akanishi Jin's performance of "Monogatari wa Hajimaru yo". Seriously it was really good. I'm amazed by the vocal performance. Haha its really smart to put johnnys juniors' and other groups' performances in between kat-tun's and news', so the audience would have to stay throughout the entire thing, because really, the juniors cannot sing, plus they were under age 16, so their voices are... oh well. I cannot imagine girls in their twenties or women in their thirties screaming over these young boys haha. Thats why i avoid watching Shounen Club (young johnnys perform on this show) now, its just not a very comfortable feeling. Then in 2004, the key people were Yamashita Tomohisa, Kamenashi Kazuya and Akanishi Jin, yamashita being first on the list and the names follow. Its really super obvious. Jin had alot of stage time too, but half the time he was either performing with yamashita or kamenashi or Kusano Hironori, doing the harmonising parts of the song. And it was obvious who are the the ones who can sing - jin, kamenashi, kusano, Tegoshi Yuya, Masuda Takahisa. Oh and about Dream Boys 2006, the part which was impressive was kamenashi's performance of "Seishun Amigo". Really good dancing, and very nice clothes (which is rare). It was actually this performance which made me like the song more. I like the perfomance parts of the musical itself, when KAT-TUN or Kanjani8 are performing their own songs, coz the other songs in between really dont sound very pleasing to the ear ahah.

L'Arc~en~Ciel's gonna have a new single coming up in summer! Its titled "NEXUS 4 / Shine". Double a-side. Great. "NEXUS 4" sounds strange haha, its the theme for a commercial, car commercial i think. Haha the main focus is "Shine". Yes, "Shine"! It was an anime theme song and it sounded super promising. So i hope the full version lives up to the expectation. Now we can only wait for the official release of "bye bye", the song they played during their 15th L'Anniversary Live concert. The 15th L'Anniversary Live DVD did a very cruel thing by including a short 1 minute audio rip of the live performance. Thank you for making us crazy about the song even though you havent released it. And they announced they'll hold a 20th L'Anniversary Live concert in europe in 2011. Okay europe's not the point here. The point is 20th anniversary. In the ASIALIVE TV Special (2006. laruku's 15th anniversary), tetsu mentioned a 20th anniversary. Nice. And he mentioned that he wants to do an interview at some top floor of a skyscraper ahah. And hyde mentioned that not anyone of them had concrete plans about where to go on from there (then), but its like a really natural thing to just keep the band going. Nice.

--
"Monogatari wa Hajimaru yo" by Akanishi Jin.


| 3:51 PM|

------ Monday, May 12, 2008
Had canoepolo training yesterday, first after the long exam break. I did alot of ball throwing yesterday, well i had (and still have) some problem with my throwing technique such that a while ago during the competition period i strained my right arm. Now my right arm is aching like crazy. And havent paddled for so long, just three sets of that i dont know how you call that made me exhausted like crazy. My paddling sucks. Grr.

Anyway after training, i went to meet huiwen, awyong, leilei and lala at marina square and had dinner at changing appetites. I like the pasta i ordered - olio olio... erm tiger prawn something. And of course its nice, anything with the word 'olio' is nice, except the pastamania one which is too freaking spicy for me to tahan. The place was rather empty, so we hogged the extremely comfy seats for damn long. Then we went to the esplanade roof terrace. Its always like this, whoever i meet up with, as long as we meet at marina square, we'll always end up at the roof terrace at esplanade.

Haha then i came back at 11plus pm. After i showered, i immediately switched on my laptop coz i wanted to get the rest of KAT-TUN's "DON'T U EVER STOP" limited edition singles cd rips. Only kamenashi/taguchi's and jin/koki's versions were uploaded. So this morning, finally, ueda/nakamaru's version was uploaded, plus the regular edition too.

I totally love Akanishi Jin's solo, "LOVEJUICE". Just take the title as it is and dont think further. That time when i listened to the radio preview, i mentioned his pronounciation kinda... needs improvement haha. I guess its partly the low quality rip's fault also, coz the cd version sounds really really nice, and you can actually hear what jin's singing. English. And then i was just listening to the end notes of his lines and i can just go wow. Haha. I love jin's voice. And i want to see him dance to this song ahah. So today i went on a crazy downloading spree - i went to look for all the solos he's done in live performances, be it Summary, Dream Boys, Shounen Club, concerts blah blah. Yes, i didnt have all these before this, though you might think being the fanatic i am, i would have owned them since long ago. It has already come to the point like how i feel towards hyde's voice, any song that has jin's voice is forgivable in terms of listening pleasure haha. Listening pleasure, i emphasise. Not quality. Haha. And i was watching the fancam of kat-tun's "Looking concert" in 2005, it was so energetic. Jin's voice. They did a slightly different version of "FIGHT ALL NIGHT" (with a different chorus), and it sounds very nice. But i dont think im gonna go look for the audio rip since there wasnt a dvd released for this concert, and i know how much more time i have to spend to search high and low for that audio rip, if it even exists. I'll just see if i come across it haha.

And i listened to the rest of the solos properly again. Second to jin's solo, i like Nakamaru Yuichi's "SMACK". Strange title i know. But remember that time i mentioned nakamaru always sounds almost too careful when he's singing, thats why i never really liked his previous solo songs, but this one is good. Because he got rid of that "over careful" thing which has been bugging his previous songs, i guess the song itself helps. And his voice is nice. Kamenashi Kazuya's "w/o notice??" is less likeable than his previous solo, but it is nonetheless a song thats nice to listen to because of his non-harmful vocals. A nice live performance would up the "nice" factor of this song. Taguchi Junnosuke's "Natsu no Basho" is surprisingly quite nice. The song helps, its quite catchy, there's dance music inside, and i can imagine taguchi dancing to the music with his usual energetic vibe. I guess really, the radio previews only make us like the solo songs more, coz the radio previews really suck, and when the cd rips come out, the songs comparatively sound "whoa, nice? nice!" ahah. Ueda Tatsuya's "Ai no Hana". Its quite a good song. I emphasise, song. I think with better technique (please quit that 'straight' ending note in every sentence habit please?) this song will sound much better. But kudos to him for composing a good song. Tanaka Koki's "PARASITE". Okay the cd rip makes it sound less irritating.

Kat-tun's appearing on music station this friday again. Third time. They'll be performing a 'special medley' as mentioned in the music station official website, which i hope would be a medley of their solo songs. I know in this case the medley will be very long even though the six solo songs will be shortened like crazy, but i want to see jin perform "LOVEJUICE" ahah. Or alternatively, they can consider giving us a preview of their upcoming album (going to be released on 4th june), by doing "DON'T U EVER STOP" (they'll definitely do this song because the single's gonna be OFFICIALLY released this wednesday), "LIPS", "SIX SENSES". Haha. "SIX SENSES" would be less possible, but they've performed it before as 6-people in 2006 and as 3-people in 2007, and anyway they performed "DON'T U EVER STOP" 3 weeks before the official release, so the possibility shouldnt be totally ruled out right, haha.

Anyway this is random. I saw this really short piece of news (its long ago by the way). Nothing much, just that its nice to see both KAT-TUN and L'Arc~en~Ciel in the same news 'report'.
http://www.tokyograph.com/news/id-2141
Yay for laruku's album!

And laruku just held a concert in paris on the 9th of may. Read in fan reports that the venue, Le Zenith, wasnt really good coz half the time, tetsu's bass just blasted over the speakers and covered a little bit of hyde's voice. So i guess ballads sounded really good then, since there's less bass in laruku's ballads. Anyway this really short clip: http://youtube.com/watch?v=2slSQdRDJcw . Ignore the bad acoustics of the venue and just focus on hyde's voice. (And hyde's face also can.) This song is "My Dear" from "AWAKE" (2005) album by the way. And this clip just reminded me of why i was obsessed with this song when the album came out. It has a really dreamy feeling. http://www.imeem.com/taolaw/music/R59dabHP/larcenciel_my_dear/ And sorry last one, the performance in the AWAKE tour dvd, http://youtube.com/watch?v=5KCumgB2TMc . The live performance gives a different feeling. I hope there'll be a dvd released for the current Tour 2008 L'7 Trans Asia via Paris, coz hyde's voice now is better than in 2005 when the AWAKE tour was held. 2005 was the time when the members reunited again (they had solo projects from 2003 to 2005, yes we always have to wait two years before they release a new album, like the most recent "KISS" album was released only last november), and hyde just finished his "FAITH" tour, so his voice hasnt really returned to the best form yet (but its still good). Thats why 15th L'Anniversary Live (end 2006) was so good. And the recent "are you ready? 2007 Mata Heart ni hi wo Tsukero" dvd is so good too. One more dvd released means more spending, but its definitely okay for a GOOD dvd.

--
"ha-ha" by Akanishi Jin.

--
The Looking concert 2005 performance of this song was... nice. And kinda impressive.

--


| 4:00 PM|

------ Saturday, May 10, 2008
Watched the first three episodes of "Osen" in one go. Actually i finished watching them at 6plus pm yesterday but i figured i shouldnt overpost in a day haha. Either way im over posting lah, but im trying to curb my temptation already. And im getting really wordy.

"Osen" is very, very enjoyable ahah, to the extent that it surprises me. I knew it'll be one which places focus on food (traditional way of cooking) and well, culture and all, but i didnt think it would that enjoyable to watch. Its the cast which is a big reason why i like this drama. Aoi Yuu (plays Osen, the owner of the restaurant. her name is Sen, but they address her as Osen) doesnt really do dramas. She's been in movies like Hula Girls, Hana and Alice, Hachimitsu to Clover Live Action, but rarely in dramas. I can only say she's good and she's totally nice to watch on screen. She isnt the elegant-pretty kind, but she's very interesting to watch on screen. Her expressions are amazing and i dont know, really pleasant to watch. I sound like im infatuated with her haha. Well yes, in the sense that i think she's really good in acting. (remember i mentioned she was totally 'Hagumi' in hachimitsu to clover movie and because of that the drama version's Narumi Riko couldnt match up to her) Uchi Hiroki (plays Yoshio, but Osen calls him Yo-chan san) is quite good in this too. He isnt the kind who can really act (in a sense he's like Akanishi Jin - he needs the correct role to help him deliver a commendable performance), and i didnt really like the uchi in "Isshun no Kaze ni nare", but in "Osen", he is very nice to watch too. There are times when his expressions are more exaggerated than cute, but most of the times there's just this energetic vibe coming out from him and it brightens up the whole drama (as if the drama isnt bright enough ahah. i meant it in a good way). And uchi and aoi have good chemistry, and they both look so cute together. Im not flailing now, im not. Its really interesting to see how a johnny's guy actually interacts with a non-mainstream actress. I like the second episode alot (its about home-cooked miso soup) and Okada Yoshinori (he acted as Ueda in One Pound Gospel and i just found out - Mizuki's brother in Hanazakari no Kimitachi e and the class form teacher in Nobuta wo Produce!!) was in it. I think he really plays his characters very well coz they managed to leave deep impressions (the characters left deep impressions but i couldnt remember that he was the one who played them. i just found him familiar haha). I will definitely follow this drama haha.

--
Canoepolo training will officially resume on sunday. And we'll need to do pull-ups soon. Gosh the nightmare of doing pull-ups.

--


| 12:03 AM|

------ Friday, May 09, 2008
Due to the efficiency of chinese subbers, i watched the subbed episode 5 of "Last Friends" this morning. The viewership ratings for this episode - 19.9%. Omg. It rose 4 percent from the previous episode, and i can safely say its due to the preview of this episode shown last week. Again this episode ended with a cliffhanger (every previous episode was like this too), but it ended with something that was already on the preview shown last week, so well, technically in terms of events, the plot didnt proceed much. I hope the ratings dont drop next week, coz i get the feeling that the high ratings are mainly attributed to the exciting previews they give, but the style that this drama has followed so far is that at the beginning of each episode, things start out (or end off from the cliffhanger in the prior episode) so calmly its a little anticlimax at times. Not that i want the whole drama to be constantly intense and leaving me on tenterhooks, but i hope this style changes a little from next episode onwards, especially when the plot later might not give the producers that much provocative material to put in the previews anymore. But the pace of the drama is good, some might find it slow and prodding along sluggishly but i think its needed. In the sense there are still seven episodes to go, so they have time to flesh out insights to the characters. Haha i want the ost of this drama. Okay that was a random note. Oh and i remember last time i mentioned it would be difficult for Nishikido Ryo to leave a deep impression after the classic "One Litre of Tears" haha. He is leaving a deep impression in this drama now.

Started on "Zettai Kareshi", starring Hayami Mokomichi (Gokusen 2), Mizushima Hiro (Hanazakari no Kimitachi e) and Aibu Saki (Attention Please). Watched three episodes so far and mizushima is the one im watching. He's not the typical good-looking kind, and in fact the first impression i had when i saw him in hanakimi as Nanba senpai was "he looks like Matsumoto Jun". But of course the more i watch, the less i think so. He has an attractive quality, and i think this drama will be the one to make his popularity rise even higher than what he has now, because hanakimi didnt exactly have a good script (nanba senpai is really supposed to make girls gush haha) so he was kind of restricted in it.

Last night in japan at 12am, KAT-TUN's DON'T U EVER STOP pv was released. Haha then torrents were uploaded, and of coz since i dont use torrents, i just went to sleep, knowing for sure that when i wake up, the pv download links would be available. So first thing i did when i switched on the laptop - download the pv. Not that i havent seen it before, i've seen the 8-min low quality version some fan recorded from an exclusive tv broadcast for Johnny's Family Club (i dont know if i used the exact words. ps. japanese artistes are super particular about the way they name stuff, their artistes names and album titles are like case-sensitive. but anyway yah). So i just wanted to see a high quality version. The pv. I dont understand the concept. Club? Strange underground place with girls, guys partying and dressed fashionably, holding blue orbs, white orbs which shatter. Never mind. I dont like jin's hairstyle in the pv. He had hair extensions (bleached ones to be exact) and his hair was semi tied to the back so his face looked less small (i dont want to say big coz in actual size, his head really isnt big lah). Hairstyle aside. The dance. I like this pv more than that of "Keep the faith", coz in "Keep the faith", there was dance but only at the beginning and ending parts. For this, there's the chorus, the bridge to the last chorus, and the dance is nicer. And jin's dancing is good haha, okay he looks very good when he's dancing. Thank goodness for the clothes he's wearing haha, because some clothes really hide the artiste's body till their detailed dance movements cannot be seen. It was interesting to see the difference in each member's dance style (how they modify the dance steps). Gah anyway, this pv is something i'll watch quite often for entertainment's sake. But somehow i prefer the music station performances because the dance at the last bridge was performed in a group, and not like in the pv, where each member's solo scenes are joined together to make up the bridge.

Going to start on "Osen" (Uchi Hiroki, Aoi Yuu) now. Because uchi has alot of screen time and looks really good in it. And i want to see a uchi drama that's better than "Isshun no Kaze ni nare". This can be considered as his first PROPER drama.

--
"真冬のナガレボシ" by NEWS.


| 1:11 PM|

------ Wednesday, May 07, 2008
"You're an unique flower, the only and one in the world.

And now that i'm here, i'm going to take you with me."

- "Bara no nai Hanaya"

I said i needed to finish this drama, and im so glad i did, coz it was really good. "Bara no nai Hanaya" starrs Katori Shingo (Saiyuuki) and Takeuchi Yuko (Pride). A flower shop. A man and his young daughter. A blind lady who appears at the flower shop one rainy afternoon. Videotapes of a lady leaving personal messages for the father of her child. The lady's father. The child's real father. It sounds complicated here; it is, and it is not.

I like the relationships portrayed in this drama. I wouldnt be able to categorise them father-daughter, guy-girl, friend-friend, buddy-buddy, brother-brother, teacher-student. You'll find it hard to categorise too; by this, i dont mean to say that the relationships are vague, but that really, they cant be described, they sort of just transcend their own boundaries. And you dont care and dont see the need to define them, coz as what Katori's character says, "Even without blood relations, as long as we live under one roof, we're considered a family." Katori's character is the perfect nice man in the drama, it makes it hard to believe that such a good, selfless man actually exists in this world, but that IS the beauty of this drama. It really shows how good and how bad things can turn out, how what one person's actions affect another's, how people's mindset (and life) can change with time and with unexpected events, how people can be like flip-sides of the coin - they both belong to and exist in this society, but they never ever 'meet' in terms of their principles in life, they're like light and darkness.

Katori Shingo was impressive in this drama. He plays the nice man, and so definitely would have good things coming out from his mouth in every episode, whether it is towards his daughter, or to the lady he loves, or anyone. But his acting is convincing and you dont find those words fake or revolting at all, you just hear it as it is, and it gets to you. Takeuchi Yuko's acting is slightly two-dimensional in this drama, but i guess it is partly due to how her character is scripted. Her character is bounded to many things, her hospitalised father, the task she has to carry out, her struggle between the angel and devil side. But there are times when you really love the chemistry between her and Katori. Its like two people with the 内敛 kind of acting (i fail at english and cant find the exact word to put across the feeling of 内敛), there's not much of an exchange on screen (they are just talking VERY normally, not whispering sweet-nothings) but the atmosphere and everything else is point-blank. I am totally awed by the young girl who played Katori's character's daughter in the drama. Yagi Yuki. The way she speaks, the way she calls "tou-chan", the way she smiles faintly and widely and everything about her is amazing. Her chemistry with Katori is beyond amazing, and whenever the two of them are on screen, it just makes my vision blurred or leaves me sighing and thinking "ah nice" haha. Sometimes they're like mother-son, with Yagi's '小大人' tone and Katori answering "はい" to whatever she says. Maybe that's why she received the Special Award for the recently announced 56th Television Drama Academy Awards. And another person who only made his appearance from episode 8 onwards, Tamayama Tetsuji (NANA). He plays the real father of this girl, he had a relationship with the lady in the videotapes, but wasnt aware that she was pregnant with his child. Katori's character then raised this child as his own alone, as the lady passed away. He and Katori's character knew each other from the time they were in the orphanage. Tamayama's character came out only towards the end, but his impact was so strong its almost unbelievable. Because he is the opposite of Katori's character, the flip-side of the coin. Katori's character believes in trusting people, and hence gaining happiness from there; he doesnt. The bond between them is strange but deep; even with the issue between them, they trust each other, they listen to each other, they help each other, even though they operate in totally different ways. Thats why i said im unable to define the relationships between the characters.

I wouldnt say this drama is the best i've seen (but then again, what's 'best'?), but it definitely is unique and leaves a really deep impression. Really an indescribable, peculiar and deep impression.

--


| 7:26 PM|

------
Klunch, bowling and window shopping. That was what i did yesterday haha.

Been a long time since i went to kbox. Sang the songs i wanted to sing and there were people to harmonise with me in some songs haha. Its fun to harmonise, and fail at it sometimes because the note is just too weird ahah. And japanese songs karaoke videos are pathetic, mostly fake ones and fakes ones dont have the accompanying artistes' voices and that sucks.

But anyway i bought a pencil case from muji, thats the only thing i brought home after a whole day out haha. And nice postcards. And a stupid wound on my left ankle. A trolley (i think it should be called a cart instead? but anyway its the kind with a big surface to stack cartons on and just push them around) rammed into my left ankle from behind, while i was on the phone with my sis. I just felt this sudden pain and then i turned to look at whatever which hit my ankle and saw nothing but cartons stacked up. If the cartons fell on me i dont know what would happen. Well i GUESS i shouldnt blame that guy behind the cartons coz he probably couldnt see me from behind that tall block, but if he wasnt travelling in a straight course, he would have seen me and its either my fault that i was on the phone and couldnt hear him call out excuse me or that he didnt call out excuse me at all. And if he did call out excuse me, my friends would have heard and told me to get away. So i GUESS he didnt call out excuse me. Moronic guy.

Skin was scraped off, ouch, i hate this kind of scrape. Coz its super untidy, like the skin wasnt even scraped off evenly and hence would take a longer time to heal. And the first thing i saw was a white patch, and then quite some bleeding for a small patch like this. I had this kind of scrape before, knocked my shin against some weight bar, ouch. And it left a scar. Meaning this would leave a bigger scar, ugh. And its my LEFT ankle. Why left again. I guess maybe i should be glad that the bad things happen to my left leg only huh. Touch wood.

Bowling. I can finally use a 9-pound ball. Haha. Okay i know its light, but last time even using an 8-pound ball made my arms ache. First game i scored 55points (it sucks i know), but second game was 103points! Haha strike at the first frame and erm two spares? But anyway my main point was i can use a 9-pound ball now. Having bigger arms compared to last time does have an advantage here haha.

Training will resume soon, tuesday, thursday and sunday. Which means, i can no longer get to watch "Last Friends" on thursday nights. Arrrrrrrhhhh. Previous two episodes i was doing that coz it was exam period. Hai. Never mind, when i wake up the next morning (friday morning) or maybe if im still hyper after i get back from training (12plus am), i'll watch the unsubbed version first. I really am addicted to this haha. But i think it would have been the same situation if i was following jin's "anego" drama then, but that drama was broadcasted in 2005, and i didnt take notice of jin until one year later ahah.

--
I really wished i was in your place.

--
Because i would say hi, talk.

Because its been a long time and i've forgotten how your voice sounds like.

--
"Love Is Strange" by Leona Naess. (from the movie ''Saving Face'')


| 12:45 PM|

------ Tuesday, May 06, 2008
終わりました！

Okay that meant it has ended. No more papers left!

Jap was... more difficult than midterm. The thing that will cause my downfall is listening. The pace is damn fast, and the format of the questions sucks. What dialogue and four statements which we have to pick one to describe the situation mentioned in the dialogue? It was in the textbook cd and i could do those, but this exam's level is too... they spoke so fast lah. Grammar was quite difficult too. Other than those two, its okay lah.

Went for dinner with yilin, zoe, joelyn and cheehoo. Haha i ate grilled seabass. It sounds really old-fashioned but its really nice okay. The mashed potato was wow. It was a 'fusion' restaurant by the way. Nice food. I like the ambience. Its really quiet (we were the only ones there), i wonder why, since the food's quite nice. And the soup. Omg. Lemon grass and chicken essence erm... i didnt catch the name but its a little pepperish and i like appropriately pepperish stuff ahha.

Anyway i wasnt feeling that hyper after the exam. I always, always looked forward to the end of the exams, but in the end i always wind up the most unhyper one haha. Its like... well okay the exams are over, and i can slack without any guilt. Haha thats basically all there is to it. I dont feel the sense of exhilaration like "omgggg the exams are over and im so happy", maybe bcoz i havent stressed myself up enough haha.

And someone mentioned that we have totally different mindsets. Like she's a very competitive person in sports, while im not. Haha it sounds like i was involved in a conflict with her but no, it was a normal peaceful sharing ahha. Yea its true, im not a sports person. The reason im in canoepolo (or was in canoeing) is/was because i like the sport itself and its fun to play the sport. I guess its really different, passion and wanting to enjoy the sport. Of course having both would be good, but so far i only have one aspect haha. I've never really been a very motivated person, in terms of studies or cca. In terms of committment, the most i invested in was comp team training for the st john competition in sec 3. I wasnt even aware of the extent of my attachment to it, coz we had trainings three to four times a week, and every day i'll reach home at 8 plus pm, have my dinner alone at the dining table, bathe and sleep. I didnt even have the energy to do homework. I lagged in my studies, it was super obvious, but this whole routine just went on for three months. It was just this neverending routine, i didnt even think about committment issues and there was no time to think about those stuff. And then sars came, and the competition was postponed indefinitely, and finally announced to be cancelled a week later. It was then that i realized how much that training period had integrated into my daily life. If i have to state a period when i really felt upset/depressed or whatever words that describe the end of the world, it'd be then, seriously. I digressed. But well the friend's point was it helped that someone around her had the same goal as her, so they worked towards it together and achieved that goal, and that well, maybe if i find someone who shares the same goal as me, i will be more motivated to give my best shot. Maybe.

Well exams are over, so the rest of the week is reserved for returning to civilisation. I havent seen town for damn long haha. I actually feel like shopping and spending money. There's no cds for me to spend on yet, so right now its just clothes, if i can find the ones i like, coz everyone knows how limited my wardrobe is.

Hyde's new solo project, a collaboration with K.A.Z., is called VAMPS. VAMPS' new single "LOVE ADDICT" will be released on 2nd july 2008. K.A.Z worked with HYDE (hyde as solo artiste is HYDE) on his previous "FAITH" album, so i guess the quality would be there since "FAITH" was not bad. What i mean by quality is just the quality of the music produced itself, and not the genre/style. Looking at VAMPS and LOVE ADDICT, hopefully its something not out of line ahha.

Kbox tomorrow (well, today)! Then movie or lagging around, then dinner. Yay.

--
"Say Hello" by NEWS.


| 1:21 AM|

------ Sunday, May 04, 2008
My head's hurting like crazy. I wonder if its the airconditioned bedroom i slept in last night (because i rarely sleep with aircon) or the hot weather today.

Last night it dawned on me that my whole family is hooked onto packet drinks. We would have three to four types in the cabinet, and we'll put two packets of each type into the fridge, and refill when we take a cold packet from the fridge. If we see that one type is missing in the fridge (and there are still un-cold ones in the cabinet), we'll say out loud in really singlish english "who drink already never refill ah" or "wah drink already never refill". Haha. There was a period of time when all of us were lazy to buy packet drinks when the drinks depleted, so we lived in agony for a few days. And finally, i think my dad or mum relented. Basically, my sis and i just wait for the drinks to be restocked haha.

Out of boredom, i went to listen to NEWS' "Taiyou no Namida" and "SUMMER TIME" singles. I wont comment much, just that it was hmmm. "Taiyou no Namida", "SUMMER TIME" and "EASY COME, EASY GO" were the better (acceptable) ones. I dont know, the b-sides of their singles are not the kind i like lah. Very energetic music (music, not vocals), i guess those songs will be more interesting when they're performed in concerts. "weeeek" single had "weeeek" and "Rainbow" which were good, but the other two songs, never mind.

I havent listened to their previous singles individually, but i watched their 2007 concert dvd and the concert when all eight members were still present, so i kind of listened to most of their songs (meaning the ones released as b-sides as well). I like "TEPPEN" single the most, because it has "TEPPEN", "夢の数だけ愛が生まれる" and "Fiesta". This was the last eight-people single released.

For KAT-TUN, i guess its still their debut single "Real Face" which stands out the most, not only in terms of the overall feeling it gives, but i think the balance in the standard of the three songs is very good. There's "Real Face","GLORIA" and "Will Be All Right". Nice. For the recent ones, i cant decide between "Keep the faith" and "LIPS", because "Keep the faith" has stronger b-sides and "LIPS" has a stronger a-side haha. If "DON'T U EVER STOP" didnt have this idea of having two members' solos on each edition (and no group b-sides), it would have been my pick haha.

L'Arc~en~Ciel. They have so many singles i cannot remember the exact number already. But they had the a-side only/ a-side plus b-side format until 2000, and "NEO UNIVERSE / finale" was the last single they released which had new tracks besides the title track. After that they had remixes, and P'UNK~EN~CIEL (all of them exchanged their roles in the band, with tetsu as the vocalist) versions of previously released songs. "All Dead" and "White Feathers" are my favourite songs, but they're not singles, they're from the "Tierra" album (1994). Ancient i know. If i have to take a pick, it'll be their latest single, "DRINK IT DOWN", and i think its just ingenious of yukihiro to compose such a song, especially when his previous compositions werent very noticeable, they got covered by ken's amazing ballads or dark songs haha.

Okay i've taken a long enough break haha. My head's still hurting though. Sucks.

After japanese tomorrow, dinner! Yay. And then i can sleep till 12 noon the next day i dont care anymore.

--
"SUMMER TIME" by NEWS.


| 5:48 PM|

------ Friday, May 02, 2008
Just watched music station. KAT-TUN performed DON'T U EVER STOP.

Remember i said about hoping they'll improve from last week's live? They did.

JIN~~~~~~~~~~~. Omg jin's voice was WOW. He hit the low notes, he harmonised damn well. And it was definitely not lip-synching bcoz it sounded different from the cd version. And his HELL YEAH was even better than last week's. Jin amazes me too much sometimes, but i welcome this kind of amazement haha. And he actually looked like he was dancing more diligently. Nice.

--
And by the way, ayaka's performance of "Okaeri" was wow too. This girl has a freaking good voice and it freaks me out that she never ever goes off tune. Not ever.

--


| 7:55 PM|

------
One more down. One more left.

Today's human anatomy paper was do-able, but im not sure if i wrote enough or relevantly to score the points ahah. And i mixed up some neurotransmitters for the neurons in the autonomic nervous system. Omg terminology. By the way, i took one day (i had two days to study anatomy) to study the brain and nervous system. All the whatever motor cortex and sensory cortex was so etched in my mind that this morning, when i was waiting for the bus, i saw a short tree (okay the word is shrub but it looks like a miniature tree. just imagine okay.) with the crown in the shape of the cerebrum of the brain. And the 'trunk' looked like the brain stem. So i was like going "brain" in my mind.

I was counting down towards the end of the paper haha. Was like 10 minutes to the end and i felt super restless. Coz last night, i told myself NOT to watch the broadcast of episode 4 of "Last Friends" coz i apparently have not finished studying anatomy. But then i still clicked on the tvu player icon, thinking, well it might not even load and the transmission would be so bad i'll just give up on watching. (Bcoz transmission around 9pm is really bad most of the time.) But wow, i connected with fuji tv channel so quickly and signal was full to the bar. Haha it must be fate. And so i watched it, not understanding 97% of the dialogue coz there's little/no action in this episode at all. So the reason i was feeling restless during the paper was that i wanted to rush home to check if a subbed version is out. Haha. And i found it on tudou. I love the translator to bits. I assume she's a girl, so well, i love her to bits haha.

Understanding the dialogue was super important, because it made this episode much more meaningful. I think its a good episode, we get to see how everything will intertwine together, there's more insight into what each character thinks. The focus was more balanced in this episode, less on Sosuke and Michiru, but still sufficient to maintain the connection. And Takeru and Ruka, wah, nice.

Eita (plays Takeru) is a good actor and i like his speaking voice. He was crazy weird carefree in "Nodame Cantabile", serious confident yet dependent to a certain extent in "Sapuri" and now gentle good listener introverted? in "Last Friends". For Ueno Juri (plays Ruka), well many people (those people who discussed in the forum) were so impressed and awed by her acting from episode one onwards, saying that she's really good at delineating her roles in different dramas well and she makes Ruka really realistic. But to be honest, it was only midway in episode 3 (that one expression when Michiru said that she's never felt loved by anyone before) that i was impressed, and this episode 4 made me go wow. She IS a good actress (or rather, i should say to the extent that i think Nodame really possessed her) but its only now that her acting skills show. Nagasawa Masami (plays Michiru) has been doing okay so far, just that sometimes i think her reaction can be a little bigger? I guess she's still young (twenty this year) and well maybe lacks life experience to portray her character well. But she's comfortable to watch on screen, that's the good thing about her. Nishikido Ryo (plays Sosuke) haha, i might sound slightly (or very) biased here coz this guy made me watch "One Litre of Tears" so many times without getting tired of it. In the first place when i read that he was going to take on this character (Michiru's violent boyfriend), i thought that he would definitely be able to pull it off. And he did. So far. Sosuke freaked the hell out of me in episode 3 (note: it wasnt the scissors scene in episode 2 that freaked me out the most. its the atmosphere in episode 3), and then every time he appears on screen, without doing anything (like just standing there), i feel uncomfortable already haha. THE BACKGROUND MUSIC HELPS. Omg i love the background music, its like so freaky haha. Amazing composers. Okay digressed. Its really good ryo took up this role, actually i cannot imagine any other je person doing this role. He's good at emo-ing haha. Every time his character starts to get emotional and all sad, i feel the sadness too. Haha And the ratings are stable at 15 plus percent, yay.

When the exams end, i'll finish up "Bara no nai Hanaya" and "Daisuki!" (i havent even finished them and i've already jumped to "Last Friends" and going to start on "Zettai Kareshi"). Oh by the way, Akanishi Jin won "Best Actor" for 11th Nikkan Sports Drama Grand Prix (April 2007 - March 2008), and "Yukan Club" won "Best Drama". HAHA. Omg. Popularity. Its a popularity vote. The Television Drama Academy Awards is generally the more accurate one when it comes to quality of the drama, but for the case of "Hanazakari no Kimitachi e" (won tvda awards) and "Hotaru no Hikari" (won nikkan awards), i dont really understand lah. Haha. Shouldnt it be the other way round? Or "Hotaru no Hikari"should just win both haha. OH and i just read that a "Gokusen" movie might be made, with cast from the previous seasons - Oguri Shun, Kamenashi Kazuya, Akanishi Jin. Whoa. Although i know if that happens, the story would be crappish, its still jin haha, with nicer hair and better looks (actually i didnt like how he looked in "Gokusen 2". i only went into jin craze after watching his kat-tun video clips and hearing his singing voice).

Okay i should stop and revise my hiragana and katakana now. I havent touched japanese for a loooong time (erm 3 weeks?), i need to start from the very basics haha.

--
"LOVE" by KAT-TUN.

--
I'm sorry i slammed this song last time. My ears werent working and i didnt hear jin's amazing voice and harmonizing in this song. Its not bad a song. Haha.

--
And i took around 40 minutes to type this post. I'm hungry.

--


| 4:56 PM|

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