Category: Japanese

  • In Progress – Kata-ABC

    Since I’ve been jealous that my friends Turtle and JK are taking some really good typography classes, I have told them they can review their classes and assignments with me… that way they learn, and I also get to learn. xD

    Anyway, JK referred me to FontStruct, which I had visited once after they showed up on a Communication Arts issue. However, I was to shy to try it out — I mean, that introductory quick animation seems a bit pro. But in the end, JK told me I should check it out because it was interesting, and his teacher like it quite a bit.

    So I ended up playing with it to create a pixel-based font. I started out with my KATAKANA alphabet, which has some very nice forms and some very hard  to do~~~ This pixel font also works for typing in Spanish, French and Swedish =D

    Sorry, no Hiragana at the moment.

    Plus, Photoshop doesn’t seem to recognize the Japanese input, and just uses the default font for Japanese characters. What’s up with that? Does anyone know?

  • The Evolution of Mobile Phone Dramas

    I haven’t used a cellphone since someone stole mine nearly 3 years ago, but I’ve seen it moving towards it. I mean, I still think it’s gonna be tricky watching the show on my phone while making sure no one is following me to mug me.

    Stories on forums that became premises for films, blogs that became books, etc. After all, everyone’s got something to say. Then came the days when Marketing caught up with technology, and we began with viral videos. We love viral videos, you’ve probably received thousands of emails from different people all sending you the same goddamn video.

    Then there’s Mobile Phone Dramas. Sort of a hybrid between a series and commercials.. or other PR material, maybe a mix between short films and commercials that end up becoming a movie… like the Kit Kat short films by Shunji Iwai starring Yu Aoi and Anne Suzuki that became the film Hana & Alice. And so came Shunji Iwai again, this time with LISMO Channel and their nine 5-minute episodes titled Koibana ~ SUIKA to Bansoukou ~ (恋ばな ～スイカと絆創膏～) directed by Kodomo no Kodomo director Koji Hagiuda.

    Iwai, who is producing, has mentioned the high quality of this drama, and seems to be interested in turning this idea into a feature film. In reality, anyone can say whatever they want to say, but if anyone can make a Phone Drama and turn it into a film is Iwai. I mean, after turning Kit Kat into Hana & Alice, I believe anything can be possible.

    But how far have we gone… 45 minutes of Koibana may turn into a feature film, short stories become nearly-three-hour films… Facebook becomes a movie, episode recaps as if they were on Facebook. What’s next? Twitter movies? After all, there are Twitter accounts for television characters already. Yes, definitely… a Twitter movie in the future. Anyone wants to discuss a story idea?

    There’s already people on LiveJournal doing roleplay (though with real people), we can make one work, right? Anyone want to pitch in? It’s casting time! LOL Just gathering people who have the time to pretend they’re a character, and see where we go. xD

    While Asia is taking product placement and marketing to a whole new level, here… they try to shove ads and other silly commercials on printed media. And more commercial time. And more clicking banners.

    Also, I might need to add a new category besides Television. xD

  • Comedy (Kigeki) by Kazuto Nakazawa

    Under Studio 4°C~
    (same Tekkon studio~ xD)

    Released between 2000-2002, Kigeki tells the story of a five-year-old who contacts a mysterious Black Swordsman to save her village from an invading army.

  • Yu Aoi and Kirin CMs

    Multiple Yu Aoi post day!
    ending the month with 85 posts!

    As you know (most people anyway) Yu pimps Kirin beverages. She’s been feature in a full series of Kirin Tea… “Afternoon Black Tea” and other tea-related beverages. One of the commercials that was released this past October was this cute one with the dancing xD

    on Tudou.

    Dancing and smiling Yu to make your day a happy one. xD

    Bunch of other Kirin CMs below the break

    To be honest, I do drink tea all day. Not Kirin, not sold locally. xD

    Playlist is here.

  • Yu Aoi and MVs

    I ran into this video, which is a fan-made video without label that made me think it was almost a real video, if I hadn’t seen the original video from which the Yu Aoi footage comes from. LOL

    Ikimono-gakari‘s Sakura ~2007 version~ (single was released in 2006).

    [iframe src=”https://player.56.com/v_MzI5NTkxNjc.swf” width=”480″ height=”405″]

    I really like the song, so I will check out their discography~

    (more…)

  • Yu Aoi for Vogue Nippon Interview

    Once again, no subs ;P
    But you can still enjoy the interview.

    If I ever meet Yu-chan, I want her to introduce herself.
    It’s so adorable every single time she introduces herself, something about the way she says her name with the combination of “minna-san” xD “minna-san, Aoi Yu desu~” xD

  • The Web to Go Non-Latin

    I was watching the news last night, and they began talking about the decision of the ICANN to implement non-Latin characters on domain names. What that means? In short, for us Asian entertainment fans, it means loads of Asian groups and musicians will be dishing more money to buy those domains for themselves.

    Since I’m listening to Lee Hyori’s albums at the moment, I’ll take her as example. Let’s pretend that M-Net Entertainment had bought LeeHyori.com and Lee-Hyori.com, net, co.kr, etc — which they didn’t, IDIOTS — well, now they will have to dish more cash to buy 이효리.com, 이효리.net, 이효리.co.kr, etc.

    Everyone is making a big fuzz on the news, and CNN is being particularly stupid about it wondering what Latin-alphabet-users like us will do to enter those address. The ICANN representative finally told it like it is, why would a person who CAN’T read Japanese, who CAN’T read Korean, Chinese, Arabic, Russian, etc would enter a website with a non-Latin URL?

    I, on the other hand, think that this decision is just to cash in some more bucks, this time on the other side of the world. After all, these other companies who already own their Latin URL will also have to buy their non-Latin version. I mean, it would be a revolution if this Non-Latin implementation would let me type 可口可乐.com and would automatically open the website of Coca Cola China, without the need to buy that domain in addition to pay for coca-cola.com.cn, right?

    Big money suckers!

  • Playing the role of Yu’s Parents…

    You know when you’re young, and you’re with your friends hanging out when your parents arrive. They try to be cool, and talk to your friends about the time when you were a kid… about the most embarrassing or bizarre things~ Or they feel it’s appropriate to tell your friends about when you were a baby, and feel the need to tell the story graphically, so they decide to take the family photo album out and show them photos of yourself probably naked and being all baby cute? xD

    Well, we’re playing that role today, since we seem (at least I) to know nothing about Yu’s parents and overall family — though I’m pretty sure she has an older brother.

    Anyway, Acerk found a video of Yu playing games.

    I’m not sure what it is, if it’s a game show or what… but I’ve been suspecting is a clip of her work as an OHA Girl for Tokyo TV’s OHA SUTA… but that’s just a theory of mine. It just reminded me of those clips I saw of the show in search for one of Yu.

  • I’m pimping out…

    So I added more banners. I joined the HMV Hong Kong affiliates program since I seem to talk a bit about Chinese Music, and I also joined the YesAsia.com one. I also have an Amazon.com if you haven’t noticed. So you know, if you are buying anything in any of those, just follow those links, even if you’re not buying the stuff I’m suggesting, anything you buy when following those links, will go to supporting this site out. =D

    And you know, I’ll click yours if you click mine xD – I’m talking about those ads too.

    So here you go, you can pre-order the new Crowd Lu album over at HMV HK only 13bucks! Actually, cheaper than YesAsia, right? xD YesAsia’s affiliate program is a bit messy, even though they’re trying not to. They work with ShareSale.com which lets you link with a whole bunch of other ads… problem is, Amazon.com Affiliates works better. They let you link to specific products… I tried using their product links, but they just show a whole bunch (over 6000 products) with no way to search for the items I want to get.

    HMV HK doesn’t seem to practical either, but at least it lets me link to specific products easier than the ShareSale system. Hmm… what do YOU know, I ended up making affiliate programs reviews~~~ LOL

    Amazon and Google work better, because it just takes a few minutes to understand their interface and how they work. They make it easier to grab code and link to their items. ShareSale’s interface is a mess, everything is everywhere and it’s tough to find an specific item. HMV HK makes it easy to find an item to link to, but it makes you save the graphics (or even make your own) on your own server. Not practical. Tsk Tsk. Tut Tut.

  • Vogue Nippon: Women of the Year 2009 + Yu Aoi!!

    Was this announced before? Because I remember talking about Yu with Vogue for some November issue.

    vogue-nippon-women-2009
    From left to right – Ai Tominaga, Yu Aoi, Yukie Nakama, Shinobu Otake, Yayoi Kusama, Rie Miyazawa, Aya Ueto, Yukiko Motoya, and Ai Sugiyama

    I’m not sure if it’s a women of the year, or the decade though xD
    but I’m so happy for Yu (though not sure, since she didn’t have many projects out this year), and Happy Yu is so cute because you can’t help but smile when you see that smile.

    vogue-women-yu-aoi-4 vogue-women-yu-aoi vogue-women-yu-aoi-2 vogue-women-yu-aoi-3

    Check out the MyCom Journal Gallery [jp], Oh No They Didn’t,
    and a full Yu gallery over at Walkerplus!