Came home late on Friday night (it's amazing how much work you can get done when there's no one else left in the office).
Surfed around on a couple of AAA fansites and found that someone had uploaded their most recent Buzz Communication Tour onto YouTube! Seems like it was available on WOWOW (a Japanese pay TV station - from what I understand, you pay for programs that you want to watch) and someone must've recorded it and uploaded it.
I love this person so much, whoever you are.
She uploaded all the songs as separate videos (no MCs, but that's okay; I just hope the tour DVD is the same recording!), so I immediately looked through and zoomed in on "one more tomorrow". Ever since I first heard that song, I've wanted to see how it would look performed live, mainly because Shuta and Shinjiro sound amazing on it, and from what I can understand of the song, it's a bittersweet kinda piece.
And I wasn't disappointed; this performance really is beautiful.
(EDIT: YouTube took down all her uploads, but I managed to find it on DailyMotion!)
one more tomorrow by AyanoEtsuko
I'm not too crazy about the costumes (I don't like Shinjiro's cloak, and why on earth does Nishi look like he's wearing a sheet with sleeves??) but to get to the point: Shuta's voice is heartbreaking, and even though I wish Shinjiro would get parts that stretch his vocals more, his voice really *is* suited for low notes; absolutely melts hearts, I tell you.
And it's good to see that the two of them get to sing so much more solo parts in this concert; even the newer songs have more solo parts for them instead of just sticking them in the refrain. Good to see that they've come such a long way from their early days.
It was recorded during one of the two Saitama Super Arena shows, and some of the camera angles give really different shots from what I've seen in their previous Lives; in particular, there's one camera that's fixed into the floor, front and centre of the main stage which gives some nice close-up shots of their dances. But it's awfully hazardous, coz that little camera sticking out of the stage is also in the middle of the "runway" that they've got leading down to another stage in the middle of the arena.
No one trips over it though, although I'm sure Hidaka came close to it during one song; you'd think they'd have learned from Shinjiro's tripping incident in 5th Anniversary that it's not a good idea to walk backwards when you know that the stage isn't entirely flat.
So, after I got over how lovely they all sounded, I noticed the background. It's an LED wall. In "one more tomorrow" they create this very nice effect by making the display "respond" to the boys' dance moves. Just before Shuta starts singing the first verse, the display creates a starry ball of light where Hidaka is, in the middle, and mirroring his action where he lifts his hand up to where Shinjiro's standing, the ball of light moves to Shin-chan's position and hovers around him while he dances and Shuta sings. Then Shinjiro waves it off to Shuta later on, and the passing around ends with the beginning of the chorus; the whole backdrop bursts into a shower of stars.
Here's the cool thing: the whole backdrop is composed entirely of LED modules that they can actually stand and walk and dance on. After one event a couple of years back, I know that the price of just one of those panels numbers in 5 digits, and that's in Singapore dollars. The price in yen must be astronomical. And can you imagine the number of panels that were needed to cover all that backdrop space on stage..?! Seems like Avex is really splashing out on these boys and girls now.
And this is a touring stage. I'm used to their tour stages being a lot less elaborate than the stages that they have for anniversary concerts, because hey, they have to be able to set it up and tear it down quickly and all that. But maybe this was only for the Saitama shows; they were billed as the "Deluxe Edition", after all. But the effect that it contributes to the whole performance is amazing. It's going to be hard to outdo themselves for 6th Anniversary. :D
And the introductions; when they did their self-introductions, Shinjiro started his with a long, loud, "Maidooo~!" I squealed, honestly. I miss the "maido call" thing that he used to do during concerts, and I'm pretty sure from the loud scream that went up when he did it, that there're plenty of other fans who've missed it too.
Someone, please make him do it for 6th Anniversary and please let it be on the DVD. XD
I loved this whole concert; looked like everyone was having so much fun! Not that they look like they're *not* having fun in their other Lives, but really, it's a combination of the song line-up and how the members work the crowd and all the little funny interactions that happen between some of the members on stage - one of the main reasons why I love this band is just because they're so much fun to watch when they perform. :)
Friday, July 29, 2011
The birthday week's come and gone.
So. Will post whatever pictures I have of birthday presents later. I think there're still some hanging around out there. On a ship in the middle of the Pacific ocean, maybe. :p
But here, my birthday week in point-form.
Removal of KTM tracks started, and although that's not really amusing per se, I'm glad I went to take some super last minute pictures on Sunday (17th July). It's a nice place to walk (apart from all the uneven footing that all the gravel makes); I hope they keep it as a sorta green corridor. It even seems like a small back-alleyway connecting neighbourhoods. If people need to get somewhere along the route, why not encourage them to walk if they have the time to spare? :)
Same-sex couples getting married in New York. Must be the happiest day of their lives for these people; and all the senior citizen couples too - they must be so glad that they lived to see this day. I've never considered getting married myself, so I can't say that I can imagine how it feels, but it must be really horrible to want to commit yourself to someone, and show the whole world how committed you are, but you can't. And even though they couldn't, it's amazing that the ones who've waited all these years have stayed together all that time as well.
We find out that there's gonna be a Starbucks at U-Town! Among other things. If only I'd been born a few years later. Everything's getting so exciting in school now. The Yale-NUS College thingy too. Gah.
Fake Apple stores in China. Not just the products, the whole damn *STORE*.
Maybe the neo-Communist way of raging against capitalism is to undermine it with imitation products.
Pluto has a fourth moon, and Neil Gaiman's fans want it to be named after him.
I'm quite sure that among the others named Nix, Charon and Hydra, "Neil" will be quite the odd one out.
I can just imagine the Pluto family gathering now: "Yeah. That's our little brother. Bit of a black sheep, that one. Went off and disappeared for so long that we forgot his name, so we stuck him with 'Neil' in the end. He's still sulking about it now."
And sadly, the terror attacks in Norway on 22nd July. I can't really understand how someone could think that they have a right to kill whole groups of people who don't fit into their idealised worldview.
Dude, even *your* culture which you were trying to defend so violently is probably an assimilation or amalgamation of a lot of other cultures which yours stamped out in the Dark Ages or something.
And while we're on that, there're probably a lot of people who hate you (there'd be more now, I reckon), but you didn't see them trying to use you for target practice, did you?
And finally, the AAA boys (just Naoya and Shinjiro, really) being their amusing selves on Twitter.
So Shinjiro's having an upcoming handshake event for his new photobook. Our little boy's all excited, so of course he posts stuff on his Twitter, talking about how he's excited to meet everyone and such. There's a bunch of replies, and then...
Naoya (supportive band leaderand stand-in parent that he is), replies, going, "Hmm, shall I go as well..?"
Mana-B from DigiCut responds too: "I wanna go too! Let's both go and scream, 'Shin-chan!' together!"
Naoya: Looks like everyone wants to go. Lol.
Shinjiro: You can hold hands and come along together!
Mana-B: Yeah, Naoya, let's go together!
Naoya: I'm not holding hands with you.
Mana-B: Mou, whyyyyy.
Naoya: Nyeh.
RETARDEDNESS, but it's hilarious.
And the return of Naoya's obsession with Shinjiro-sans-clothes:
Shinjiro: Hiroshima's so hot...
Naoya: Ne, are you gonna become even darker? (Coz Shin-chan went on holiday after their tour and got himself very nicely browned)
Shinjiro: No, I don't want to get any darker. Lol.
Naoya: You're wearing all black today... wouldn't you look the same if you were just naked?
Shinjiro: Are you an idiot?
And to end off, this is just cute:
Shinjiro: SET STOCK (TV show) was so much fun! Thank you! Sendai tomorrow!
Naoya: Ah. The prince is still awake.
(This was at past 1am, Japan time. Naoya has a habit of referring to Shin-chan as "prince" because he says Shin-chan reminds him of a prince. Or maybe what a prince might be like.)
Shinjiro: I'm watching TV!
Naoya: Go to sleep, please...
Shinjiro: I'm not sleepy! But tomorrow we have to be up early, right...
Yes, that's probably why Naoya-papa's chasing you off to bed. Lol. Such a baby, but so adorable. ^-^
So. Will post whatever pictures I have of birthday presents later. I think there're still some hanging around out there. On a ship in the middle of the Pacific ocean, maybe. :p
But here, my birthday week in point-form.
Removal of KTM tracks started, and although that's not really amusing per se, I'm glad I went to take some super last minute pictures on Sunday (17th July). It's a nice place to walk (apart from all the uneven footing that all the gravel makes); I hope they keep it as a sorta green corridor. It even seems like a small back-alleyway connecting neighbourhoods. If people need to get somewhere along the route, why not encourage them to walk if they have the time to spare? :)
Same-sex couples getting married in New York. Must be the happiest day of their lives for these people; and all the senior citizen couples too - they must be so glad that they lived to see this day. I've never considered getting married myself, so I can't say that I can imagine how it feels, but it must be really horrible to want to commit yourself to someone, and show the whole world how committed you are, but you can't. And even though they couldn't, it's amazing that the ones who've waited all these years have stayed together all that time as well.
We find out that there's gonna be a Starbucks at U-Town! Among other things. If only I'd been born a few years later. Everything's getting so exciting in school now. The Yale-NUS College thingy too. Gah.
Fake Apple stores in China. Not just the products, the whole damn *STORE*.
Maybe the neo-Communist way of raging against capitalism is to undermine it with imitation products.
Pluto has a fourth moon, and Neil Gaiman's fans want it to be named after him.
I'm quite sure that among the others named Nix, Charon and Hydra, "Neil" will be quite the odd one out.
I can just imagine the Pluto family gathering now: "Yeah. That's our little brother. Bit of a black sheep, that one. Went off and disappeared for so long that we forgot his name, so we stuck him with 'Neil' in the end. He's still sulking about it now."
And sadly, the terror attacks in Norway on 22nd July. I can't really understand how someone could think that they have a right to kill whole groups of people who don't fit into their idealised worldview.
Dude, even *your* culture which you were trying to defend so violently is probably an assimilation or amalgamation of a lot of other cultures which yours stamped out in the Dark Ages or something.
And while we're on that, there're probably a lot of people who hate you (there'd be more now, I reckon), but you didn't see them trying to use you for target practice, did you?
And finally, the AAA boys (just Naoya and Shinjiro, really) being their amusing selves on Twitter.
So Shinjiro's having an upcoming handshake event for his new photobook. Our little boy's all excited, so of course he posts stuff on his Twitter, talking about how he's excited to meet everyone and such. There's a bunch of replies, and then...
Naoya (supportive band leader
Mana-B from DigiCut responds too: "I wanna go too! Let's both go and scream, 'Shin-chan!' together!"
Naoya: Looks like everyone wants to go. Lol.
Shinjiro: You can hold hands and come along together!
Mana-B: Yeah, Naoya, let's go together!
Naoya: I'm not holding hands with you.
Mana-B: Mou, whyyyyy.
Naoya: Nyeh.
RETARDEDNESS, but it's hilarious.
And the return of Naoya's obsession with Shinjiro-sans-clothes:
Shinjiro: Hiroshima's so hot...
Naoya: Ne, are you gonna become even darker? (Coz Shin-chan went on holiday after their tour and got himself very nicely browned)
Shinjiro: No, I don't want to get any darker. Lol.
Naoya: You're wearing all black today... wouldn't you look the same if you were just naked?
Shinjiro: Are you an idiot?
And to end off, this is just cute:
Shinjiro: SET STOCK (TV show) was so much fun! Thank you! Sendai tomorrow!
Naoya: Ah. The prince is still awake.
(This was at past 1am, Japan time. Naoya has a habit of referring to Shin-chan as "prince" because he says Shin-chan reminds him of a prince. Or maybe what a prince might be like.)
Shinjiro: I'm watching TV!
Naoya: Go to sleep, please...
Shinjiro: I'm not sleepy! But tomorrow we have to be up early, right...
Yes, that's probably why Naoya-papa's chasing you off to bed. Lol. Such a baby, but so adorable. ^-^
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Friday, July 15, 2011
Shinjiro's new movie has a release date! Yaaaay!! \(^-^)/
Ehh... but in September. Bleah. So faaaar away.
Oddly enough, it's based on a story that Aiba Hiroki's also worked on before: "Switch wo Osu Toki". Except Aiba was in a theatre production of it. I find Japanese showbiz amusingly... intermarried that way; everyone's worked on something with someone else before.
I'm just wondering which character he's playing. I was thinking he might get the same role which Aiba got (which would be even more amusing, since they've worked together before), the role of the wheelchair-bound boy who writes songs and sings to himself to pass the time. Coz as far as I know, from the names of the cast listed on the official webby, Shin-chan's the only singer there.
But then I saw Sakamoto Shougo's name and thought maybe they might put him in that role. In which case, the only other role I can see Shin-chan in is the role of the kid who was a little neurotic and paranoid about everything; the one who liked the girl, but the girl didn't reciprocate. I forgot all the characters' names already.
And I found "Blizzard" on YouTube last night! Whee. Not subbed, but I can sorta tell what's going on anyway. I hope they upload all the episodes. Shin-chan looks quite adorable all bundled up in winter clothing. And oh, why does he always get the petulant, bratty, "youngest kid" roles, lol.
Ehh... but in September. Bleah. So faaaar away.
Oddly enough, it's based on a story that Aiba Hiroki's also worked on before: "Switch wo Osu Toki". Except Aiba was in a theatre production of it. I find Japanese showbiz amusingly... intermarried that way; everyone's worked on something with someone else before.
I'm just wondering which character he's playing. I was thinking he might get the same role which Aiba got (which would be even more amusing, since they've worked together before), the role of the wheelchair-bound boy who writes songs and sings to himself to pass the time. Coz as far as I know, from the names of the cast listed on the official webby, Shin-chan's the only singer there.
But then I saw Sakamoto Shougo's name and thought maybe they might put him in that role. In which case, the only other role I can see Shin-chan in is the role of the kid who was a little neurotic and paranoid about everything; the one who liked the girl, but the girl didn't reciprocate. I forgot all the characters' names already.
And I found "Blizzard" on YouTube last night! Whee. Not subbed, but I can sorta tell what's going on anyway. I hope they upload all the episodes. Shin-chan looks quite adorable all bundled up in winter clothing. And oh, why does he always get the petulant, bratty, "youngest kid" roles, lol.
Monday, July 04, 2011
Before I stumbled across this video, I didn't know that Shinjiro could sing high notes; almost all the time, he sings back-up and low notes for AAA's songs (and sounds damn sexy at it, thankyouverymuch.)
But this. THIS, is amazing.
I'm not so crazy over Maekawa Hiroki's voice, but Shinjiro's parts... すてきなぁ。。。 And then when he sings from 2:34. And then the high notes. O.O
Shin-chan, I'm so proud of you. :D
Avex, make use of the talent that you've got, man. Yes, he sounds fantastic in the lower ranges, but it's a shame that the songs that he sings with his *own* band don't stretch his range as much as this does. The boy is going to waste (Shuta as well!) singing back-up all the time. Someone needs to write more songs that utilise Shuta and Shin-chan's voices better.
But this. THIS, is amazing.
I'm not so crazy over Maekawa Hiroki's voice, but Shinjiro's parts... すてきなぁ。。。 And then when he sings from 2:34. And then the high notes. O.O
Shin-chan, I'm so proud of you. :D
Avex, make use of the talent that you've got, man. Yes, he sounds fantastic in the lower ranges, but it's a shame that the songs that he sings with his *own* band don't stretch his range as much as this does. The boy is going to waste (Shuta as well!) singing back-up all the time. Someone needs to write more songs that utilise Shuta and Shin-chan's voices better.
Sunday, July 03, 2011
Wow. It's been about two years since I last posted, huh.
If you actually remember what this blog used to look like, well, I've switched to this more "boring" Blogger template because Geocities shut down, and a lot of graphics that you see on this blog were actually being hosted there, including the old header image. So I decided, what the heck, let's just use a default template, then I won't have to worry about images.
I'm still toying with the idea of setting up a Livejournal for posting writing though. Since I don't have my site and all anymore.
Time really does fly and I've been so busy with work in real life that I spend most of my free time doing rather brain-dead things, such as watching Japanese dramas, watching live performances by Japanese artistes and reading fanfiction.
Yeah, the Japanese kick that I started on in 2009 hasn't abated. Lol.
But it seems that I've moved on from Aiba Hiroki and Tenimyu. Not saying that I don't like Aiba anymore or anything, but he hasn't appeared in anything (at least, not that I know of) since Shinkenger ended. Rather sad, since it seemed to me that his acting was getting better in Shinkenger, but oh well.
Tenimyu also doesn't hold much appeal for me anymore after the third generation graduated. After third gen, there were a few actors whom I felt didn't really fit their roles, so yeah. No more Tenimyu for me. Although it felt kinda "Whoa, *already*?" when I saw the news that whole story was finished and 6th gen would be graduating.
But I learned a lot by just by paying attention to what was being said in all those Jap dramas I watched (who says you don't anything from watching TV? Well, not really TV in my case since I'm watching them on my laptop, but you get what I mean). I started learning to recognise certain phrases and I could actually recognise conjugation just by hearing similar parts of words... I've no idea how else to explain it.
Went on holiday to Kyoto with Connor, Jianhui and Jiaxin in April 2010, and found, to my surprise, that I could actually *understand* what most people were saying, but couldn't speak the language, since I'd never learned how to string together a sentence in the language. Now I sorta understand how it might be possible for people to understand a language but not speak it.
Was somewhere around then that I started thinking about taking Japanese classes, and I finally got started in January this year. Will be starting Intermediate level classes in August. Excited at the idea of going back to Japan for holiday sometime in the near future, and the difference that knowing the language will make for the experience.
Haven't seen any dramas recently that seem interesting... I feel like whatever Japanese I know or my listening skills are becoming a bit rusty. It probably doesn't help that I've recently listening to or watching Lives by only one artiste, haha.
Yes, cue my most recent obsession: J-pop band, AAA. That's "Triple A" for you, which is apparently shortened from "Attack All Around".
I kinda rediscovered them earlier this year; I can't remember how, but it was when I stumbled upon the PV for their "Heart and Soul" single on YouTube. Very hard-hitting dancey song, but somehow addictive.
Why "rediscovered"? Well, the first time I heard about this band was actually because of Aiba Hiroki; I went looking for other stuff that he'd worked in other than Tenimyu, and I found Delicious Gakuin, cracktastic thing that it is. Lol. It's so utterly full of nonsense, I tell you. XD
It is *impossible* to not notice Nishijima Takahiro in Delicious Gakuin. Other than the fact that he's the lead, Nishi is just hilarious in that drama, and other than Aiba, who I was watching the series for in the first place, the character of the stuck-up kid, played by Atae Shinjiro, who hates Nishi's character from the get-go really attracted my attention. Yeah, I have a thing for the attitude-problem characters. XD
Next thing I started to notice was that "AAA" popped up very often in the credits for the drama. "AAA" was tagged on in brackets to the end of Nishi and Shinjiro's names, and "AAA" was apparently the band singing both the theme and insert songs for the drama. Their marketing really scored with that one, I thought.
But it was around that time that I went and read a little more about the band, watched a few of their PVs on YouTube, but it never really stuck. Until now, it seems. I'd always thought that Nishi was younger than Shin-chan, but I've only found out now that Shin-chan's two years younger! I blame Nishi's retarded behaviour. :P
Anyway. To end off this post of rediscovery (of my blog, ahaha) I have this as well:
I'm flattered, really. :) But that's for my story-writing.
In this blogpost, apparently...
A different sort of style for different occasions, perhaps. :)
If you actually remember what this blog used to look like, well, I've switched to this more "boring" Blogger template because Geocities shut down, and a lot of graphics that you see on this blog were actually being hosted there, including the old header image. So I decided, what the heck, let's just use a default template, then I won't have to worry about images.
I'm still toying with the idea of setting up a Livejournal for posting writing though. Since I don't have my site and all anymore.
Time really does fly and I've been so busy with work in real life that I spend most of my free time doing rather brain-dead things, such as watching Japanese dramas, watching live performances by Japanese artistes and reading fanfiction.
Yeah, the Japanese kick that I started on in 2009 hasn't abated. Lol.
But it seems that I've moved on from Aiba Hiroki and Tenimyu. Not saying that I don't like Aiba anymore or anything, but he hasn't appeared in anything (at least, not that I know of) since Shinkenger ended. Rather sad, since it seemed to me that his acting was getting better in Shinkenger, but oh well.
Tenimyu also doesn't hold much appeal for me anymore after the third generation graduated. After third gen, there were a few actors whom I felt didn't really fit their roles, so yeah. No more Tenimyu for me. Although it felt kinda "Whoa, *already*?" when I saw the news that whole story was finished and 6th gen would be graduating.
But I learned a lot by just by paying attention to what was being said in all those Jap dramas I watched (who says you don't anything from watching TV? Well, not really TV in my case since I'm watching them on my laptop, but you get what I mean). I started learning to recognise certain phrases and I could actually recognise conjugation just by hearing similar parts of words... I've no idea how else to explain it.
Went on holiday to Kyoto with Connor, Jianhui and Jiaxin in April 2010, and found, to my surprise, that I could actually *understand* what most people were saying, but couldn't speak the language, since I'd never learned how to string together a sentence in the language. Now I sorta understand how it might be possible for people to understand a language but not speak it.
Was somewhere around then that I started thinking about taking Japanese classes, and I finally got started in January this year. Will be starting Intermediate level classes in August. Excited at the idea of going back to Japan for holiday sometime in the near future, and the difference that knowing the language will make for the experience.
Haven't seen any dramas recently that seem interesting... I feel like whatever Japanese I know or my listening skills are becoming a bit rusty. It probably doesn't help that I've recently listening to or watching Lives by only one artiste, haha.
Yes, cue my most recent obsession: J-pop band, AAA. That's "Triple A" for you, which is apparently shortened from "Attack All Around".
I kinda rediscovered them earlier this year; I can't remember how, but it was when I stumbled upon the PV for their "Heart and Soul" single on YouTube. Very hard-hitting dancey song, but somehow addictive.
Why "rediscovered"? Well, the first time I heard about this band was actually because of Aiba Hiroki; I went looking for other stuff that he'd worked in other than Tenimyu, and I found Delicious Gakuin, cracktastic thing that it is. Lol. It's so utterly full of nonsense, I tell you. XD
It is *impossible* to not notice Nishijima Takahiro in Delicious Gakuin. Other than the fact that he's the lead, Nishi is just hilarious in that drama, and other than Aiba, who I was watching the series for in the first place, the character of the stuck-up kid, played by Atae Shinjiro, who hates Nishi's character from the get-go really attracted my attention. Yeah, I have a thing for the attitude-problem characters. XD
Next thing I started to notice was that "AAA" popped up very often in the credits for the drama. "AAA" was tagged on in brackets to the end of Nishi and Shinjiro's names, and "AAA" was apparently the band singing both the theme and insert songs for the drama. Their marketing really scored with that one, I thought.
But it was around that time that I went and read a little more about the band, watched a few of their PVs on YouTube, but it never really stuck. Until now, it seems. I'd always thought that Nishi was younger than Shin-chan, but I've only found out now that Shin-chan's two years younger! I blame Nishi's retarded behaviour. :P
Anyway. To end off this post of rediscovery (of my blog, ahaha) I have this as well:
I'm flattered, really. :) But that's for my story-writing.
In this blogpost, apparently...
A different sort of style for different occasions, perhaps. :)