Archives For June 2009

First things first~~

I found another Yu Aoi article that talks about her role on Ikechan and voice-acting. It seems to quote a bit on this previous interview, but there also seems to be a bit of extra info, can’t be sure since I just skimmed-Google-translate it. We are in need of proper translations for this and the previous articles (trust me, you don’t want to rely on my Japanese LOL).

I also ran into this piece of info. I know it’s late, LOL’

Gakuya - Dressing Room - Poster

It’s a stage drama/play/theater piece… whatever your choice of noun is, called Gakuya – or as it translates Dressing Room – alongside Kyoko Koizumi, Nozomi Muraoka, and Eri Watanabe. It ran from May 10th to June 14th (again, sorry for the tardiness xD) – any Japanese fans seen it?? It would be awesome to get comments on that… or even a synopsis xD

Gakuya - Dressing Room - Cast

— July 1st EDIT —

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I was looking back on music videos this past weekend (which, by the way marked amy-wong.com’s 4th anniversary) because I was watching Michael Jackson music videos and thinking “wow, how come I don’t like watching music videos now” – at least I don’t watch videos of most music I listen to in English, though I’m generally impressed with Asian Pop Music Videos.

When I was little, well… a pre-teen and teenage girl fuzzing about the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears with my friends at school, I began to notice director’s names. MTV (which I pretty much used to watch almost 24/7) used to show the Name of the Song + Name of the Artist + Name of Album + Name of Director. They did this until the beginning of 2002 or 2003 when the Director’s name suddenly disappeared from the credits. I dunno if it’s back, and I dunno if it was because I just went to Canada. LOL

One of the first names I noticed was, of course, Nigel Dick.

If I could describe Nigel Dick’s style of music-video-making when I was a kid, I would say “simply brilliant” – not because I was naive and didn’t really know much about the business, but because his videos were simple, but yet so full of life. Perhaps, the easiest way to show it is with a simple video such as Oasis’ Wonderwall.

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While there’s on-going filming in Europe, there’s more news about Juri’s brand new WOWOW drama titled Ueno Juri and the Five Bags – though I wonder if there will be a title change or addition~~

Juri Ueno and the Five Bags

WOWOW is quickly positioning on my to-watch list (now, if only they decided to release their subbed dramas and films) – and on the vein of series like Camouflage, which I still haven’t watched subbed – comes this mini-series (since it’s only 5-episodes long) telling the story of 5 different characters and directed by 5 different directors, including Nobuhiro Yamashita (Linda Linda Linda, Camouflage), Michael Arias (Tekkonkinkreet) and Takuma Takasaki (Honokaa Boy).

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Dr. Koto's Clinic

I began watching Dr. Koto’s Clinic – well, kind of for obvious reasons – Anyhoo~ I decided to begin watching from the very beginning. To tell you the truth, I was about to give up watching the whole show (first season) once or twice… but the little kids and the whole blood donating episode kept me going. Takehiro-kun was sooooo cute. LOL’ (and he was also on Yoshitsune xD)

I was teary, once or twice… I’m a sap, people should know by now. I love crying, but it’s got to be a good cry~~~ my favorite episode was the one with Aki-ojii – even though the episode titles were… well, a little blunt. It was a great episode dealing with death in a pretty realistic way. I was tired of so many successful operations to be frank.

Acting was pretty good, though there were times I couldn’t stand some characters (including Dr. Koto/Goto (Hidetaka Yoshioka) himself, lol), but that’s hardly an acting problem, and more of a character thing – I loved Ayaka (Kou Shibasaki), though. Especially when she begins realizing she’s falling for the doctor. She’s pretty hilarious, and at the same time she can break your heart. Like when Rika (Ayumi Ito) comes back, and Ayaka tells Dr. Koto how the both of them used to make boys cry. LOL’

All characters had their moment though, so I’m looking forward to the Specials… as well as Season 2.

Anyway, why Harmony, you would wonder? It’s because I can’t seem to get away from my first official ship. No matter what the series is, what the movie is… it always gets a Harmony comparison.
I love it and hate it.

Ayaka is a balancing force to Dr. Koto, while Saki knows who Goto is as a doctor, he has to prove himself with Ayaka to show her the real him, and she gets to see this of him. She’s not fuzzing over the Dr. who’s come to the island, but she’s flustered for the caring and kind man he is. Ayaka is always by Goto’s side, even when everyone believed the news article, Ayaka stood by him (alongside Wada-san) – can’t get more Trio than that. LOL

She takes a hit when Saki comes to visit, and all the guys fuzz about this doctor with short hair that looks like a model or an air-hostess… and even a bigger blow when people start saying Dr. Koto might marry Saki because they have a kid together. LOL’ Oh the rumors! xD Poor Ayaka, people think she stands no chance against Saki, she is after all just a plain island nurse, but she hangs in there. And that one scene almost by the end, when Ayaka realizes Goto is in the boat, and then he sees her – UGH, it’s exactly like that walking down the stairs and all I see is you thing. *sighs* but Koto’s totally daft, and she’s just content he’s back.

Did you know? Because I didn’t…

I caught the repeat of Part 1 yesterday night – actually, I almost lost it (so you can imagine how my friend Julz felt when she actually saw Yossy live by chance) – ANYHOO~

Back on topic~

NHK (World Premium) is airing Part 2 this coming week:
Wed. July 1st @ 9am-9.29am (Japan Standard Time. -14hrs)
Fri. Jul 3rd @ 9.30pm-9.59pm (JST -14hrs)

Not feeling it though… O.o
Are you?

[iframe width=”560″ height=”349″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/ioZCEpRLpxo?rel=0″]

I know I’ve tagged this with “new talent” and “new music” when in fact it’s not.

First, a little about Han Hong – according to Chinese Wiki – She’s won the award for the Most Popular Female Singer, as well as the Best Female Artist Award (in mainland China). That means she’s critically acclaimed, and popular among the public – which doesn’t happen often on this side of the world. LOL

Her voice is often compared (by the fans) to Sarah Brightman for her unique style… music and lyrics. – and everyone loves Brightman… she was even on the Beijing Olympics Opening.

Now, a little on my story. I first noticed her at the Beijing Paralympic Opening Ceremony – with Andy Lau singing Flying with the Dream – but I didn’t have much luck getting her name or clips back then, so I kinda forgot about it until the day I was watching those music concerts on CCTV back in April and she appeared on stage. My mom thought what an amazing voice! While I added I had seen her in the Paralympic Ceremony… totally forgetting she’s also featured on the Beijing Welcomes You music video (thank you, whoever did those annotations! It’s hard to keep track of so many singers…) – Anyway, that day… I ended up discovering Chris Lee instead of Han Hong… but the wait is OVER!

Since the beginning, I’ve always thought she had an amazing voice, but the video above moved me so much. It gave me shivers, and almost brought tears to my eyes. No, really. It’s THIS video in particular… this performance. She’s an amazing vocalist! I would love to see her perform with Sarah Brightman herself, or maybe even the lovely women of Celtic Woman – or Meav *tsk tsk*

I’m not completely sold on her videos – like on most vocalist I follow – but her live performances are so much more worth it. Here are some of her other performances…

Ommani
Qinghai Tibetan Plains

This not just in… but I’ve been watching the TV since it was announced.

Surprising news… Michael Jackson died. O_o

NOOOOOOO! Before I get to see him in concert. Damn!

Read all about it here.

MJ changed the music industry, and was an idol that went across the generational barrier inspiring tons of people of many different ages… including my uncle and aunt, my older cousins, me and my younger counsin. His video for Remember the Time was the first video I remember ever making an impact as a kid, and will always regard him as a musical visionary.

Well it’s been a few hours already. I can’t still believe it – this has actually been a day of a lot of deaths (3 more) announcements aroudn here – *sighs* And it seems this has shocked a whole lot of people. My dad was following this story with me… and even my mom, who doesn’t generally give a crap about entertainment news.

I also found the following entries~~~
Igor + Andre MJ Tribute
Cinencuentro.com
TimesOnline
Stage Thriller who Took the Music Industry
Fans Mourn Artist
In his Own Words
Searching for Jackson’s Doctor
Death Linked to Painkiller

— June 29 —
Pitchfork
R.I.P
Michael Jackson News and Reactions
Music and Videos

I just officially joined Vimeo – not entirely sure why, but we’ll see…
In the meantime, this rocking video and song!

Best Remedy to Fight 4?

June 25, 2009 — 3 Comments

Nothing better than the 8! xD
[reference here]

LivingSocial: Albums - 888 Album Count

I just hit the 888 albums on my LivingSocial Album application on Facebook – and with 8 lists! xD – I listened to 4 albums tonight… Monkey Majik with Sora wa Marude (The Sky is so…) and “thank you”, as well as Regina Spektor and Shiina Ringo’s latest~~~ Far, and Sanmon GOSHIPPU (Superficial Gossip, Sanmon Gossip) – whatever your pick on names is…